A Death in the Family (Penguin Classics)

I came to this novel after reading extensively in the film criticism of James Agee, who was easily one of the great reviewers the genre has seen. As one critic pointed out, in his criticism, Agee takes the reader into the film, and not to concerns extraneous to the film, like so many reviewers (such as Pauline Kael, who writes beautifully, but whose comments sometimes seem to have very little to do with the film in question).
After reading his film criticism, I have to confess that I was somewhat disappointed by this novel. It was good, but it did not stand out in any way. So, if all this volume had to offer was the novel itself, I would be able to recommend it, but without too much enthusiasm.
But thankfully, that is not the case. In addition to the text of the novel A DEATH IN THE FAMILY, the volume contains as a sort of preface one of the most extraordinary short pieces in 20th century American fiction, the amazing "Knoxville: Summer of 1915." This piece was not written as part of the novel, but the editors of the volume wisely included it because both dealt with Knoxville. Also, the piece is so amazing that I am certain that they also wanted to include it so that it would not so easily get lost.
I read A DEATH IN THE FAMILY once. I have probably read "Knoxville: Summer of 1915" a good dozen times. So, if the idea of purchasing a book for the sake of a mere five pages seems extravagant, ask yourself, how many books do we reread bits of even a couple of times?
The piece, which was turned into a marvelous composition for voice by Samuel Barber, records the impressions of a typical summer evening, with the narrator a young child. The descriptions are so precise and tactile, that the reader almost feels as if his or her own impressions are being recorded. And despite being merely the record of an average evening moving from late afternoon to dusk to evening, Agee is able to make of it something universal and sad and metaphysical. There are many, many fine moments in this piece, from the first paragraph {beginning "We are talking now of summer evenings in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the time that I lived there so successfully disguised to myself as a child") to the absolutely amazing final paragraph (ending: "Those receive me, who quietly treat me, as one familiar and well-beloved in that home: but will not, oh, will not, not now, not ever; but will not ever tell me who I am").
I am not sure how strongly I would recommend this volume if it were for the novel alone, but anyone who loves great writing needs to own this volume so as to own one of the great short pieces in American literature.

Often books lose me when they primarily delve with introspection of depression. This book hovers around the extremely unexpected death of a father, brother, son and husband. It is full of depression.

Written during the author's twilight years, and posthumously published a few years after his death, the reader must think that the author wondered about the effect his own life would have upon those around him, and then transcribed those thoughts in the detailed folds amid this novel.

Often published as a playwright, this author extremely well places the language of the various affected parties with their various points of view of the tragedy which touches them all in very different ways. Many passages are laden with long back-and-forth discourse between parties in which they discuss what to do, how could such a thing happen, and like topics of when such unexpected but common events occur.

The decedent's brother is something of a yokel whose dialogue reminds me of Jeeter Lester of Tobacco Road. The wife is typically civil for a woman of this time - early 20th century. But, my favorite dialogue was when the young son discusses what happens, or even what happens between he and the bullies. The innocence of the child is reminiscent to the great dialogues in Call It Sleep.

This is not full of great story about a great or even ordinary man. It is about people's responses to an unfortunate event, and shows how contrasting the views and responses can be by people who are of the same cloth. It shows us how family can be tremendously different in so many other respects.

Agee, who gave us the words to Walker Evans' photoessay "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" and the script for the African Queen, was a genius. Like may geniuses he was erratic. I cannot read Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. I find it Joycian in all the worst senses of that word. But A Death in the Family is a different story.

If you read this and have the courage to really let it sink into you, you will feel the extraordinary pain of a family torn apart by a pedestrian but tragic event - an automobile crash. The shock hits you. The grief overcomes you. You feel the loss. In short, you understand. That is what all artists strive to do and what Agee stunningly succeeds at here.

The beauty here is the beauty of truth, mainlined slowly into your being. This is a book that can and probably will change the reader.

Several reviews have mentioned the breathtaking prelude "Knoxville: Summer of 1915" and some mention the Samuel Barber soprano version of this. To me that Barber piece ranks as one of the great American musical moments. That two such enormous accomplishments should derive from one small book is a tribute to the power and brilliance of James Agee at his finest.

A Death in the Family is devastating and heart-breaking and a perfect narrative. Anyone who has suffered a shocking loss experiences many emotions and may not know how to give voice to them; Agee finds a way to express them in sharply tuned phrases and precise observations. Although written many years ago, this book is not dated in any way. I was stunned by the prose - the careful use of words, the economy of sentences and the attention to important details. Impressive.

