THE FOUR LIVES OF MUNDY TOLLIVER

by Ben Lucien Burman ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

An unpretentious and sincere mirroring of hill and river people follows the wanderings of Mundy Tolliver, a World War II veteran, who is seeking the fulfillment of a dream -- a wife, a home, roots and a way of life. Returning South, he picks up Pee Wee, another footloose vet, and they try tugboating on the river. He meets Essie, an innocent from the backwoods, introduces her to the movies and the excitement of a carnival, but her bigoted mother forbids their marriage. When they buy a motorized ""travelling store"" with their savings, he and Pee Wee move on and Pee Wee moves out when an accident leaves him in the arms of his nurse. Mundy roams further, helps to save his uncle's farm from a foreclosed mortgage and winds up in jail with a moonshiner. Released, he learns that his savings have been squandered by the man to whom he had entrusted them and drifts further South where he joins the crew of a Chinese shrimp boat in the Gulf of Mexico. There he weds a faithless mail order bride but eventually he returns to Essie, who is now free, with the death of her mother, to marry him when his divorce is final. The audience that has followed Burman's kindly tally of Americans at home and on the march will find here native, homespun warmth, humor. Again the decorations are by Alice Caddy.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Messner

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1953

Categories: FICTION