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WHEN THE WHIPPOORWILL by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Kirkus Star

WHEN THE WHIPPOORWILL

By

Pub Date: April 29th, 1940
Publisher: Scribner

The author of The Yearling proves once again conclusively that she is a born story teller, in the tradition handed down from Homer, by which I mean that she makes her own, the folk tales, the anecdotes, the human interest stories that build around the people she knows intimately. In her case, the ""Florida crackers"" are the characters that people her stage. This volume of short stories succeeds in building and holding the interest in the same way that one's interest is built and held in a community newly encountered. They are linked by occasional crossing of the paths of characters, but more by a sustained quality of interest and humor and understanding. There is definitely more humor than in her full-length novels. There is abundant human understanding. And every story is a first rate story. Once again, the use of dialect is so integral a part of the story that, as in her previous books, it is no hurdle. Marjorie Rawlings is a many faceted genius.