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Stormy Weather: A Novel Paperback – June 10, 2008

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 903 ratings

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Oil is king of East Texas during the darkest years of the Great Depression. The Stoddard girls—responsible Mayme, whip-smart tomboy Jeanine, and bookish Bea—know no life but an itinerant one, trailing their father from town to town as he searches for work on the pipelines and derricks. But in a year of devastating drought and dust storms, the family's fortunes sink further than they ever anticipated when a questionable "accident" leaves the girls and their mother, Elizabeth, alone to confront the cruelest hardships of these hardest of times.

Returning to their previously abandoned family farm, the resilient Stoddard women must now place their last hopes for salvation in a wildcat oil well that eats up what little they have left . . . and on the back of late patriarch Jack's one true legacy, a dangerous racehorse named Smoky Joe.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Jiles’s follow-up to her highly praised debut, Enemy Women, [is] a deeply satisfying novel with wide appeal.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“Jiles’s eloquent, engaging novel celebrates four strong women toughing out the Great Depression . . . [a] gritty saga.” — Publishers Weekly

“[A] stirring story . . . of self and home in language as spare and stark as the Texas landscape.” — Booklist

From the Back Cover

Oil is king of East Texas during the darkest years of the Great Depression. The Stoddard girls—responsible Mayme, whip-smart tomboy Jeanine, and bookish Bea—know no life but an itinerant one, trailing their father from town to town as he searches for work on the pipelines and derricks. But in a year of devastating drought and dust storms, the family's fortunes sink further than they ever anticipated when a questionable "accident" leaves the girls and their mother, Elizabeth, alone to confront the cruelest hardships of these hardest of times.

Returning to their previously abandoned family farm, the resilient Stoddard women must now place their last hopes for salvation in a wildcat oil well that eats up what little they have left . . . and on the back of late patriarch Jack's one true legacy, a dangerous racehorse named Smoky Joe.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (June 10, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060537337
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060537333
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.83 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 903 ratings

About the author

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Paulette Jiles
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My website is paulettejiles.com. I review books and say shocking things and include outrageous pictures.

Paulette Jiles was born in Salem, Missouri, in the Missouri Ozarks. Raised in small towns in both south and central Missouri, she attended three different high schools, an exhausting process of social dislocation and fashion wobbles, and with relief graduated from the University of Missouri (KC) in Romance Languages. After graduation she worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto and in the far north of Ontario and in the Quebec Arctic, helping to set up village one-watt FM radio stations in the native language, Anishinabe and Inuktitut. She became reasonably conversant in Anishinabe but Inuktitut was just too much. Very hard. Besides she was only in the eastern Arctic for a year. Work in the north lasted about ten years all told.

She taught at David Thompson University in Nelson B.C. and grew to love the British Columbian ecosystems and general zaniness. She spent one year as a writer-in-residence at Philips Andover in Massachusetts and then returned to the United States permanently when she married Jim Johnson, a Texan. Has lived in Texas since 1995.

She and her husband renovated an old stone house in the San Antonio historic district and amidst the rubble and stonemasons and ripped-out electrical systems she completed Enemy Women. She now lives on a small ranch near a very small town in the Texas Hill Country with a horse and a donkey. If you want a free donkey, please let her know. She plays Irish tin whistle with a bluegrass group, sings alto in choir, rides remote trails in Texas with friends. Her horse is named Buck. News of the World (William Morrow) was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
903 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book engaging and easy to read. They appreciate the well-developed characters and their realistic aging throughout the decade. The writing style is described as good and lyrical. Readers describe the story as believable, moving, and satisfying. They appreciate the historical accuracy and nostalgic feel of the book. However, opinions differ on the pacing.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

31 customers mention "Readability"31 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging and easy to read. They describe it as a good, compelling read that is hard to put down. The characters are described as sensitive, loving, and full of charm. While some aspects of the book are good, others are disturbing, readers appreciate the attention they pay to the story.

"...the peach orchard; and Bea is Beth, deeply sensitive, loving and loved, taking pleasure in nothing more than sitting with her cat while she..." Read more

"...beautifully written; each word chosen precisely and carefully - a pleasure to read...." Read more

"...But I digress, this is a wonderful book. Good for reading aloud" Read more

"An excellent read-- compelling and difficult to put down...." Read more

27 customers mention "Character development"23 positive4 negative

Customers find the characters captivating and strong. They appreciate the realistic aging of the characters over the decade. The book portrays American perseverance and character well. It's described as funny, human, tough, descriptive, romantic, and fast-paced.

