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HomeShop at BookSurgeReligionCultsElectric Honey |
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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 4 customer reviews )
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4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Ifyoudonlaikitcheerwhydonchugosumerselse? Jun 24, 2006
By Hunter Brumfield
"Still looking"
The often amusing, sometimes terrifying paranoia that gripped the so-called New South in the 1960s has been delightfully captured by Sam Love in this almost non-fiction memoir-slash-novel. We both were there, but Sam has been able to retell the utter ridiculousness of the "anti-years" -- anti-pot, anti-outsider, anti-thought -- in ways that make me feel downright nostalgic for the Old Mississippi. Buy Electric Honey if you want to savor a highly readable and only somewhat tongue-in-cheek recollection of a time when a visit from the minions of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, John Birch Society or KKK was something you could count on if your hair, choice of smokes, skin color, or bumper sticker wasn't on the approved list.
Hunter Brumfield
Windows Publishing Co., Tokyo
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Electric Honey delivers deep emotional truth! Jul 12, 2008
By C. A. Webb
"Conversations Book Club"
We see it all the time: two people are a part of the same event or conversation, yet both come away with different perspectives depending on what they perceive as most important to them.
The book Electric Honey by native Southerner Sam Love takes that premise to a new level as he writes about a mother and daughter's adventures during the colorful years of the 1960s - and how they actually had more in common than they realized.
Love was a student at Mississippi State during the 60s and was active in anti-war organizing and other events of the time. Though the book is a work of fiction, it does draw from some of his experience of the events and social ideals of the period.
When the story opens, we find Peach, one of the main characters, finding her mother's diaries while clearing out the attic in preparation for the home being sold.
The book is written in Peach's voice, so we are able to hear her thoughts as she reads about her mother's at the same time.
It's a brilliant way of comparing and contrasting, because we are getting the pure truth from both women.
Truth be told, I have never been very interested in the '60s. Occasionally you hear people mention some of the craziness that is normally associated with that time, but I never cared much.
This book, however, made we want to know more.
In reading it, I saw what Peach came to realize as she poured over her mother's journals - there really is nothing new under the sun.
There are so many parallels to what happened 40 or so years ago to what is going on today, that you can see why parents can appreciate some of the madness we are experiencing, while others panic and are ready to admit defeat. Sam Love shows us that such was the case then as well.
You had individuals who were so concerned about keeping order and stability that they were willing to raise all kinds of havoc to do so.
At the same time you had young, wide-eyed young people who were willing to question and understand things outside of their comfort zone, and instead of being encouraged, some tried to crush them. Sound familiar?
What Peach comes to understand at the end of the book is that she really wasn't so different from her mother after all. They both had their own sense of curiosity, adventure and substance; but at the time, they seemed to focus on the things that separated them.
I think we have all learned that is never the way. I should mention that when we do meet Peach, she is not only a mother, but a grandmother and with these milestones behind her. I suspect this has done much to refine her ideals as well.
The lesson I took from Electric Honey?
Instead of focusing so much time on what separates us, let's take a little time to look for some common ground.
By doing this, someone we once looked at as an enemy might just end up as one of our closest friends.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Those were the days Aug 10, 2006
By Barbara H. Criswell
Electric Honey's look back at the foibles and the earnestness of both extremes of the cultural revolution of the 60s is often hilarious, but it is also relevant to today's divisive political and religious climate. Dialogue that rings true and authentic period touches (remember the green dinosaur logo of Sinclair gas stations?) bring the characters and the settings to life. A thoroughly delightful novel.
 Fun Reading Aug 12, 2006
By Gerardo Bruno
I really enjoyed Electric Honey. It was front row seat into the lives of several students who pulled a harmless prank on some radical right wingers which turned into a fight for democracy.
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