Blood of My Blood

This is an autobiographical novel, short, only 170 pages long. It was the first book that Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings wrote and it was rejected in a contest. She never tried to publish it again. It may be that, as she says in the end of this book, that she didn't feel herself mature as a writer at that time and needed to know more of life before she tried to write. The story tells of two generations before Marjorie, her grandparents and her parents. It tells of her growing up at the hands of a narcissistic mother who cared for fame and success and money, things she wanted for her daughter because she considered herself too ugly to ever have them herself. The story begins quite slowly with voluminous adverbs and adjectives. The author herself states in the book that they are her strength. She cites an experience in college when her writing professor compelled her to write a story without any adjectives or adverbs to show that it could be done. From that point on in the book, she leaves most of them out. The story builds to a climax at the end, leaving you wanting to know what will happen to Ida, the mother, and Marjorie, the daughter. It is a typical MKR book, perhaps a little unpolished, but only a little. I think it is an excellent book, with a great deal of insight into human nature, well worth the little time it takes to read it.

For anyone who is interested in Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings early years, this is a treasure. This book is composed of her recollections of her life with her mother.

Hard to get into, but when you are done reading you think what a good book it was. She certainly shared her own self in this book. I liked it very much.

I'm a voracious reader and great admirer of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. My husband and I agreed this is one of the most enlightening books we've ever read about a mother-daughter relationship. Touching.

This reminds me of old novels by Grace Livingston Hill or Gene Stratton Porter with the struggle against adverse conditions and conflicts over family values. At times it is heavy going. If this is close to what Rawlings' actual childhood and college years were like, I'm glad I read it before now turning to her classic, Cross Creek. I should get more from that reading with this book as background.Useful mostly to scholars, students and devoted readers of The Yearling and Cross Creek.I wish it had included photos of Rawlings as a child and in college and of her family. That would have been a plus.

I bought this book after reading Rawlings' autobiographical _Cross Creek_. I would recommend the book to any fan of Rawlings, as it provides an intense look at her complicated relationship with her mother, an understanding of the spiritual kinship she shared with her father, and provokes examination of the lines we draw between fiction and autobiography. In this very early, nearly unedited work, the readers sees how the two often become indistinguishable.