Sadly, this was a book that I admired more than I enjoyed.

It was just not for me, even though I completely understand how it is regarded as a Southern Lit classic.

The story might have had its merits and might have been highly regarded in the literary world, but for some reason, it failed to resonate with me on a personal level.

Perhaps it was the writing style, or maybe the themes and characters didn't speak to my interests.

Nonetheless, I can appreciate the craftsmanship and the significance that this book holds within the genre of Southern Literature.

It's just one of those cases where I can recognize the quality of a work, but it doesn't necessarily mean that I had a great time reading it.

Maybe others will find more enjoyment and connection with this classic, but for me, it remains a book that I admire from a distance.

The Introduction to the classic by Eudora Welty, Delta Wedding, was penned by one of my most cherished authors, Ann Patchett. She recalls first stumbling upon Eudora Welty at the tender age of fourteen. At that time, she was residing on the periphery of a tobacco farm outside Raleigh, North Carolina. It was when she read a short story by Ms. Welty that a profound realization dawned upon her. She recognized those characters and the landscape, and perhaps, just perhaps, she too could embark on the path of being a writer, thereby transforming her life. Ann Patchett proclaims that while she adored all of her books, Delta Wedding held a special place among her favorites. And one of my favorite quotes from her Introduction that neatly encapsulates Delta Wedding is:

\\n  

\\"It's as messy a story, in fact, as real life is.\\"

\\n

Delta Wedding is a southern classic novel by Eudora Welty that is set over the course of one week in September 1923 on the Fairchilds plantation, Shellmound, in the Mississippi Delta. This novel is character-driven and lacks a traditional plot. Instead, one gets to observe the South and its numerous idiosyncrasies through the multigenerational Fairchilds family. They have all converged for the impending wedding of Dabney, the second eldest daughter of Battle and Ellen Fairchild, who is now expecting their tenth child. The story unfolds primarily through the eyes of nine-year-old Laura McRaven, who has journeyed alone from Jackson. Laura's mother, Annie Laurie, was a Fairchild. She had passed away the previous winter, and this visit presents an opportunity for Laura to become acquainted with her mother's family since she has not returned since the funeral.

This was Laura's first solo adventure. Her father accompanied her part of the way, as far as Yazoo City, and then put her on the Yazoo-Delta line, affectionately nicknamed the Yellow Dog. Every window on the train was propped open, and yellow butterflies flitted in and out at will. It is noted that outdoors, a single butterfly could keep pace with the train.

\\n  

\\"Thoughts went out of her head and the landscape filled it. In the Delta, most of the world seemed sky. The clouds were large--larger than horses or houses, larger than boats or churches or gins, larger than anything except the fields the Fairchilds planted.\\"

\\"The land was perfectly flat and level but it shimmered like the wing of a lighted dragonfly. It seemed strummed, as though it were an instrument and something had touched it. Sometimes in the cotton were trees with one, two or three arms--she could draw better trees than those were.\\"

\\"In the Delta the sunsets were reddest light. The sun went down lopsided and wide as a rose on a stem in the west, and the west was a milk-white edge, like the foam of the sea. The sky, the field, the little track, and the bayou, over and over--all that had been bright or dark was now one color. From the warm window sill the endless fields glowed like a hearth in the firelight, and Laura, looking out, leaning on her elbows with her head between her hands, felt what an arriver in a land feels-- that slow hard pounding in the breast.\\"

\\n

As Laura is enfolded by this large, loving, and complex Fairchilds family during her stay at Shellmound, I found myself having to trust that I wasn't overlooking an important plot point and simply delight in the chaos.

And I must admit that I am not at all surprised that Eudora Welty was Ann Patchett's favorite author. Ann Patchett has, over the years, given us a twenty-first-century Eudora Welty in the way she weaves her beloved stories and creates her unforgettable characters. I will most definitely be delving into more works by both writers.

Yawn.

Do you know why we yawn? Yawning is a common involuntary action that occurs when we are tired, bored, or in need of more oxygen.

When we yawn, we take in a deep breath and then exhale slowly. This helps to increase the oxygen levels in our blood and can also help to stretch our muscles and joints.

Interestingly, yawning is also contagious. Have you ever noticed that when you see someone else yawn, you are more likely to yawn too? This is because our brains are wired to mirror the actions and emotions of those around us.

So, the next time you find yourself yawning, don't worry. It's just your body's way of telling you that it needs a break or some more oxygen. And if you see someone else yawning, don't be surprised if you can't help but yawn too!

DNF (Did Not Finish) at 50 pages.