As with other reviewers of this book, certain passages will remain with me a long time as descriptions particularly well done , e.g., Ralph agonizing over his manhood and his alcohol in the room with family members as his father lies ill in bed. The picture Agee paints of Jay's daughter, Catherine, whether dealing with eternal questions or merely trying to color in spite of her bothersome brother, also are priceless.
With regard to questions of the church, which is so obviously Roman Catholic as evidenced by references to the rosary, Hail Marys, and family members 'crossing' themselves, one wonders why Agee included two distinctly Anglican prayers at the end. On p. 302 of the paperback edition, Mary and Hannah seem to recite the prayer For All Sorts and Conditions of Men ("O God, the creator and preserver of all mankind....") and The General Thanksgiving (Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we thine unworthy servants do give thee most most humble and hearty thanks...") - both found in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer (p. 58 and p.814).

anyone not familiar with this series should choose another title from it to start with.
i guessed the killer just from reading the endpapers, which was a great disappointment. usually, the plots in this series are wonderfully twisty and unpredictable, without being psychologically impossible. still, there was some interest in discovering how the crime was committed.
as with many other series, the point of reading each volume is not just the plot, its also the development of the characters' history.
although i wasn't thrilled with this installment, i will definitely read the next volume.

A fascinating tale of a "death in the family" experienced and seen through various eyes, wife's, brother-in-law, aunt and two small children. An unforgettable account of human emotions, empathy, love, misery, sadness, too gruesome to imagine. The irony is that this book was published after James Agee passed away. We can all relate to Rufus when he describes in detail the taunts, ridicule he endures from the older boys. It is a very shaky and unsafe world seen through young impressionable unsure eyes. A must read.

Originally being from Knoxville, TN I heard about this book my whole life. I had never picked it up until now and I am currently reading it. The amazing thing for me is the descriptions of Knoxville. Never have I read a book where I could actually SEE the scenes as Agee describes Forest Ave (my former room mate at UT moved there!) and the descriptions of the old Theatre and Gay Street are wonderful. The old Miller's building is now offices for UT but it still stands. Anyway, I have never been pulled into a novel like this one, but it may be the Knoxville connection. "Death In The Family" is an American classic and Mr. Agee passed on WAY before his time.

Personally, I am not someone who enjoys long, drawn-out pages about the little things in life. I don't criticize those who do; I just don't myself. And that's what this novel is like - pages upon pages concerning little happenings that lead up to and then follow the death of family man Jay. Quibbles about religion, food, funerals, hearing...while the scope of the story contains genuine feeling, it's just not enough for me. And, sadly for the reader, author Agee died before truly completing his work on the novel. The editors have now tacked passages Agee had written (but not yet included) onto the ends of each section; it strikes me as invasive, somehow - who knows what Agee would have done with them? Maybe he wouldn't have put them in after all...I just felt like I wanted to see more of what his original plan was. It's a good book and for some (as apparent from the many positive reviews) it will speak volumes and touch souls. It just didn't do it for me. But, it's in no way something that's unreadable or bad. It's most interesting, surely.

Agee is one of those writers who, for some reason, I always want to read aloud. It's a fairly difficult thing to do, because his pace and construction is so dependent on the sentiments underlying each sentence. And these, as is normal (I think) can vary from moment to moment, sentence to sentence. And these are so tightly wrought, I have no doubt that each word was carefully weighed. The power of voicing these sentiments, struggling with them, can be uncanny. Thankfully, you don't need a guide to understand his direction - this is language picked straight out of his life, and made sacred.

At first he seems to be playing games, faking you out with shifts in his foreshadowing. But despite awareness of the deployment of a strategy, I have never been able to sit down and read the whole thing straight through - my heart seems to stop, and I have to put it down. I get upset, viscerally. It tears me apart, up and down. A remarkable achievement- and if you have the time to look at an Agee biography, the vibrations only intensify.

in response: the deatils agee provides do not detract from his novel...i think that the intensity of detail reveals both the simplicity and complexity of the characters...he chronicles their simple actions--dressing and eating--and their complex musings in the same way...the novel's lyric beauty flows from that consistent tone...
for me, A Death in the Family was what i wished faulkner's books would be like...compelling, earnest,poetic, and utterly american...