"...Who knew? And mohair goat-shearing. The character of Jeanine was interesting but not notably so...." Read more

"...The descriptions are lyrical, the characters are memorable, particularly Jeanine, the middle sister...." Read more

"...Tremendous ability to put you there! Great characters. Every day history comes alive! I know it." Read more

"...The character development was well done, the primary characters aging realistically throughout the decade that the book reviews...." Read more

26 customers mention "Writing style"26 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the writing style. They find the prose good, with lyrical descriptions and memorable characters. Readers appreciate the author's mastery of language and ability to paint exquisite pictures with words. They love reading slowly and savoring every word and image.

"...Jiles has a remarkable ability to paint exquisite pictures with words, giving to the most mundane things a rare beauty: “The wind drove past and..." Read more

"Like other reviewers, I really enjoyed News of the World. There was a thread of hope and goodness in NOTW that was absent in Stormy Weather...." Read more

"...Their story is moving, wry, and poignant. It's beautifully written; each word chosen precisely and carefully - a pleasure to read...." Read more

"...But I digress, this is a wonderful book. Good for reading aloud" Read more

20 customers mention "Story quality"18 positive2 negative

Customers find the story believable, moving, and satisfying. They describe the book as well-written and like a family reunion. The characters are described as realistic and the setting is described as fascinating.

"...Their story is moving, wry, and poignant. It's beautifully written; each word chosen precisely and carefully - a pleasure to read...." Read more

"...It is a good story about a woman's life that leaves the romance far in the background...." Read more

"A believable story of one family's survival of the Great Depression in Texas...." Read more

"This tale was like a family reunion. Warm & united, yet each person singular, warts and all...." Read more

12 customers mention "Historical accuracy"12 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's historical accuracy. They find the writing style nostalgic and the story gripping. The era of the Great Depression is fascinating and illustrates American perseverance. Readers appreciate the informative and engaging narrative that makes them understand their dad's childhood.

"Fantastic. Incredibly informative and gripping...." Read more

"...Tremendous ability to put you there! Great characters. Every day history comes alive! I know it." Read more

"...saga that carries you along on a wave of elegant prose and well researched history. Her description of a wildcat oil well coming in is amazing...." Read more

"...sense - no climax or denoument, - it's a powerful story that takes you into the era so you feel as though you are living it with the characters...." Read more

8 customers mention "Beauty"8 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's imagery and language. They appreciate the author's style and find the book nostalgic. Readers also mention that the father is charming and thoughtful.

"Jack Stoddard, Jeanine, Mayme and Bea’s father, is a handsome, charming dreamer, who has a magical touch with horses, and is fortunate enough to be..." Read more

"...scenes, situations, and characters in an utterly refreshing, true, rustic, uninhibited style all her own...." Read more

"...I reread many paragraphs again just to absorb the wonderful imagery. The characters are so, so real and I miss Jeanine and wonder what became of her!..." Read more

"Jules poetic way with language makes this a work of beauty despite its grItty setting...." Read more

6 customers mention "Pacing"3 positive3 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing. Some find it romantic and intimate, with an emotional closeness between the women. Others find it disturbing and moody, which could be depressing if you let it get to you.

"...and saving the peach orchard; and Bea is Beth, deeply sensitive, loving and loved, taking pleasure in nothing more than sitting with her cat while..." Read more

"...This book read very slowly and was very boring. It could also be depressing if you let it get to you...." Read more

"...Reading it drew me into an intimate, crackling, emotional closeness with the women...." Read more

"Good in Some Ways but Disturbing in Others..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2024
    Jack Stoddard, Jeanine, Mayme and Bea’s father, is a handsome, charming dreamer, who has a magical touch with horses, and is fortunate enough to be earning money in the oil fields during the Great Depression. Unfortunately he drinks and gambles away his paychecks leaving nothing but his long dreamt-of racehorse with his daughter, Jeanine.

    Jiles has a remarkable ability to paint exquisite pictures with words, giving to the most mundane things a rare beauty: “The wind drove past and like a pickpocket lifted anything that was loose in its cold and biting rush.” ~ page 136

    Or:

    “Out beside the shearing platform a fire still burnt and snow fell into its lit red heart, like moths drawn to light.” ~ page 178

    There is so much to love about this book: the special relationship between Jeanine and her father, their shared love of horses, the beauty of the farm, the daughters working together to save the old house and re-establish the farm’s productivity; the neighbors’ kindness and doing what they can to help the struggling and hardworking women; the local women working together at the MacComber House soup kitchen, and making dust masks to be sent north to those most affected by the dust storms. There is an underlying sense of working together for a greater good, whether it’s family or community, a warm thread weaving the story and characters together, everyone’s lives merging in unforeseen ways from beginning to end.

    Maybe this book holds a special place in my heart because it loosely reminds me of a childhood favorite: Louisa May Alcott’s ‘Little Women.’ Mayme is Meg, longing for dresses and dances and some gaiety in life; Jeanine is Jo, responsible and capable, caring for her beloved Smoky Joe, learning to drive tractors, shoring up fences, replacing roof shingles, and saving the peach orchard; and Bea is Beth, deeply sensitive, loving and loved, taking pleasure in nothing more than sitting with her cat while she chronicles the details of their lives, and longing for books in which she might both lose and find herself. There is no Amy.