This book has an excessive number of characters, which makes it rather cumbersome to follow.

Moreover, it seems to lack a clear point or purpose.

I have wasted a significant amount of time attempting to make sense of it and find some value in the story.

However, despite my efforts, I have come to the conclusion that it is simply not worth my while to continue.

The convoluted plot and the large cast of characters have made it a tiresome read.

I feel that I could have spent my time more productively on other books or activities.

Perhaps if the author had streamlined the narrative and focused on a more central theme, it might have been a more engaging read.

But as it stands, I am left disappointed and ready to move on to something else.

Nozze sul Delta is a book with soft and evocative atmospheres. It's no coincidence that Eudora Welty is considered one of the greatest exponents of Southern Literature Class. We are faced with a very geographical and territorial writing, in which the Mississippi, besides representing an anthropological imagination, separates one part of the territory from the other, becoming central for narrative purposes.

The true protagonist of the novel is the deep and authentic South that the author describes in its muffled stillness, in a fresco out of time but not for this unfaithful to historical transience.

The whole narration revolves around the preparations for the wedding between the young Dabney and Troy, the superintendent of the cotton plantation, a rough, lower-class man whom she hardly knows.

Nozze sul Delta, besides restoring to us a photograph of other times of the Mississippi, bases its narration on the construction of dialogues, which are rhythmical and coquettish, very faithful to the southern spirit of its characters.

Initially, I was quite fascinated by the atmospheres of Eudora Welty. However, as I continued reading, I missed the narrative bite. Nozze sul Delta is a book that caresses you but doesn't scratch you and therefore left me somewhat dissatisfied.

I recommend it to you if you love books of atmosphere, collective situations, and characters to discover beyond social appearance. If you are looking for something stronger and if you believe that violence leaves an inevitable mark, perhaps it's not the right book for you.

Anyway, I intend to read more of Eudora Welty and I'm curious about her short stories.

Read this for book club.

I mean, I truly understand. I really do. It is extremely Southern and old-fashioned. The details of family life and emotions are truly astonishing. But for me, it was just average. There was too much DH Lawrence and Virginia Woolf in my academic life, so I can't really appreciate that style nowadays.

However, I completely understand why Miss Welty is significant in literature. This is the kind of substantial text that college students can study and analyze in countless ways. I no longer have to engage in that, so I don't desire to. :)

The story seems to be a classic portrayal of Southern life, with its focus on family dynamics and the subtleties of human relationships. While it may not be to my personal taste, I can see the value and importance it holds in the literary world. It offers a rich and complex narrative that can be explored and understood from multiple perspectives.

Perhaps if I were still a college student, I would have a different appreciation for it. But at this stage in my life, I am more interested in other types of literature that speak to me on a more personal level. Nevertheless, I respect the work of Miss Welty and can recognize its place in the literary canon.

Indeed the Fairchilds took you in circles, whirling delightedly about, she thought, stirring up confusions, hopefully working themselves up. But they did not really want anything they got--and nothing really, nothing really so very much happened! These two sentences, the thought of Robbie Reid, are the perfect summary of Delta Wedding. Once you understand this, you understand why the book is the way it is.

The plot is simple. Laura McRaven, whose mother is recently dead, travels from Jackson, MS to the Mississippi Delta plantain of Shellmound, the seat of the Fairchild family of which her mother was a part, for Dabney Fairchild's wedding to the overseer, Troy Flavin. And when she arrives, she finds the whole house a whirl of preparation and activity.

That whirl makes this a hard book to outline. There is a huge cast of characters. Among them are Aunt Jim Allen, George Fairchild and his wife Robbie Reid, Battle and Ellen Fairchild who are the masters of Shellmound, and Laura. Not one sits still for more than a few minutes. The Fairchilds are a boisterous clan, everyone always doing something, going somewhere, saying something to someone or no one.

Keeping things and people straight isn't a reason to read this book. If you need everything to be untangled to understand or enjoy a book, then you won't like this one. Normally, I wouldn't like a book like this. But this is a southern book. It's as though Eudora Welty didn't write the book so much as breathe out the essence of being southern onto the page.

Only in the south could this story ever happen. It's not just the unique Mississippi Delta with its rich farmland and Delta blues. It's the whole culture. Southern culture is under attack today, but it still exists. And in Delta Wedding, you get a more clear and concentrated exposure to this southernness than in any other book I've read.

The language is delightful. This is the first Welty book I've read, and it surprised me. I usually find \\"classics\\" tedious, but this book is anything but. Welty's use of words is gorgeous, in a southern way that reminds me of James Lee Burke's descriptions of Louisiana. When reading this book, I could \\"see\\" the Delta and \\"hear\\" its sounds.

