Mississippi Cotton
Apr 18, 2011
Mississippi Cotton
Author: Paul H. Yarbrough
Publisher: Wido Publishing
Publication Date: April 2011
ISBN: 978-0-9830238-0-7
This book brought back so many memories of my childhood in Mississippi. While it was set in the 1950s, the rural areas of the South didn't change all that much for a long time and so many mannerisms and phrases that are used in this book were also used when I was young. I was literally having flashbacks while reading this excellently descriptive book.
Paul does a wonderful job of making the characters, down to the littlest tics, come to life. You feel like you truly know them.
The story is set around 3 weeks in late summer when Jake goes to stay at his cousin's house and help bring in the cotton crop. After an exciting bus ride thru Mississippi, he arrives at their door only to already know the news that a dead man with bullet wounds was caught up on a fishing line just the day before. No one knows who he is.
So starts a great little story of Jake, his cousins, his summer - all wonderfully fleshed out and brought to life - along with the exciting mystery of a small town murder. Nothing brings an entire town together like death. Paul also manages to write from the viewpoint of a 10 year old boy very well.
Jake's description of his bus ride to his cousins, and the very interesting people he gets to sit with as a young-in on his own, was my favorite part of the book. I love when "Yeah boy" sits up like a bloodhound on a scent when "Yellow Teeth" pulls the dark bottle of liquor out of her purse!
Really sweet book that I quite enjoyed.