This story is good and well-told but slow moving. James Agee manages to tell the story from the different characters' points of view . In the end it was a realistic, vivid account of an untimely death and how it effected young and old.

This book really is incredible. I disagree with people believing it is boring, I find it to be beautiful and intriguing. It made me think because it has so many layers. The partially autobiographical novel focuses on the affects of death on different characters, and the growth they have after this huge change.

The way Agee treats the human consciousness in this book is incredible- you will wonder if he just stepped into your mind and read it like a book. The circular motion of the characters' thinking is suprisingly on target. The characters dont seem overplayed and seem very real; I cared about them. The only thing I did not enjoy about the book was the complete turn around of styles of writing from section to section. I found this to be confusing and I feel it stopped the rhythm of the book.

Overall though, it was one of the most moving books I have ever read. Emotional and showing ways of living that work and ones that dont, I feel like it affected the way I view things. anyone who has read it-wasnt the butterfly part beautiful?

My first interest is this book came after seeing a performance of Samuel Barber's "Knoxville:Summer of 1915". Before the piece was performed there was a reading from "A Death in the family" upon which the opera was based. When I began reading I imediately understood why Agee's writing style would inspire such a beautiful piece of music. No, the book is not perfect. It is tedious in spots and parts of it just don't work, but it is some of the most beautiful prose I have ever read. It captures a world from a childs point of view: the dreamlike description of the child's environment, his love and trust in his parents, his sense of time etc. I believe this book is well-worth the read despite the rough spots. As another reviewer pionted out it is good to remember that the author died before completing the editing process.

With prose so beautiful it nearly makes one cry every other page, Agee traces the sudden change of a tranquil life better than anyone has before. This is a magical book as it seeks better understanding of humanity through loss. The prelude is about as good as anything ever written in the United States.

James Agee mastered the art of communication in his autobiographical novel, A Death in the Family. It is about Rufus, his mother, and his family as they try to cope with the loss of his father after a tragic car accident.
I would not have chosen this book off the shelf. In fact, I found it dreadfully dull when I was reading it for a class deadline. It dragged on while I impatiently pushed further to see if anything else happened (nothing else happened). This novel is definitely not the remedy for boredom, as it will bore you even more. However, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, A Death in the Family is the perfect book. When the reader can take their time and enjoy every single detail in the book, you really get a good sense about what Agee had noticed as a child robbed as his father. It's not about the fights, or the actual death of his father, but about the subtleties humans use in communication and how people deal with pain. For about half an hour of reading, Rufus' mother is talking with Aunt Hannah about what she needs to do before she goes to bed. They address each other politely, becoming nauseatingly repetitive if you are in a hurry, but displaying realistic human shock and unspoken communication. His mother also hangs onto her rosary beads, crosses herself and prays non-stop through out the novel, but Agee did not put all of the prayers in so we knew which ones she was saying. It was clear that she was looking for confidence in her religion, but was not sure if her God had actually betrayed her. Perhaps she should abandon religion? The atheists in the book are jilted as the dead father is not allowed a proper funeral ceremony since he was never baptized. Perhaps they should adopt religion? Why is it exclusive? These are all questions of human interaction that Agee's novel provokes. Ideally, Agee arouses introspective analysis in the reader. That is, if you have the patience.
Perhaps the book would have flowed better had Agee had a chance to edit it himself, but what the reader gets is the raw writing. Life with the family prior to the accident is exposed in two inserts of corresponding literature Agee wrote but did not originally put in the book. His widow and the publisher decided to stick the sections in to serve as dividers, creating three sections of the book and giving some perspective to the family. Those sections are some of the most beautiful sections of writing I have ever read. Agee turned Knoxville, Tennessee into the readers home, and made the front lawn something worthy of reading about.

A thoroughly moving portrayal of death. The characters are beautifully simple people and because their lives are so ordinary, it is easier for a reader to empathize with their loss. I'm not sure that "Death" is what you would call a "great novel" - very little happens - but at the very least it's some "great writing" and almost always manages to strike an authentic chord.

Timeless and evocative. Agee is a master. A few years ago there was a television special - while it was well done, it lacked Agee's language (of course). Just to think about the story and the words still brings up an indelible memory to this day.

The opening sequence of this novel set in Knoxville, Tennessee is among the most vivid scenes ever written. You will feel you are there. The novel is a poignant coming of age for a child losing a parent. It's wonderful and unforgettable.