    I read this book directly after reading ‘Now in November’ by Josephine Winslow Johnson in order to compare the characters and their lives. The two books are set during the same time period and both deal with a family consisting of a father, mother and three daughters trying to survive the Great Depression and the horrors of the Dust Bowl, yet beyond that, the books are worlds apart; Johnson’s novel bleak and unyielding, like fate itself, while Jiles sprinkles her characters with a little luck.

    Paulette Jiles’ books are magical. Her characters live Everyman’s lives of insignificance in the time period she is bringing to life. They are nobodies until her words reveal to us the extraordinary people they really are and it is that which makes us care what happens to them. Like beloved family members, each continues, throughout the story, to reveal multiple layers of human frailties and idiosyncrasies within pages filled with obstacles that expose their needs, wants, strengths and weaknesses in words that are pure poetry. For example: “The Spring rushed past them to somewhere else, some other dimension. The house was weathered to the color of burnished steel. It shut itself down every night as coals crumbled in the stove and the old well stood outside like a throat that would speak or sing from the underworld when it was dark and everyone was asleep. Every morning the windows gazed at the weather no matter if it were a spotless blue sky or great clouds that roared and tumbled overhead in fugitive waterless balloons while Jeanine’s immaculate laundry snapped on the line.” ~ page 231

    and:

    “It was the time of evening when the sun set the low hills afire and the shadow of the old sugar barn poured in a tide of darkness over the house …” ~ page 144

    And, lastly, I guess I just love the fact that this novel reminds us of a forgotten truth. That dirt + perseverance and some seeds (or roots or potato eyes) = life, which is always a hopeful axiom in an uncertain world.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2024
    Like other reviewers, I really enjoyed News of the World. There was a thread of hope and goodness in NOTW that was absent in Stormy Weather. I understand this was one of the more difficult chapters in American history -- depression, dust bowl, rise of the Nazis. I marveled at Jiles' knowledge of simple domestic details, such as the size of washtub (#3) needed for human bathing. Who knew? And mohair goat-shearing.

    The character of Jeanine was interesting but not notably so. She seemed pretty average in every way. Bea (the youngest sister) was more intriguing, but she got little air time. Jeanine was so ambivalent about her two suitors that her personal sense of life-direction felt quite aimless.

    Probably the hardest thing about the book, though, was the disturbing treatment of animals. Jack Stoddard (the drunkard father) was an idiot when it came to animals, and there were other scenes (I tried to skip them) in which livestock was shot for reasons I either didn't follow or couldn't handle emotionally. I lived in terror that the fiery, indignant racehorse Smoky Joe would be mistreated -- and he almost was in a couple instances. But he survived, and he ended up being my favorite character in this rather dark & dusty book.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2007
    Lately I've read so many novels that have disappointed. Not this one! While the subject matter didn't appear to be something I'd be interested in (I'm not one for "a girl and her horse" stories), I'm glad that I listened to the reviews here and bought this book.

    It's the story of 3 girls, and their mother and father set in Texas during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The father's a ner-do-well whose death leaves the mother and the girls with few options, but to retreat to a broken down ranch house and try to make a living.

    Their story is moving, wry, and poignant. It's beautifully written; each word chosen precisely and carefully - a pleasure to read. The descriptions are lyrical, the characters are memorable, particularly Jeanine, the middle sister. She tells her horse Smokey Joe, that he's "a rocket," but the same could be said of her!

    This memorable book is a keeper.
    19 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2022
    Fantastic. Incredibly informative and gripping. This writer has the courage and knowledge to take a stab at writing about the way things really were during that era. Hard hard hard. But that is what produced a so-called “great generation“. Nowadays American people are getting more and more of what they need materially and are squabbling Like a bunch of spoiled infants.
    But fear not, a huge dose of real suffering is on the way!
    But I digress, this is a wonderful book. Good for reading aloud
    6 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2018
    I liked the first hand experiences of the dust bowl and oil rigs. It is a good story about a woman's life that leaves the romance far in the background. Three stars because sometimes the similes felt a bit forced and the characters were not very complex.
    3 people found this helpful
    Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Cecilia Gossen
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on January 16, 2017
    Great story, great characters.
  • Hughcr
    5.0 out of 5 stars History made real
    Reviewed in Australia on December 9, 2020
    This novel takes you right into American history and vividly brings to life every detail of the era. What I appreciated most was that Jiles is dealing with the lives of ordinary people as they strive to survive and prosper in harsh conditions , always facing the threat of poverty and starvation.