Raymond L. AtkinsCritiques

This was my first book by Mr. Atkins. It was for school summer reading, and I knew nothing about it when I started it. I had never even heard of it. I learned a lot of new words from this book (sarcastically) and I now wish I hadn't read it that year, because I could have appreciated it a lot more if I was older/more mature. This was not a good introduction to realistic fiction for me- I needed something a little less harsh and intense. I don't regret reading it, I just wish I had been older so I could understand it better.

“ Wow!”, that was all I could say when I finished the book.The book made me laugh, cry and really sad that it was over. Not many books these days evoke that feeling from me. Sorrow Wood takes you to my beloved south and is both a love story and a murder mystery. The characters are true to the south and show that not every town in the south is “Mayberry”. The love story of Wendell and Reva is shown over decades that shared joy and sorrow. Reva has a sense of bad things happening and refers to this as the “bear”.The bear shows up several times in their lives and Reva believes she has had many past lives when she and Wendell were together.To me the love story was the central theme. Keep in mind it is not a mushy chick lit type of love story. It is simply the story of two people who feel in love, weathered the storms and are still in love decades later. The murder story lines ties several things together, but I have to say I did not expect some of the twists and turns. This book will be one that you cannot put down and will be sorry when it is over. I look forward to reading many more books by Raymond Atkins.

I'm glad I read this one. It made for a really good read. I just liked the rhythm of the story.

When I first started this book I thought it was going to be a mystery. Before long I realized Sorrow Wood is a love story about Wendell and Reva. Wendell is a sixteen year old boy who fights against his father, eventually running off join the Navy during World War II. Reva has had a life of bad luck, losing both her family and her leg. When she eventually meets Wendell they are instantly attracted to one another. This is not the only time Wendell and Reva have been in love. Reva believes they've met each other several times throughout the course of history.

When a burned body is discovered at a farm, it appears to be that of a local witch with a reputation for promiscuity. While the mystery does propel some of the story, mystery fans should not read this book thinking it a mystery novel. This is a story primarily about relationships and the devotion Wendell and Reva have towards one another.

The story is written using alternating chapters to jump from the present time to the past and back. The reader gradually learns more about Wendell and Reva and their history together. At the end of every chapter, there's a few pages that describe a man and a woman throughout different periods of history and soon, we realize it's the continually reincarnated souls of Wendell and Reva.

I thought the book was beautifully written and had a lot of humor. I almost didn't read it because it starts out with Wendell investigating a dead dog. To be honest, I just skimmed through that part. I hadn't heard of Raymond Atkins before, but he has several books available that deal with southern literature, humor and small towns. I'm going to give Front Porch Prophet and try next.

I had been eyeing this book at the library for several weeks/months even. Checked it out twice before finally reading it, How funny that one of the main characters has premonitions, feelings... there's is much following of gut instinct.
Hard to say exactly why I like this story so much.... the main characters, Wendell & Reva, are similar to people I know perhaps?
The town (?) of Sand Valley, AL is not so different from the area where I live these days?

Whatever the combo of reasons, I will list this as an all-time fave. It is feel-good and funny with out being belittling to (much of) anyone. It has lessons that are worthy of note & remembering.

There is quite a bit of back & forth between the '40s & '80s, but it worked, was not awkward. I need to look into Mr. Atkins other writings.

When I first started this book I thought it was going to be a mystery. Before long I realized Sorrow Wood is a love story about Wendell and Reva. Wendell is a sixteen year old boy who fights against his father, eventually running off join the Navy during World War II. Reva has had a life of bad luck, losing both her family and her leg. When she eventually meets Wendell they are instantly attracted to one another. This is not the only time Wendell and Reva have been in love. Reva believes they've met each other several times throughout the course of history.

When a burned body is discovered at a farm, it appears to be that of a local witch with a reputation for promiscuity. While the mystery does propel some of the story, mystery fans should not read this book thinking it a mystery novel. This is a story primarily about relationships and the devotion Wendell and Reva have towards one another.

The story is written using alternating chapters to jump from the present time to the past and back. The reader gradually learns more about Wendell and Reva and their history together. At the end of every chapter, there's a few pages that describe a man and a woman throughout different periods of history and soon, we realize it's the continually reincarnated souls of Wendell and Reva.

I thought the book was beautifully written and had a lot of humor. I almost didn't read it because it starts out with Wendell investigating a dead dog. To be honest, I just skimmed through that part. I hadn't heard of Raymond Atkins before, but he has several books available that deal with southern literature, humor and small towns. I'm going to give Front Porch Prophet and try next.

Southern literature at its best.

