One Mississippi

Written by Mark Childress

Narrated by Jeff Woodman

Mark Childress is the author of the New York Times best-seller Crazy in Alabama. Here he again turns his keen literary eye to smalltown Southern living. Yankee transplant Daniel Musgrove can't seem to fit in at his Mississippi high school. When he meets fellow outsider Tim Cousins, things look up. Then the two boys' battles with a local bully escalate into a violent act that rocks the town. "Childress eloquently addresses racism, tentative adolescent love, family dysfunction ... with plenty of wit and insight ..."-Booklist

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 10, 2008
• ISBN: 9781449800550

Reviews for One Mississippi

[howifeelaboutbooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was very well-written, it was my first Mark Childress novel and I was blown away by it. I thought it was a very interesting and realistic story about a boy, Daniel, uprooted during the already-difficult high school years. His family moves to Mississippi and he has to adjust to basically being sent back into the past, where race is still an issue. There is a lot of action throughout this book, vivid experiences had by Daniel and his friend Tim. However, a scene at the book's ending is a little out of the blue. While it didn't bother me too much, my parents read it and hated it because of the ending. Living through that time period made them realize how unlikely the ending events were. It is a good story but I probably wouldn't recommend it because of that reason.

[unkletom_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found this coming-of-age tale of a friendship of two high school misfits entertaining and engaging although some of the people who I read this with found that it didn’t ring true to them. That could be because they were raised in the South during the 1970s and saw few similarities between the novel and their own experiences growing up. It could also be that the author, Mark Childress, has a habit of injecting a high degree of absurdity into his novels. (Readers of Crazy in Alabama will know what I mean.) I find his unique way of looking at the world both humorous and thought-provoking. The reader may have difficulty seeing the events happening in the real world but it is interesting to suspend disbelief and just roll with it. Some of the events in the book, unfortunately, are far too familiar to most readers. Bullying those who don’t quite fit is so common that one would be hard-pressed to name somewhere where it doesn’t occur. The psychic damage it causes can last a lifetime. Bottom line: I really enjoyed this novel although I’m not sure it is quite as memorable as Crazy in Alabama. This may be because the events that it deals with can be found almost daily in the news.My thanks to the folks at the On the Southern Literary Trail group for giving me the opportunity to read and discuss this and many other fine books.

[tamarack804-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good coming of age book. I liked it for that reason. Good read but a little drawn out.

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow - would one kid, in one year, have had to deal with multiple family challenges, racism, issues related to homosexuality, a brother getting drafted to Vietnam, and coming-of-age and losing his virginity and trying to get through high school? Well, maybe in 1970-71, in the years of turmoil following the Civil Rights Act and corresponding with the Youth revolution.

[alphawoman_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book. There was something off center about the ending.

[presto_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The move to Mississippi does not come at a good time for Daniel, in his teens he must leave his friends and face the prospect of building new relationship at this difficult age. But when he and his family arrive in Mississippi the is the least of his problems, his accent puts him at odds with is new classmates and he has to re-learn how to speak. As for friendship he soon meets another loner in the form of Tim Cousins, and the two boys soon become best friends.Daniel and Tim are either together or when not they are on the phone to each other, and together they go through the girl thing, eccentric teachers, taking part in a questionable musical called Christ!, and taking their dates to the school prom. It is following the prom that an incident puts everything at risk, and Daniel and Tim's insistence on keeping quite about what really happened has multiple repercussions.This is a worthy read that explores many of the difficulties teenagers experience, and the complications of relationships; all the more convincing for neither Tim nor Daniel is a handsome jock, but just two ordinary boys with all the insecurities common to youths. But whatever Daniel experiences one cannot help but think that he comes out of it a better person.

[witchyrichy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I LOVED Georgia Bottoms...it was wickedly funny. So, I was a little surprised by the more serious tone of One Mississippi. There were funny scenes that resonated with anyone who grew up in the 70s, but the unexpected violence seemed to be a contemporary imposition on the story.

[erinclark_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lots going on in the story. Coming of age, racism, prejudice, integration, homosexuality, family dysfunction, friendship, first love and much more. I really, really enjoyed it. The author brought all these issues together in one well told story. I was in high school in the 70's just like the main character Daniel and it brought back lots of memories of the music and what it was like to be a teenager during this time. It's a serious look at issues that we still deal with today but it does have a lot of humor thrown in to lighten things up occasionally. Highly recommended.

[bnbookgirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. The storylines covers a myriad of social issues: desegregation, homosexuality, family dynamics, bullying, friendship, and, of course the seventies. For those of us who were in high school in the '70's, this book will resonate with you. (Powder blue tux's, crepe paper in the gym, and Sonny and Cher) This story starts out with humor and then turns much darker, but, the humor does stay intersperesed throughout the story. The characters are all well written and we probably all knew someone like them in our high school. A great, well-written story that builds until the very end. A great book for book groups as there are many issues to discuss. Will most definately read other titles by this author.

[dawnlovesbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

the ending of this book completely blew me away. childress is a great writer. he brings mississippi alive on the pages of his book!

[miyurose_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thought this was an incredible story. What starts out as a tale of youthful innocence ends up as so, so much more. The results of that first, relatively small lie cannot be imagined even by the reader. Despite the dark undertones and serious subjects tackled by Childress in this portrait of the South in the early 70s, there is a lot of laughter and fun here — the Fullflower Baptist Church musical, what Daniel’s father does after he loses his job, Daniel and Tim’s meeting with Cher, for example. All you can do in the end is trust that Daniel will be okay. It was so much more than I was expecting.

[carolynschroeder · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I thought this book was excellent until the ending. I thought the ending was horrible, unrealistic, did not go in line with the characters and basically just a play off all the fiction dealing with "high school shooters." The racism aspect was handled very well and overall, it was funny and interesting ... which is why I gave it 2.5 stars as opposed to zero.

[mashley_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good read, good southern description. Less depressing than Crazy out of Alabama

[ugagirl_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Did anyone else feel like they were tricked into reading this book? Not what I expected.

[wittyreaderli · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was extremely powerful and enjoyable for me. Meet Danny who is part of a pretty strange family that moves frequently. He moves to Mississippi where it is racially segregated and immediately becomes best friends with Tim, who has a great sense of humor. They hang out all the time and eventually go to the prom with two unattrative girls. Arnita, an African American girl is crowned prom queen much to the surprise of the white population. But an incident changes all of their lives. This book had a LOT of twists and turns, as well as memorable, well developed characters. It went from being funny to extremely serious and soon became a page turner. This one the first book I finished in 2007.

[tanyatomato · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I had such high hopes for this book, but my star rating kept falling as I turned the pages. I really didn't find the characters believable or compelling, and where did I get the idea that it was funny before I started it. That was not true.