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 A laugh and a tear... Sep 25, 2008
There are times I pick up a book with great enthusiasm, only to read the first few chapters then place it back in the bookcase and forget it. This was not true with this wonderfully poignant book written by Bill Hunt. I settled down in a cozy chair and began reading the book anticipating an earthy and memorable reunion with my own past...and this came to fruition with more power than I expected. Raised in a tiny Southern town in North Florida, I grew up working for my grandmother in her small general store. Her shoppers were not the white townspeople that numbered in the few hundreds ( if that many )- quite the opposite - her customers were the black peanut farmers in the area. These folks would come to the store on Saturday as that was their only day off, unless they were harvesting. They would purchase all of their grocery and dry goods items and Mama would keep a ledger charge account fo each family. In the fall when the peanuts were harvested, each bill would be paid in full - and then it would begin all over again with Christmas presents as the next big purchases. Theo Newton & his family - a big man in overalls with his tiny wife; Mullins - as we say in the South " crazy as a bed-bug " coming to get her daily tin of snuff, her hat always askew as if she slept with it on - which she probably did; Ertin, with no nose, who plowed Mama's garden and let me ride the mule; the two for a penny cookies; the 5 cent ice cream cones or sodas; the days spent in oak rocking chairs nestled around the heater in the back of the store listening to Mama and her elderly cousin Bertha talk about their " good old days ";picking big juicy blackberries on hot summer days; wading in the branch catching tadpoles with the children that came to the store. What treasured times...what precious memories!!
What a treasure this book is to me - I actually would "allow" myself to read a chapter per day - kind of like eating one bite of the best chocolate candy bar and having to put it down - and was that ever difficult. I shed tears, laughed when memories flowed back of those long forgotten times in my life and was enraptured by the fact that someone else was telling of their childhood - so much like my own. I highly recommend this book to any reader. If you did not grow up in this genere of atmosphere, you will finish this book and be so very, very envious!! Bill Hunt captured the simplicity and complexity of life in the rural South in the best way - he recorded it on paper - and now we all have something to cherish!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Beyond Romance Oct 01, 2007
In the American South after the Civil War -- so scarred as the culture was by fire and defeat -- it was two generations beyond Reconstruction before storytellers and writers managed to attain any objective distance from the events of seventy years previous. However, romantic notions of a glorious past had already spread, telling of a glorious place now "gone with the wind." There are no traces of that glorious South because it never existed -- but the romance of it persists, waving to this day atop more than one southern statehouse.
Mr. Hunt, on the other hand, ignores none of the uncomfortable truths of the past. Not that his book is without sentimental remembrance -- it certainly has plenty, and thank goodness. But hunt does not betray those precious remembrances by illustrating them for his readers through the gauzy web of selfish rationalizations. To be sure, Mr. Hunt has written a beautiful book -- not in spite of the truth because the ugly truths are here, too. Without them, the deception of their omission would ruin the book's ability to transform the pain into the possibility of redemption.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 The Last Witness From a Dirt Road Aug 09, 2006
The first chapter immediately had my attention due to a scene where you realize a journey to adulthood for a young boy is about to begin. I laughed, cried, and thoroughly enjoyed reading about an era that is now past, but not totally forgotten. It was enjoyable to read about an era where life was physically harder than today's world, but less stressful. An era where people generally helped each other, cared for each other, and knew the meaning of family. I would greatly enjoy reading more works from the author.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 A touching story Aug 07, 2006
"The Last Witness From A Dirt Road" is a wonderful read - heartfelt, warm, and thoughtful. Full of funny scenes and conversations, poignant descriptions of people and places, and touching portraits of the friends who filled his childhood, it is a true, complete, fulfilling tale of growth, with all its joys and pains. The book conveys with honesty and sensitivity the confusing emotional and intellectual chasm of growing up between the races in the southern United States in the mid-twentieth century. Sadly, the black and white worlds Mr. Hunt describes can't blend any more than allowed by the vision of a child's affectionate and colorblind eyes. Nonethteless, Mr. Hunt manages to capture a very real and tangible love between people; he is a solid storyteller and a talented dialogist who has given us a sweet, memorable tale. Months from reading it, I still carry the images with me - and some laughter, too.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Review by C. Arnouville Jul 23, 2006
Through the eyes of a child, Bill Hunt allows his readers to relive the year 1946 on a southern plantation. Mr. Hunt's description of life on the plantation is not only informational but amusing as well. Several times I found myself laughing out loud at some of the situations in which he found himself. Besides being a book that supplies the reader with history of the time, the author also expresses feelings,that we can all relate to, as life around him changes. Also, being from the same parish in Louisiana as the book's setting, I found myself able to relate to many things Mr. Hunt wrote of. This book is a book you will not want to put down and also one you will not want to finish. We should all be able to express our cherished memories as well as Bill Hunt has.
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