Red Sky at Morning: A Novel
4.5/5
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About this ebook
“Red Sky at Morning is a minor marvel: it is a novel of paradox, of identity, of an overwhelming YES to life that embraces with wonder what we are pleased to call the human condition. In short, a work of art.” — Harper Lee
Hailed by the Washington Post Book World as “a sort of Catcher in the Rye out West,” Richard Bradford’s Red Sky at Morning is the classic coming-of-age story set during World War II about the enduring spirit of youth and the values in life that count.
In the summer of 1944, Frank Arnold, a wealthy shipbuilder in Mobile, Alabama, receives his volunteer commission in the U.S. Navy and moves his wife, Ann, and seventeen-year-old son, Josh, to the family’s summer home in the village of Corazon Sagrado, high in the New Mexico mountains. A true daughter of the Confederacy, Ann finds it impossible to cope with the quality of life in the largely Hispanic village and, in the company of Jimbob Buel—an insufferable, South-proud, professional houseguest—takes to bridge and sherry. Josh, on the other hand, becomes an integral member of the Sagrado community, forging friendships with his new classmates, with the town’s disreputable resident artist, and with Amadeo and Excilda Montoya, the couple hired by his father to care for their house.
Josh narrates the story of his fateful year in Sagrado and, with irresistibly deadpan, irreverent humor, describes the events and people who influence his progress to maturity. Unhindered by his mother's disdain for these "tacky, dusty little Westerners," Josh comes into his own and into a young man's finely formed understanding of duty, responsibility, and love.
Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in a hundred foreign languages. She died in 1976, after a prolific career spanning six decades.
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Reviews for Red Sky at Morning
7 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Written in a witty and sarcastic tone, Red Sky at Morning is a novel about a young man who comes of age during his father's absence fighting on a ship during WW II. The author's writing style is unique and at times a bit unclear. Bradford communicates meaning as much by what he leaves unsaid as by what he says. While the book's focus isn't WW II, the plot revolves around the way that people handle challenges and the stress that results from these challenges. Overall, the novel includes interesting characters and settings. This is a good novel for the study of style.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I actually own two different editions of this book. It is one of my all time favorites. It was the standard audio book for all our car vacations, and I deeply regret the fact that it does not appear to be available on cd. Funny, touching, it's everything a coming-of-age book should be.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A friend of mine has been recommending this classic coming-of-age story to me for years. There is a lot going on in this book -- a Mobile, Alabama family uproots during WWII as the father enlists in the navy, and the mother and 17-year-old son are sent to their summer home in Corazon Sagrado, New Mexico. Josh, the son, fits right in once he adjusts to the altitude, and navigates his way through high school with an irreverent, deadpan sense of humor. His mother, a sheltered and delicate southern belle founders in middle-of-nowhere New Mexico, with little to do but drink her way through cases of sherry, suffer though bad bridge, and complain about the disorder of racial and class boundaries. Bradford draws some unforgettable characters, though I felt the kids were a little too self-possessed to be fully credible. Josh's father is a model of wit and decency, and his interactions with his son both in person and in letters made me laugh out loud. I really enjoyed it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm having some trouble coming up with a review of this book. See, I liked it quite a bit, but at the same time, I felt like there wasn't really a major plot thread to it. The book is basically a snapshot of a year in the life of Joshua Arnold, a seventeen year old from Mobile, Alabama, who moves to his family's summer home in New Mexico when his father leaves to fight in WWII. The narration and dialogue are incredibly witty and fun, and I've never seen a more unreliable narrator than Josh. I was really fascinated by that, knowing that I couldn't trust what he was reporting. The book deals with alcoholism, violence, and other dark subjects, but the sarcastic tone seemed to mellow down the darkness.I really enjoyed it, even if I did read it wondering when a major plot was going to pop up.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An authentic narrataive voice catches the spirit of 1940's in a story that transplants a teenager to an isolated hamlet in New Mexico with his despondent mother.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wonderful, brief coming of age novel set in rural New Mexico during WWII. The hero is a 17 year old boy Mobile, AL transplant and his mother. Funny, sometimes zany with a fine sense of place and believable characters. Not quite a "Catcher In The Rye" out west, but close. Read it and you won't be disappointed.