This book was not what I expected. The cover is dark, the description on the dust jacket tells of murder and mystery (it's called Sorrow Wood for heaven's sake!). I laughed, I smirked, I even snorted. I shared parts with my coworkers. Sorrow Wood is about love, desitny, and family.

What a thoroughly unique and charming book. I love the style of this author ... irreverent, amusing and heartfelt. Highly recommended read.

A character study of small town life in a town called Sequoya, Georgia. The reviewers before me said it all in a much more eloquent way than I possibly can. I absolutely loved this book, and will read it again.

I couldn't get past the first chapter of this book, due to all the repetition and backstory and really not having a clue what was going on. I wish the writer had taken the time to really write a decent mystery. I don't want to know about the main character's life history before getting to the story. I don't recommend this book.

I hate to give this book a bad review as it's the author's first novel, but... I'm really not sure what it was about. I picked it up thinking it was going to be a mystery about the murder of a sexually promiscuous witch. Instead, there were four interweaving subplots that, in my opinion, got hopelessly muddled together. I couldn't figure out which of these subplots took precedence. There didn't seem to be a unifying thread that tied it all together.½

When you pick up a good novel written about the south by a Southern author, you can tell. There is just something about that area and the writers it creates that is unique, remarkable and gorgeous. Had William Faulkner, Harper Lee or Margaret Mitchell not been from the south, their novels would not be remembered today. Had a writer with equal skill but who grew up outside of the south written To Kill a Mockingbird, the novel would have been condescending and the characters a mere stereotype. Atticus would have inevitably been a Yankee and Boo Radley would have been nothing more than a sideshow freak resulting from inbreeding. It took a southerner to shed light on the southern life in such an honest, warm and loving way. Atkins does just that in his debut novel.

The Front Porch Prophet tells the story of A.J. Longstreet, a man who lost his mother at birth. He was raised in Sequoya, Georgia by his father and grandmother and he became an honorable man with a loving wife and three children, all named after authors. He loved his family and his home, but was unfulfilled in his job supervising at the local mill. He was content to stay where he was until he reconciled with his life-long friend, Eugene Purdue. Eugene, who grew up in an unhappy marriage and had a seemingly never ending wild streak, learned that he had terminal cancer. He asked A.J. to come up to visit him up on his mountain to make amends and to ask him to do the unthinkable - put him out of his misery when the time came. A.J. had no intentions of killing Eugene, but he agreed to visit him regularly. The rekindled friendship brings up old memories, both good and bad. As he aids, supports, comforts and helps Eugene find the redemption he is seeking through his last days, A.J. is forced to reconsider his beliefs and look at what truly makes him feel whole and happy.

When bad things happen to Southerners, they don’t lose their sense of humor. You are never truly defeated so long as you don’t stop laughing at yourself. Atkins breathes life into this world. He writes of A.J. and Eugene’s lives with an easy sarcastic wit that is authentically Southern. A.J. and Eugene are not the only characters in Sequoya, either. The signs displayed in the window of the town’s only restaurant that is owned by a born again Christian are hilarious and ingenious. By far, my favorite feature of this novel were the snippets of the letters Eugene wrote and sent out to the people of Sequoya after his death. They appear at the beginning of each chapter, but they reflect back up the previous chapter. His letter to the town sheriff still has chuckling when I think about it. As it is, is I quickly lost count of the times I laughed out loud while reading this novel.

As much as I loved the books humor, what stays with me from The Front Porch Prophet is its message about the enduring power of friendship and forgiveness. It made me happy to be human. For all of our weaknesses, we have the ability to overcome them and make them right. This is a novel I will be reading again many times. It promises to hold something new each time I read it. This may very well be my favorite novel of 2008. I can’t recommend it enough.

http://literatehousewife.wordpress.com/2008/12/13/130-the-front-porch-prophet/

Seemingly appearing from nowhere, a man named Raymond Atkins has decided to write and publish his first novel, entitled The Front Porch Prophet. Readers everywhere should be rejoicing at this fact. If Mr. Atkins' second book is anywhere near as good as his first, and if he continues to write novels, then these same readers should be dancing in the streets.

This is an absolutely wonderful novel. Period. It is so wildly humorous, so unrealistic and so down-to-earth at the same time, so gosh darn in-your-face enjoyable, I am afraid that the next few books I read are destined to pale in comparison.

The story centers on two life-long friends and half-brothers, A.J. Longstreet and Eugene Purdue, who live in Sequoya, Georgia. A.J. is a devoted husband, father of three, mill supervisor and all around responsible guy. Eugene lives alone in a school bus in the mountains, bootlegs alcohol, and throws hand grenades off his front porch for fun.

