ARRELL

by Marion Montgomery ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1964

The myth of the deep South rises again in this story of a young country boy who buys a house in town with the money from his inherited land and drags Granny to live with him in it. Granny is a fine old character, filled to the brim of her utter churn with homey wisdom. Darrell is a twenty-year-old epileptic obsessed with his motorcycle and the monkeys and flamingos in an Atlanta zoo he has never seen. Five-year-old Sandra Lee, doomed by leukemia, rallies to Darrell's Atlanta fantasies, while the rest of the neighborhood innocents take his lies for what they are. What with his ""fits"" and the aggressive little boy across the street, who hasn't yet figured out that he is actually the illegitimate descendant of a great Southern general and not an adopted orphan, Darrell's life becomes increasingly more difficult. After he has been in jail for a ""fit"" while driving and has lost his job, Darrell turns to his only faithful believer and lavishes his promises on Sandra Lee. A few days before her inevitable death, Darrell runs them both over a bridge on the forbidden motorcycle, all in pursuit of a great colored kite. The doomed die together. A simple, sympathetic narrative, the novel may be true enough to the life it opitomizes, but it is a mite too apocryphal for comfort. Carson McCullers without strength.

Pub Date: May 1, 1964

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1964

Categories: FICTION