I'm going to read more of Eudora Welty, or try to anyway, based on this book. Maybe I won't like anything else she wrote, but anyone who could write Delta Wedding is worth giving all the chances in the world.

Delta Wedding was Eudora Welty's first novel, following her success as a short story writer. The precision of her language and description, which worked well in short stories, sometimes causes an overload in this novel. The scenes change frequently, and the detailed descriptions can become burdensome by the mid-point. However, the characterization and family background are a major strength. Welty brings to life a large and elaborate family with backstory and history. The individuals are complex and intertwined, and their interactions are carried through the tumultuous week before the wedding. Although I felt the work was flawed, it was still quite good. Having read her final novel, The Optimist's Daughter, earlier this week, I can see how she developed as a novelist. Even in this early work, Welty manages to capture time, place, and family with beautiful detail. The work is also crafted with tenderness towards the characters, making it a charming read. This book was enough to convince me to purchase a collection of all of Welty's short stories.

I don't think I am the intended audience for this book.

While I did appreciate the visual nature of the writing, which painted vivid pictures in my mind, the content was simply not something I could truly stick to.

Many people have found great comfort in this book, but for me, I could only dwell on the thought of how I would never be accepted into this fictional family, nor into the society it portrays.

This sense of exclusion prevented me from fully enjoying the supposed comforts that the book offers.

However, I must admit that the book has a deeply personal nature to it.

It is evident that Eudora Welty is a very good writer, as she is able to convey such complex emotions and create a world that feels so real.

Despite not being able to fully connect with the content, I can still recognize the literary merit and skill that went into writing this book.

Perhaps if I were in a different frame of mind or had a different set of experiences, I might have been able to appreciate it more.

But as it stands, I simply cannot find the same level of comfort and enjoyment that others seem to have found within its pages.

The novel actionless is fine as it is, completely made up of descriptions, wallpapers with soft colors, dolls neatly arranged on the table in the bow window, quiet and allusive chatter that is sometimes dreamy. The narration with a slow and placid rhythm like a great river is also good. However, given these premises, I was lacking a certain quid.

The large number of sentences and thoughts with an absolutely vague, indefinite, sibylline meaning (or perhaps it is more sincere to admit non-existent...) finally ends up frustrating and irritating. At times it reminded me of something of Lispector. And also of Joyce's Dubliners, read a thousand years ago.

The aspects of modernity, indeed contemporaneity, are undeniable: the large and solid American family is always the same as the one we still find in many films and series today. The sense of loneliness endured by each member of the family, a sensation paradoxically even more accentuated precisely by living so closely together, always together, everything in total sharing: in the final analysis, a more wretched loneliness than true and proper loneliness, and this too is a very topical theme. The polyphony of the novel is in perfect balance: we expect to see one of the family members emerge, but instead they all remain on the same level. The female point of view: not particularly dissected but also not banalized. It should also be noted a principle of falling in love between the in-laws Ellen and George: it is told well because it is only hinted at and not overdone.

Moral: one of those readings with a controversial outcome; if on the one hand it bored me, it is true that on the other hand it still makes me happy to have read it and the memory of having been immersed in it remains pleasant.

Abandoned - this book, which I assume was meant to have detailed descriptions of the southern comfort type of life that we all allegedly love, actually put me into a coma.

Perhaps this is because I simply don't perceive the south as being that comfortable at all.

The author's attempt to paint a vivid picture of the southern lifestyle might have fallen flat for me.

Maybe I have a different perspective on what constitutes comfort in the south.

It could be that the descriptions in the book didn't resonate with my own experiences or expectations.

Or perhaps the author's writing style didn't engage me enough to keep my interest.

Whatever the reason, this book failed to live up to my expectations and left me feeling rather disappointed.

I recently came across an interesting statement. Amy Poehler said that she had no idea what Parks & Rec was about. Well, let me tell you, Leslie Knope, I have NO IDEA what Delta Wedding was about either.

Delta Wedding is a book that I thought I would understand easily, but boy was I wrong. I started reading it with high hopes, thinking it would be a simple and enjoyable story. However, as I delved deeper into the pages, I found myself completely lost.

The characters seemed to be doing things without any clear purpose, and the plot was so convoluted that I couldn't follow it. I tried my best to make sense of it all, but it was just too much for me. Maybe I'm not smart enough to understand this book, or maybe it's just not my cup of tea.

Either way, I have to admit that I have NO IDEA what Delta Wedding was about. But hey, at least I gave it a try!