Quite a Year for Plums (2024)

I really enjoyed this book; Bailey White often has me in tears because she has such a natural ear that she is able to carry over into her writing. A brilliant book? No. Outstanding theme and/or plot? No. Quirky characters? YES!! Exceptionally well drawn snipets of southern life among slightly off-center, good-hearted people? YES!! Bailey White writes exceptional characters that are not stereotypical and yet . . . we [who have lived in small, rural towns] KNOW these folks. It's a great, short summer read.

I enjoyed reading Mama Makes Up Her Mind so much I was eager to read another Bailey White book. I was disappointed with Quite a Year for Plums . The characters just didn't "stick" with me. Their personalities were not distinct and no matter how many times I referred to the list of characters in the front of the book, the names meant very little. I gave up about three quarters through the book.

More literary than I expected, more serious. Yes, it's a bunch of portraits about endearing eccentrics, but it's much more than that. I felt reminded a bit of Kingsolver, a bit of Steel Magnolias, and a bit of Shakespeare... some big human themes are encapsulated in these little stories, linked into this engaging small book. Also plenty of grace and humor.

Learning about thrips, Eula says "Well, damn their little souls."

The passionate typographer declaims that "If 'reason' is a rut, then she is the rising sun. If 'reason' is a rat, then she is a white rhinocerous." Read the book to find out to whom he refers.

This fascinating character study is called a "novel," but, speaking as a novelist, I just can't call it that. There are some characteristics it has in common with novels: It is fiction, it has characters, some themes are examined, and things happen. What is missing is structure. It's like spending a day fishing and not catching anything.

In a small south Georgia town, a group of strange people live their lives. The major characters are three older women, Eula, Meade, and Hilma. Eula is the glue that holds them all together. Her sister, Louise, is suffering Alzheimer's Disease, and believes that sexually charged space aliens will visit her if she can only put together the correct letters and numbers to attract them. Louise's daughter, Ethel, herself sexually charged, was once married to Roger, a plant pathologist, but now goes through men like a knife through cheese. Roger is a down-to-earth man who has been adopted by all of the women. When he was married to Ethel, Eula's husband taught him how to play old time banjo and he has mastered that talent. Meade and Hilma, retired school teachers, worry about him constantly as they each work on their own obsessions.

An artist, Della, comes to the town to paint birds and becomes obsessed with chicken feet. A fragile, flighty person, she begins to leave her stuff at the dump, with little notes explaining, for example, what is wrong with the fan she's leaving there. This fascinates Roger and he begins a relationship with her.

Everyone, except for Roger, seems consumed with their obsessions (and even he does, to a lesser extent). Those obsessions, White seems to indicate, are what makes them unique individuals. In spite of this, only two characters truly stand out as individuals, Roger and Della. They are the only ones who are given enough of a physical description to delineate them from the others. Unfortunately, their relationship never really develops or goes anywhere. One of the most common complaints about this book is it's hard to tell the characters apart and that lack of definition is a serious problem. For example, there really isn't any way to keep Meade and Hilma separate. They seem to be the same character. Honestly, I don't think White did that to make a point.

Two things seem apparent in the book. First, the world is changing for the worse, and second, we are all ravaged by our own concerns. Rich old woodland is being subdivided and suburbs are being built. No one takes the time to learn the names of birds. Some people are so concentrated on the little things that interest them that they can't even carry on a normal conversation with others. Romantic relationships appear to be impossible.

In other words, things have deteriorated and we will not be able to fix them.

If you have heard and like Bailey White's commentary on NPR, you will probably like this book. It's very funny in places and it is certainly interesting to lose yourself in this little community. It feels like a series of her commentaries strung together in an attempt to create a novel, but the lack of any identifiable structure keeps it from being a successful novel.

Stories live in their construction. Things don't happen randomly, but are shaped by the author to a purpose. White does this admirably in her short works, but a novel must have several arcs to it. The main story arc develops from humble beginnings to reach a denouement and the main character arc does the same thing. Events in a story shape the development of the character, who grows through their experience. The events and themes must be shaped so that they work themselves to a fine point and if they don't, then the reader feels like they're sitting in a boat, rocking on the water, and not going anywhere.

Bring your bait and tackle.

This is my favorite Bailey White book. (I think all my relatives are in this book under assumed names.)

"There is no beginning to love," Roger said. "It just creeps over you."
"Oh," said Hilma, "like brown rot on a plum tree in the dark winter months, and by the time you become aware of it, the leaves are out and it's too late to spray."
"Yes," said Roger, "just like that. Now let me help you hang your flycatchers back on the wall."

