Reviews for Roxanna Slade

The average rating for Roxanna Slade based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-10-24 00:00:00 Daniel Kenny An ordinary woman with an ordinary life sounds dull, but she had many of the same crisis that we face: a cheating husband, a bout with her "torment," a mean mother in law, a daughter who got pregnant at 13, and the satisfaction of complete love. I've never read a description of depression as full and deep as this. Reynolds Price captures the subtleties of aging perfectly and for a man to be able to speak in a woman's voice so well is genius.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-11-29 00:00:00 Kenneth Wennerberg This is my second go-round with Roxanna Slade. I wanted to do it justice, so I read it again. Though Reynolds Price is one of my favorite writers, the experience was no better the second time. This just isn't up to some of his other books. Roxanna is an interesting character, but she comes across badly regarding her mother-in-law. If Olivia is a monster, Price hasn't fully shown it. The events in the novel unfold languidly, with the exception of the beginning. Price's writing is as beautiful as ever: "He was as quiet as warm dust under your feet." "I honor good looks as a gift from God, especially when the looks endure long years which means that the heart behind them is sound. But I'm also drawn to numerous people as plain as dry rice when they concentrate on causing sweet laughter in those nearby or when they truly need me." "The whole time, understand, was innocent as birds too young to fly." Price's motive for writing Roxanna's story may appear in a reflection near the end: "I got the idea of writing down my story in time ... an honest voice left over from a whole other world where women especially (but some men as well) labored through every day of their lives with far more careful intelligence and judgment than the beasts of burden they're widely considered now to have been." Good stuff, but not his best book.