Book Reviews of Fair and Tender Ladies

Being in letter form, I didn't think that I would enjoy this book. I was wrong. It is a very sweet and touching book. I fell in love with Ivy and her family and hated for the book to end. Definitely will be reading more Lee Smith.

Readers will be thoroughly captivated by Ivy Rowe, the narrator of this epistolary novel, and will come to the end of her story with a pang of regret. Smith ( Oral History , Family Linen ) has produced her best work here, creating a fully rounded heroine and other vivid characters who inhabit Virginia's Appalachia region. The letters begin around the turn of the century when Ivy is a child living with eight siblings on the family farm on Blue Star Mountain. Written with quaint misspellings and in the vernacular of Southern speech, the missives reflect the harsh poverty of farm life, as well as the simple beauties of the land: "This is the taste of spring," her father tells Ivy, and she never forgets it, even when the family must move to the boom town of Majestic after her father's death. Ivy's talent as a budding writer is recognized early on, but just as she is about to realize her dream of going North to school, she is betrayed by her passionate nature. Though pregnant and "ruint," she marries a childhood friend who takes her back to the family homestead, where she bears several children and endures the endless toil of a farmer's wife. Just when life seems drearily predictable, she succumbs in middle age to an irresistible passion that brings tragic consequences. Ivy is a woman of bewitching appeal and endearing faults: bright, with a poet's eye and soul; spunky, impetuous, sensual and proud. Following her heroine over seven decades, Smith conveys the changing conditions of life in Appalachia, during which time, as Ivy laments, "everybody has took everything out of herefirst the trees, then the coal, then the children." In the old tradition of oral storytelling, Smith has fashioned a dramatic, magical, poignantly true-to-life tale.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

I have just finished reading this amazing book and I am so tenderly moved. I want to grieve over losing Ivy, as her life came quietly to an end. No, her life itself wasn't quiet- it was far from it â€" but I fell as though I have lost a friend. The fact that it is written in perfect Appalachian language (the book takes place within an hour of where I now live), helps make it even more authentic. This book, told entirely by letters written by Ivy Rowe, gives a true voice to the Appalachian life that exists still today. This is a wonderful book, rich and full, and I highly recommend it to anyone to read. A real piece of Americana and excellent writing. It made me laugh many times (I rarely laugh out loud while reading or listening), and I shed a tear or two as well. Lee Smith is from Grundy, VA (near my hometown), and I do hope one day to be able to meet her. She is a magnificent writer, in my opinion!

The story of Ivy Roe, born near the turn of the century in the Virginia Mountain enclave of Sugar Fork, is told entirely throughj letters Ivy is forever writing family and friends.
A very heartwarming book.

Story of four generations of a mountains family in Virginia. I read this to get a better understanding of what it was like for my grandparents growing up in a similar place and time. Very good book.

Charmingly written as letters from a girl - and later woman - in Appalachia to friends and family. I got toally caught up in Ivy's life and those of the people around her. Only complaint is the title which to me seems weirdly undescriptive of the book. But a great read, nonetheless - highly recommend!

For a fiction book it felt real. The writer had some insights about life that made you understand the complexities of life. Ivy the main character is the book was always thinking, thinking, thinking. She thought too much I can relate to that. I don't read a lot of fiction so when I do pick up a piece of fiction it has to grab me right away or I will put it down. This book pulled me in.

Lee Smith is a beautiful writer of southern fiction and this is a wonderful book with a glimpse into the thinking of uneducated people in Appalachia. You will love it.

Very good book. A must read.