Bailey White has given us a close look into the lives of everyday people in a small town in Georgia. Hilma and Meade are retired schoolteachers. Hilma has a kind heart, while Meade doesn't mince words. "I think we should call on them," said Meade. "But our thoughts are not kind," said Hilma, "so our good wishes would be insincere." "We wouldn't express good wishes," said Mead. "You would bake them a little cake, and we would merely say hello." They are both friends with Eula, who is the rock of her family. Her son, Tom, is a forester. He's divorced, loves to work on cars, and has a bit of an anger issue. His ex-wife lives in California, and their son comes to visit Tom and Eula during the summer each year.

Eula's sister Louise is slowly losing touch with reality. She most likely has Alzheimer's, although her family doesn't diagnosis her--they just humor and protect her. "For several years Louise had had the idea that spacemen were attracted to certain combinations of letters of the alphabet and certain arrangements of shapes and shiny objects, and this made her difficult to reason with at times." Her daughter, Ethel, is a schoolteacher. She's also the ex-wife of Roger, who is the town's local celebrity. He is a plant pathologist who specializes in peanut diseases. As this is a very common cash crop in Georgia, he holds seminars for rapt farmers, and has published articles in magazines.

Rounding out the cast of characters is Della, a wildlife artist, who has traveled to the area to paint local birds (mostly heirloom chickens). She meets Roger at the local dump. She doesn't need certain things around her apartment, but instead of throwing them in the dumpster, she sets them to the side with notes attached ("This fan works, but it makes a clicking sound and will not oscillate.") Roger is enamored with her, and they soon begin dating.

Bottom line: At first glance, not much happens in Quite a Year for Plums , or rather, not much *extraordinary* happens. However, as with most small towns in America, day to day life is full of a fascinating mix of run-of-the-mill drama, combined with occasional high points such as a folk festival down in Florida, new subdivisions (with new opportunities to spy on the crazy city people who came to "experience the countryside"), and the annual Agricultural Livestock Conservancy. Along the way we learn about nematology, controlled forest fires, rare 1914 GE fans, the difficulty of painting chicken feet, and the evolution of folk tunes. Character studies don't often work...especially when told in a stream-of-consciousness type style such as The Cockatoos: Shorter Novels and Stories. However, Bailey White portrays her characters with humor, honesty, and down home grit. I grew up in rural South Carolina, and I feel like I know many of these characters. This short book is well worth the read for the smiles and pure enjoyment it brings. Given 4.5 stars or a rating of "Outstanding". Highly recommended!!

"Then Louise sat in a chair and clasped her hands together on the kitchen table and began to sing. 'Down on her knees before him, she pleaded for her life,' she sang in a husky voice, way too low to manage anything like a tune. 'But deep into her bosom he plunged the fatal knife."
"What do you want for lunch Mama, friend tomatoes or okra and tomatoes? I'm cooking," said Ethel.
But Louise had a finger on that silver thread. She couldn't stop. She sat straight up in the chair, and with such an intent look in her eyes that they almost seemed to cross, she sang, "Oh, Willie, my poor darling, why have you taken my life? I've always loved you, Willie, and wanted to be your wife."
"Jesus, Mama," said Ethel.
"I never have deceived you," sang Louise, "and with my parting breath, I will forgive you, Willie, and close my eyes in death."
"Thank goodness," said Ethel, "Now tell me what you want to eat, tomatoes or okra."

This is such a lovely book. You can just feel the humidity in the air. You will never look at a fan or a hen the same way again. It made me strive to live a calmer more thoughtful life - and I think I do since I read this. I can't wait to read more of Whites words. I would love to hear her on NPR again too.

Boring and pointless.

I can't do better than quote from the San Francisco Chronicle review: "White will transport readers to that place where the language is languid, the bees hum... and everybody- in a nice kind of way - is a little off-kilter." If you need a strong plot this is not the book for you, but if you are in a quiet mood what you get here are wonderful characters developed through a series of vignettes and conversations. It can enjoyed at a superficial level, or it can prompt the reader to ponder a deeper meaning about what is valuable in life.

In this novel,we meet several characters that are very well developed by the author. You feel that they could be the men or women living down the road. But - they don't ever really DO anything. The whole book seems to be developing the characters - there is no plot. I spent a week reading their conversations with each other, waiting for something to happen - and it never did!

I was disappointed with Bailey White's first attempt at fiction. I love her memoirs, so I had high hopes for this book. Eccentric Southern characters abound, but the story meanders and there just never seems to be any point to it all.

