Cakewalk, Lee Smith
Cakewalk, Lee Smith
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Cakewalk

Author: Lee Smith

Narrator: Linda Stephens, Kate Forbes, Tom Stechschulte

Unabridged: 9 hr 48 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 01/16/2008

Categories: Fiction, Short Stories


Synopsis

First published in 1982, Cakewalk was the first short story collection by iconic Southern writer Lee Smith. Comic and observant, Smith's fourteen tales in Cakewalk introduce readers to a host of memorable Southern characters. Her protagonists include aging gossips, a soap opera–hooked housewife, a runaway teenager, and divergent sisters in various combinations. Smith's gutsy Southern women don't always triumph, but, with her sympathetic portrayals, readers gain appreciation for the merits of spirited perseverance, right or wrong, in the face of modern adversity. The characters are everyday folks with everyday problems, particularly the tensions of home and family and loneliness and connection. Smith is keenly aware of the foibles that make people so maddeningly funny but also deeply sensitive to their pain and sorrow. "Cakewalk is great fun, its tales shrewdly observant of segments of North Carolina life."—Wall Street Journal

Reviews

Goodreads review by Carol on February 28, 2017

I am thrilled to say I won this book in a Bookreads Giveaway! I really enjoyed this collection of short stories that center around the lives of, to say the least, quirky women. And what I really enjoyed most is how I still ruminate about these women and theirblives, especially, "Dear Phil Donahue.".......more

Goodreads review by Holly on March 24, 2015

Being from the south originally I absolutely loved this book!......more

Goodreads review by Jimmy Lee on February 16, 2019

I haven't read any Lee Smith before, and I'm not a native southerner (which means "only in the south" is something that gets said a lot in my house). That may account for why I found half of the short stories in this book enjoyable, and the other half a little off. I loved "Between the Lines," about......more

Goodreads review by Ann on July 08, 2024

14 short stories by the author of “Fair and Tender Ladies”, “Saving Grace” and “The Christmas Letters.” Characters include a runaway teenager, a soap opera hooked housewife, and sisters in various combinations.......more

Goodreads review by Mary on May 24, 2024

Excellent collection of short stories by this wonderful story teller.......more