Publisher's Weekly Review
In her first work of nonfiction, novelist Smith (Guests on Earth) explores how deep her Appalachian roots go, in this entertaining and poignant collection of Southern memories. Growing up in the isolated coal town of Grundy, Va., Smith's world revolved around her father's general store (the dime store of the title). She played in the rugged mountains that surrounded her home and absorbed the rhythm and cadence of mountain music and mountain-speak. She learned the art of crafting stories from puttering around her father's store, listening to the women who worked there gossip while she invented elaborate stories for all the dolls for sale. In "Recipe Box," Smith remembers her mother, who, even though she lived in Grundy for most of her adult life, was considered an outsider because she came from Virginia's Chincoteague Island. Both Smith's parents suffered from mental illness, which loomed large in Smith's childhood, which she touches on in "Kindly Nervous," and also tragically affected her son, whom she pays tribute to in one of the collection's most moving essays, "Good-bye to the Sunset Man." It's not all serious, though: in "Big River," Smith recounts a momentous raft trip that she and several college friends embark on, a la Huck Finn, down the Mississippi in 1966. Throughout it all, Smith weaves in her candid observations on the changing South and how she developed into a Southern writer, spurred on by the likes of Eudora Welty. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Review
This memoir is Smith (Fair and Tender Ladies; Oral History) at her finest. There is not one false note in the book. Born and raised in Grundy, WV, Smith understood at an early age that her parents-her father owned and ran the town's dimestore, and her mother was considered a stranger to townfolks even though she lived there almost 50 years-were preparing her to leave the coal mining town. She was encouraged to read, discouraged from tomboyish activities, and sent to visit her relatives in Birmingham to learn how to be a lady. VERDICT This wonderful memoir-filled with tenderness, compassion, love, and humor-is highly recommended for fans of Smith's fiction, lovers of Southern writing, and readers who are interested in the changes in small-town America.-Pam Kingsbury, Univ. of North Alabama, Florence © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.