An expert example of southern literature, chock full of colorful characters living their daily lives while becoming part of our families while you read. Tales of an eccentric mama sleeping on the porch, chickens who inspire, and events that will stay with long after the book is finished, Bailey White might have recaptured the essence of Faulkner.

so far this is very confusing - I usually don't have trouble keeping characters straight but I am having a terrible time with this one.

This a quiet and charming read about friends and relatives who live in rural Georgia. No plot - just great character studies that remind me of the people who lived in the small town where I grew up. Check out the everyday lives of this group to see how they are affected by age, love and change. Enjoy their comments about birds, gardening, cooking, agriculture, livestock, and, yes, people watching. Humor flows through the pages giving continuity and linking the characters through their experiences and encounters.

The characters include two retired schoolteachers, Hilma and Meade, friends who are very different. Hilma is gentle, thoughtful and kind but Meade tells it like she sees it. They are friends with Eula, indispensable member of her family. Meet Tom, her divorced son, who loves cars. He has a son who lives with his exwife in California but spends summers with his father and grandmother.

Louise, Eula's sister, probably has Alzheimer's disease but her family showers her with love, tolerating her belief that aliens are attracted to arrangements of letters, numbers, and shiny objects. For this activitye she teams with Bruce, a a typographer, who is vacationing in the area.
Louise's daughter, Ethel, is a schoolteacher and Roger's ex-wife. She's a bit of a sex-loving kook. A local celebrity, Roger is a plant pathologist whose specialty is peanut diseases, holds sminars and publishes articles on the topic.

Roger is attracted to unusual women so it's no surprise that he finds newcommer Della interesting. In fact, women of all ages seem to love him. Della came to the area to paint birds and gives her studies simple titles like chickens, ducks, etc. They meet at the dump where she takes items she no longer needs or wants leaving criptic notes such as "This fan works, but it makes a clicking sound and will not oscillate."

As the author introduces the characters the reader learns about topics such as nematology, controlled forest fires, a rare 1914 GE fan, painting chicken feet (according to Della), and folk tunes. Using portraits about wonderfully quirky people, see how time changes life while people so caught up in their own lives do not seem notice until it's done. I think one has to be ready for a quiet sensitive read like this. I know I was because I really liked it.

A charming look at the eccentric people who inhabit a small town in Georgia. The novel focuses on this eclectic group: Roger, a plant pathologist specializing in peanuts; Ethel, Roger’s ex-wife; Louise, Ethel’s mother; Eula; Louise’s sister, Ethel’s aunt; Hilma, a retired schoolteacher who taught Ethel; Meade, Hilma’s best friend; Gawain, an old forester; Lewis an ornithologist; Della, a wildlife artists visiting the area to paint local birds; Bruce, a vacationing typographer; Jim Wade, a collector of electric desk fans; and several others.

I’m glad White included a list of characters because I found myself referring to it several times. The story is short on plot and mostly provides various vignettes / scenes that help the reader learn something about these people. Relationships are forged, some are broken, some never quite take off. They like their corner of the world and don’t see a lot of positives about venturing farther afield. They are sometimes not too keen on others coming into their community either. There’s an interesting scene where Meade and Hilma take a welcoming gift to a new family that has moved into a new subdivision. They are appalled that the owner of this “mini-mansion” hasn’t a clue about the natural beauty that surrounds her, and would be happier if she moved to an Atlanta suburb.

I had a hard time getting into the book. That was my problem, I think, rather than the book’s. I usually enjoy these slower, meandering, character-driven works, but it just didn’t quite work for me at this time. It was okay. There was nothing really wrong with it. But I barely remember it just a day after finishing it.

I've read this book 3-4 times already and just re-read it. From reading the reviews here and on other sites, it appears readers either love it or hate it. It is true that there is no major plot line; rather there are marvelous vignettes, or character drawings, involving several characters at different events or in various circumstances. Some of the characters are quirky and eccentric, but not all by any means; the humor is subtle in a way I find hilarious. This book tells the story of a group of friends and relatives who live as neighbors in a small rural area. Birds, gardens, cooking, agriculture and livestock play as much a role in this tale as the human characters and provide continuity in a meandering way, as is often the case in rural life. This book is about simple things, everyday lives, aging, love and change. It is quiet, funny and bittersweet. I highly recommend it.

What I expected: Quirkiness, in a familiar, old-fashioned, Southern manner. Relationships that ebb and flow in established patterns. Everyone coming to some new plane of understanding within those realms.

