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Stormy Weather: A Novelby Paulette Jiles |
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 A few loose ends..., June 24, 2008 |
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In general I liked the story, but I think the description of the book is a little misleading.
From reading the description, I believed there would have been more about Jack's death, but once it happened, it was only referred to in passing on a few occasions. A loose end that was never really dealt with by the author. Also, I expected more to be written about Smoky Joe and horse racing in general than there actually was. The characters were interesting, although some were a bit odd and I'm quite sure why some of them were written into the story, but Jeanine is a great heroine and I enjoyed her story. A nice read but could have been better. |
 No-Frills Texas Heroine's Story Told Like Poetry, June 10, 2008 |
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San Antonio writer Paulette Jiles is a poet first, and it shows in her imagery and in the cadence of her sentences. They have an almost musical lilt: "A pouring wave of sheep fled down a hillside, answering some unheard call, and the dense bank of clouds to the northeast told of a windstorm to come."
"Stormy Weather" is the second novel for Jiles, after her critically acclaimed Civil War novel, "Enemy Woman." This one is a quieter novel, more tuned in to the brutal dust bowl landscape of West Texas, and to the hungry, threadbare people living through the Great Depression. They wear wedding gowns made from old draperies, and repair their roofs with crushed tin cans instead of shingles. The story is built around Jeanine Stoddard, a strong, tomboyish young woman, who almost single-handedly carries her family through the hardest years. Jeanine is the middle daughter, beloved and trusted by her no-account father, Jack Stoddard. In the opening chapters Jeanine is a mere 9-year-old girl, but already she's driving her drunken father home from a night of hell-raising and womanizing. Jiles makes no missteps here, bringing Jeanine and the whole Stoddard clan to life along with Texas in the 1930s. Even with World War II looming in Europe, wildcat oil strikes happen just often enough to keep the population believing in better times. The oil boom brings tragedy to the Stoddard family when Jack is killed by "sour gas," but later on the boom redeems itself when Mrs. Stoddard invests their hard-earned money in an old, dry well that a new driller reworks. The description of that well coming in are some of the best in the book. I was rattled by the earth-shaking blow-out just as if I were there, watching in awe with the otheres as the oil geysered into the blue West Texas sky. While reading this book, I was reminded time and again of a personal favorite of mine, George Sessions Perry's "Hold Autumn In Your Hand." There are similarities beyond just the time period: problems on the land, risky ventures, a no-frills love story, and the unyielding optimism of the characters. If I were a high school teacher assigning Texas novels to my students, "Stormy Weather" would rank right at the top of the list. It's a sound, earthy novel with a soul as sweet as sugared peaches. |
 Please do your research., April 1, 2008 |
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While my husband read and enjoyed Stormy Weather by Paulette Jiles, I have to admit that I only read a chapter or two. I was turned off by the mispelling of McAlester, Oklahoma on the first page, and again on page 6. She spelled it "McAllister." Most other place names seem to be spelled correctly. I'm reasonably sure she referred to the actual town and not a made-up place, so why not be sure it's spelled correctly?
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Poetic and beautiful ugliness, February 7, 2008 |
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Jiles has been able to paint a picture of the rugged Texas lifestyle of the early 1900's through breathtaking poetic prose. She is truly a master of language, and is able to captivate her reader with her talent. Jiles has captured the ability to describe scenes, situations, and characters in an utterly refreshing, true, rustic, uninhibited style all her own.
The characters seem to be flat, without true human souls, but I think this might have been what Jiles was going for. What is lacking in these characters, seems to further portray the way this generation of people lived with the life sucked out of them... it didn't rain for years, nothing grew, cattle literally dried up and fell over... and somehow Jiles makes these scenes beautiful like old black and white photo albums that smell like a long-lost grandmother's closet. READ THIS NOVEL! |
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Lyrical Novel Reveals a Poet's Heart, January 5, 2008 |
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San Antonio writer Paulette Jiles is a poet first, and it shows in her imagery and in the cadence of her sentences. They have an almost musical lilt: "A pouring wave of sheep fled down a hillside, answering some unheard call, and the dense bank of clouds to the northeast told of a windstorm to come."
"Stormy Weather" is the second novel for Jiles, after her critically acclaimed Civil War novel, "Enemy Woman." This one is a quieter novel, more tuned in to the brutal dust bowl landscape of West Texas, and to the hungry, threadbare people living through the Great Depression. They wear wedding gowns made from old draperies, and repair their roofs with crushed tin cans instead of shingles. The story is built around Jeanine Stoddard, a strong, tomboyish young woman, who almost single-handedly carries her family through the hardest years. Jeanine is the middle daughter, beloved and trusted by her no-account father, Jack Stoddard. In the opening chapters Jeanine is a mere 9-year-old girl, but already she's driving her drunken father home from a night of hell-raising and womanizing. Jiles makes no missteps here, bringing Jeanine and the whole Stoddard clan to life along with Texas in the 1930s. Even with World War II looming in Europe, wildcat oil strikes happen just often enough to keep the population believing in better times. The oil boom brings tragedy to the Stoddard family when Jack is killed by "sour gas," but later on the boom redeems itself when Mrs. Stoddard invests their hard-earned money in an old, dry well that a new driller reworks. The description of that well coming in are some of the best in the book. I was rattled by the earth-shaking blow-out just as if I were there, watching in awe with the otheres as the oil geysered into the blue West Texas sky. While reading this book, I was reminded time and again of a personal favorite of mine, George Sessions Perry's "Hold Autumn In Your Hand." There are similarities beyond just the time period: problems on the land, risky ventures, a no-frills love story, and the unyielding optimism of the characters. If I were a high school teacher assigning Texas novels to my students, "Stormy Weather" would rank right at the top of the list. It's a sound, earthy novel with a soul as sweet as sugared peaches. |
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