Tommy HaysCritiques

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Weavings in the bamboo forest.

This is a coming of age story set in North Carolina, US. It is narrated by twelve year old Grover Johnston, who is grieving the death of his mother in a recent car accident, for which he feels responsible - if he'd collected Fantastic Mister Fox from Videolife, it would never have happened.

Grover was always a bit of a loner, but after his mother's death he has retreated into himself and spends every waking moment in the nearby bamboo forest, where he weaves structures interlaced with twigs and leaves.
At first he made smaller weavings to decorate his mother's grave, but as time passed he found his weavings were becoming larger and larger, actually woven into the forest because they needed the support of living bamboo.
Grover's sister, Sudie, is two years younger and loves to help Grover with his weavings. Their father is coping with his grief by spending more and more time at work and they are left largely to their own devices.

When stakes appear around the bamboo forest, closely followed by sign boards advertising its sale, Grover is devastated that the one place where he can find solace might be taken from him.

While their father's old friend, Jessie, holds things together, with hot pot meals and support, another influence arrives in the shape of a family that moves in over the road. A mother and two children who have lost their father to war, gradually become more and more important in the lives of the Johnston family.

I was disappointed with this novel, the cover art is very dated and the book has a corresponding feel. I would not have been at all surprised if I had been told that this book was written in 1980. The title doesn't really sell itself either, being rather unmemorable. The narrative was very American, with frequent use of the phrase "y'all" and similar Americanisms. I cannot imagine this book appealing to the boys who I look after, maybe it would be better received by girls, even though the main character is a boy.

Many books have been written with children coming to terms with loss and in my opinion this is, sadly, not one of the better ones.½

[[Tommy Hayes]] [In the Family Way] is a small gem of quiet domestic fiction -- a boy has lost his brother and best friend, a family their second son -- the story starts a year or so afterward and moves toward the time of letting go and moving on. The story is a little uneven, stretching toward improbability once or twice or retreating from consequences, but there are far more absorbing passages that ring deep and true, when the family car breaks down up in the mountains, anything to do with the great aunt and uncle, Clem and Louise, the different and unaccountable ways people seek to assuage grief.... ****

THE PLEASURE WAS MINE
Tommy Hays

The novel The Pleasure Was Mine takes place during a critical summer in the life of Prate Marshbanks, when he retires to care for his wife, who is gradually slipping away. To complicate things, Prate’s son, Newell, a recently widowed single father, asks Prate to keep nine-year-old Jackson for the summer. Though Prate is irritated at first by the presence of his moody grandson, over the summer his feelings toward Jackson change as his grandson helps him tend Irene. As Irene’s memory fades, Prate a hard-working man who has kept to himself most of his life, has little choice but to get to know his family.

very dear book

Greensboro City Read North Carolina Author Oversimplifies all the problems of love, aging, loss, Alzheimer's

The Pleasure Was Mine by Tommy Hays is a novel that revolves around two generations of Marshbanks. There is Prate Marshbanks who experiences the difficulty of taking care of his wife, Irene, who has Alzheimer’s. Phrate has lived a full life with a wonderful and intelligent lady who took care of him during their marriage, but in the end, he must be the care taker. His demeanor is ruff (which at times did include some colorful language), but his wife is genteel and very intelligent as evidenced by her profession as a school teacher. He never really understood how a lady, in the true sense of the word, would desire to spend the rest of her life with a man of few words. All he knew how do was paint houses and take care of his family.

He met Irene while painting her father’s house. It took many extra coats before he got up the nerve to ask her out and many more coats of paint before they got married. They had one boy, Newell, who also became a painter. But he was very different kind of painter because he could make a canvas come alive. Newell inherited his Dad’s love for paint and his Mother’s sensitivity for nature and landscape which proved to be a great combination for producing very fine paintings and a good income as an artist. Unfortunately, Newell and his son, Jackson, experienced their own traumatic event. Sandy, a wonderful wife and mother, was killed in an automobile accident.

Their lives converged when Newell asked his father to keep Jackson for the summer. How could Phrate take on that responsible for a grandson he hardly knew? Especially, since he spent 4 to 5 hour a day at the nursing home taking care of his Irene. What resulted was an unexpected healing between father and son, as well as an acceptance of the difficulties in both of their lives.

I decided to read this book because the story takes place in my hometown, Greenville, SC. I was very familiar with some of the places described in the book and it brought back a lot of memories when I was much younger. The story itself was entertaining which made it a quick read. This would be a good book to take on vacation to kill some time.

This is a story about a man whose wife has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He is forced to place her in a care facility and must face living alone again, amongst all the reminders of his wife when she was younger and more able.

At the same time, his son (whose wife was killed in a car accident several years earlier) is going through some difficulties himself. In order to pursue an art fellowship, the son must leave the grandson with his grandfather for the summer. The old man and the young boy get to know each other and come to terms with their respective losses over the course of the summer.

I really liked this book quite a bit. I found the characters very realistic, and it resonated with me after watching my grandmother deteriorate with Alzheimer's. The main character is still in love with his wife, and finds it very hard as he loses her day by day.

Some may find this book a bit slow, as it's not really about "action". However, I found it a quick read, and it helped me relate to my elderly relatives as they face this terrible disease.

heard Tommy Hays at South Carolina Book Festival several years ago and he talked about his dad who had Alzheimer's. I bought the book as my mom was struggling with her memory. I now am my mom's caretaker. I appreciated the sensitivity that Hays used to deal with such a heartbreaking disease. I so understand about those moments of laughter and those times of tears.