"Have to double the charge mister, cross at night" he said.
"You generally always come o' Sundays, yer womurn couple o' young-un's?"
"Yeahp"
This is generally the way Jams Agee wrote in a death in the Family. This would be a typical conversation between to African American men in the 1940s
The setting is a very important aspect of this novel. Agee writes about what he sees in everyday life in the cold winter of the 1940s. If it had been set in the summer it would not have been as powerful. Also it would not have shown the struggles of an African American family if it was set at a different time.
The diction in Agee's novel plays the most important role in telling the story. Agee writs what he hears people saying. Just as if it was right in front of a person.
An example of this would be "till", "don't believe"
The characters in this novel make the story come to life. These people are the typical people of this time. There's Jay, his wife, their two kids, Uncle Ralph, grandma and grandpa Follet. There is a very exciting twist in the book when Jay goes to check on his father (grandpa Follet).
A Death in the family is a very exciting book. It contains a lot of twists and turns. You'll never want to put it down.

I am generally a tolerant, open-minded individual. But people who are not struck by the beauty and detail and wisdom in this book are not people who I understand. A Death in the Family illuminates the beauty and complexity of human relationships and will want to make you give your friends and family a hug. It is also really well-written. A must read.

No surprise, this is not an uplifting subject matter. Nevertheless, this is one of the most amazingly well written novels I have read in a long time. (To be honest, I try to read about one book a week - many of which are highly rated.) Those of you who have enjoyed this novel - take a minute, go to the library, check out or read Agee's biography; cuz this book is based on his father dying when he was six years old. Sooo, although it is fiction - and amazing - it is truly based on fact. Wonderful & Enjoyable!

As other reviewers have stated, the opening passage "Knoxville: Summer 1915" (which was separate from the original manuscript)sets an impossible standard for the rest of the novel. It is undoubtedly one of the most adept, vivid, moving prose poems in the English language. The novel itself is characterized by a profound honesty and humanity-- these are some of the best-rendered characters I have ever encountered. The plot is very simple (the most crucial incident in the book takes place within the first fifty pages), and yet its message is beautiful and wise and sad. This is not a "perfect" book by any means, but it is a masterpiece in its own right.

I was surprised and disappointed that this long-awaited story spends more time on the relationships among it's regular characters than on a mystery plot. More soap opera than suspense. Dear Miss McGown, get back to what you're good at and leave the personal backgrounds of your characters to a minimum. And as little of the baby as possible....please.

Agee was an excellent writer, and in this book he evokes both the joy of living and the numbness of loss masterfully. But after rereading this book a couple times (I felt its reputation warranted another chance), I cannot shake my initial impression that his portrayal of wife and daughter were a bit on the sentimental side. Mary in particular drove me crazy. Her sweetness was cloying, her strength undermined by breathy speeches--which are emphasized with too many italics for my taste. I wish I could agree with all the positive reviews, but for me the quality of writing could not make up for characters and dialogue that drove me bats.

This book is a classic of 20th century American literature. You don't need a review by an amatuer -- it has been covered well by professional critics.

The narrative could justly be called the ultimate "family values" novel. Much, but by no means all, of the story is told through the eyes of six-year-old Rufus. However, James Agee also gives the reader fully grown-up glimpses into the hearts of all the main characters. We see the deepest bonds of love transcending profound differences. Devout Catholics and deeply conflicted agnostics cling to each other in the face of death's finality.

This is no sweetness and light, easy answers book. It is troubling and haunting, but in the end inspiring.

This book is a beautifully written novel about life and death in the early 20th century as seen through the eyes of a young boy. It is almost lyrical in the way it is written. The story revolves around a young family's father being killed instantly and unexpectantly. The character portrayals are so sharp that the reader feels he knows them intimately, and it is easy to relate them to our everyday acquaintances and relatives. This book is a must-read true classic.

This book is a beautifully written novel about life and death in the early 20th century as seen through the eyes of a young boy. It is almost lyrical in the way it is written. The story revolves around a young family's father being killed instantly and unexpectantly. The character portrayals are so sharp that the reader feels he knows them intimately, and it is easy to relate them to our everyday acquaintances and relatives. This book is a must-read true classic.

I enjoy reading the classics but this one I could have lived without. Boring, wordy, endless conversations. No story, meaningless metaphors. Maybe it was a good read in its day but definitely lost something over time.