Ah...well, this kind of reads like a "G" rated version of some of Caldwell's more popular works, namely God's Little Acre, Tobacco Road, and my personal favorite so far, Estherville.A collection of tales featuring the poor Southern Stroup family: Morris Stroup the patriarch - a philandering, unemployed simpleton always out to make money with some convoluted scheme, and whose failures are repeatedly blamed on Handsome (the "boy" who "works" for them), the bitter, though ridiculously complacent matriarch, Martha Stroup, and William, their son who is the innocent idiot-in-training and narrator of their escapades. As you might imagine with a child narrator, there is a lot going on the reader understands that the narrator does not. Still, rather than coming off as a biting commentary on poverty and prejudice in the South (like in the other books mentioned), I kept feeling like this was an edgier and less politically correct equivalent of Gomer Pile and the gang from Mayberry, or a nastier/darker Southern version of Dagwood and Blondie. In that sense, it felt less like rebuke and more like entertainment. So, not quite what I expected from the previous works I've read and that I've really enjoyed. However, I can see how this might have had appeal at the time it was written. Who would I recommend this to today? probably fans of Caldwell's work who are interested in exploring his writing across the board and/or those who wanted to like his other work but just couldn't get past the rawness of it.
Excelente libro de relatos sobre el profundo sur de los Estados Unidos. A través de la voz del hijo de los Stroup entramos en la vida de la familia y llegamos a la conclusión de que lo último que se puede ser en ese momento (principios del siglo XX) es una negra, un negro, una blanca; y lo mejor, una miserable piedra. Con una ligereza engañosa, tal y como señala el traductor, José Luis Piquero, Erskine Caldwell nos golpea y le da la razón al prologuista: «El mal no existe en un solo individuo sino en el cuerpo social».