He is also dying of cancer, and due to the fact that Eugene has alienated just about everyone else in his life, it falls to A.J. to take care of him.

What follows is a hilarious, wild, heartbreaking, breathtaking story of a deep friendship between two men and the southern town that raised them. That's right - this is a book about a man dying of cancer, and it is laugh-out-loud hilarious. This also means that the book is more than a little off-color and not even close to politically correct. I get the feeling that Atkins would not have written an honest novel if it were any other way.

Imagine that Garrison Keillor has stopped mixing Prozac in his coffee and has instead started getting into raw southern whiskey and bourbon. This will give you an impression of Atkins' writing style. He swings for the fence in everything he does, filling his pages with raucous humor, razor sharp dialogue, and truly touching insights into the human soul.

Here is the highest compliment I can pay this book: it carries a message about God and His role in human affairs that I adamantly disagree with. And yet, I can say with no reservation that this is my favorite book I have read all year. Atkins writes with a perspective on life that is very, very different from my own - but he does it with such honesty, such gusto, such pure outright talent, that I can only say, "Please, keep the novels coming."

The Front Porch Prophet is a debut novel by Raymond L. Atkins about a fictional small town in Georgia. The story is told through its main character, A.J. Longstreet, and opens with the tale of how he came to know Eugene Purdue, his childhood best friend who is now dying of cancer. Eugene and A.J. had a tumultuous relationship in recent years, nearly ending their friendship after a drunken argument three years ago. But A.J. runs into Eugene's ex-wife and is told Eugene wants to see him up at the cabin, which is really just a jumble of pieces (including an old school bus Eugene and A.J. stole in their wild high school days). Not one to hold a grudge, A.J. decides to go and while there finds out about Eugene's cancer (and Eugene's expectation that A.J. will help him die before the pain gets too bad).

While the premise of this book may sound a little heavy, Atkins is able to add some levity to the situation and give us a well-rounded view of A.J.'s life and friendship with Eugene. We also learn about many secrets in their past and we meet a whole cast of lovable Southern characters. I would recommend this book solely for its ability to poke fun at Southern living while also endearing us to such a life.

As the book moves forward we watch Eugene's quick deterioration due to his illness and we see his life go full circle. We're introduced to Johnny Mack, Termite, Brickhead, Wormy and Hoghead - some of the colorfully named characters in the book (with colorful lives as well). Atkins is a natural storyteller, making the scenes unfold with wonderful descriptions and well placed humor.

I'm not certain this would be a book for everyone, but I quite enjoyed reading it. It has been awhile since I've read a book that so fully captured my attention that I wasn't able to put it down until the end. For that alone, I give this book my star of approval. And I'm looking forward to Atkins' next book, which is due out next year.

A.J. Longstreet and Eugene Purdue share a colorful past. They grew up together in the mountains of Sequoyah, Georgia, and got into their share of trouble. The best friends had an alcohol-induced falling out three years ago and haven't spoken since. In the opening scenes of The Front Porch Prophet by Raymond L. Atkins, Eugene initiates contact with A.J. with some bad news. Eugene has terminal cancer and a matter of months to live. He needs A.J. to be present in the final phase of his life and good-hearted A.J. readily obliges.

Thus begins the reunion between what must surely be two of the most charming and entertaining characters in rural Georgia. As A.J. steps back into Eugene's life, the past comes flooding back. As events and characters unfold, Atkins presents A.J. and Eugene as boys, teenagers, and young men. He introduces their parents, grandparents, wives, children, neighbors and colleagues. It is a large and eclectic cast of characters, and they are what makes this story special.

If a terminally ill man suffering through his last days sounds like a depressing premise for a story, don't worry. This compelling tale is anything but. Atkins is a master story teller and his anecdotes, all told from A.J. Longstreet's point of view, draw the reader in while the tongue-in-cheek way he presents them will make you smile. The narrative tone is dry and humorous, but at the same time warm and tender. It lovingly embraces the quirkiness of the residents of Sequoyah and pokes gentle but loving fun at the culture of the Deep South.

Atkins' writing is impeccable and he is clearly in his element with this wonderful piece of Southern fiction.
One of the strong points of this novel is the way in which he builds a very strong sense of place, not only with descriptions of the physical setting but with his characters, through descriptions of their personalities, daily lives and interactions. Even the rough and tumble ones who drank entirely too much whiskey and carried on love affairs with their firearms, were so likeable. And in the end, they show us that no matter where you're from, family and friendship are ties that bind and endure despite our mistakes and inadequacies.