What I got: Quirkiness on the part of ALL characters save two, without believable basis, totally unfamiliar to my Southern upbringing. And the quirkiness leaned more toward maladjusted, barely-able-to-manage mental issues. Story without direction.

Disappointing.

Charming. Reading it is like rocking on a porch during the summer in the deep south, fanning yourself, drinking sweet tea, gossiping about the quirky and eccentric neighbors, telling stories. A delight. An escape. An antidote.

Read as my book with a fruit in the title for 2018 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge.

I loved this book. I know it's not for everyone. But this "slice of life" book made me want to crawl inside and live with these people for awhile. I wanted more more more of them! I loved the humor, the quirkiness, the various aspects of each personality she revealed.

Oh, the wit and wisdom of Hilma, Eula, and Meade in Quite a Year for Plums! Though called a novel, Quite a Year for Plums is more a series of vignettes from the lives of the aforementioned ladies. Author Bailey White has created a thoroughly enjoyable cast of characters from the southern Georgia town where Hilma, Eula, and Meade observe, support, snipe, reminisce, and engage with their families, neighbors, and agrarian culture.

The book contains a little romance, mostly failed or unfulfilled, poignant moments, and a LOT of humor. I laughed often at little absurdities and endearing oddities, not the least of which was the characters’ absorption with technical names of birds and plants. I found one chapter completely hilarious and many others pretty funny, too.

After finishing Quite a Year for Plums, I’m heading to my library to look for more of what Bailey White has written. How often do you get to smile all the way through a novel? When do you get to marvel at an author’s finely honed—I mean spare, no word wasted—dialogue? When do you want to sign up for a writer’s very next writing class on the concept of “show, don’t tell”? Heck, if Bailey White were teaching a class on creating strong characters, I’d sign up for that one, too.

2.5 stars
Well I DID IT!!! I have now completed my ABC reading challenge by reading this book that begins with "Q". I picked this book for a few reasons. First, it was written by an author from Georgia, where we are now living. Second, it was one of the few books that I looked at for "Q" that sounded interesting.
Third, it seemed different from my usual genre and sometimes I just need to take a chance on something different.
Well folks, this story seemed to wander all over the place. Each chapter was a like a story told around the table of a small town, down home gathering. This probably was the authors intent, but the style just didn't work for me. Without a consistent storyline I found myself getting bored and many times wondering why that particular chapter was even added.
From Roger, the man every woman wanted to mother and take care of, to Louise, the ex-mother-in-law that spoke of spacemen, and Della, a female interest for Roger that was as dull as watching paint dry, and the other women who were also very strange, I just could not wrap my head around it all.
The ABC challenge was great. I took some chances on some of the titles I picked and some were great while others were "meh". I think I may do this ABC challenge again but reading books with only a one-word title.

Although I haven't heard anything from Bailey White in a long time nor have I read anything by her, just last week I was (once again) sharing one of my favorite anecdotes from one of her books. Whether you are southern or wannabe or don't wannabe, her casts of characters are always endearing and certainly they are in Quite a Year for Plums--human, flawed, ageless, eccentric, humorous, realer than real. If you love stories about women growing older, stories about impending alien invasions, or odd love matches that sometimes work and sometimes don't, strained family relationships, chickens and thrips, sandwich paintings, dying horses--well, THIS is the next novel for you.

I wanted to like this more but the cast of characters was too numerous and I had to keep referring to the "Cast of Characters" to remember who was speaking. It is not something you can read, put down and come back to without trying to remember who is who. I finished the last half of the book in one sitting and it got better. My favorite quote is "Why do they go to a music festival if they don't care enough to be listen to the music?" said Meade, and Hilma said wearily, "Oh Meade, people hardly ever behave the way we wish they would." Hilma nailed it!

This book is terrible. Tries to be artsy but doesnt have the substance to back it up. Honestly nothing happens just a bunch of characters talking about pointless subject matter. No conflict, no activities just elderly people rambling for pages. Too many characters bleed together you cant figure out who they are. Ethel acts like Louise etc. Would rather watch paint dry at least that has character development and plot. Sad waste for such beautiful cover illustration.

I started reading this because I was looking for a calm, drama-free, and comforting book after my dog passed away. This book was such a cute story about each character but I got a tad confused when the scenes would switch. I’m not sure I understand the ending yet but I loved how the characters were all interconnected and supported each other when they needed each other most.
Definitely a comforting book when the world seems chaotic.

I don't know how this book got in my house. I don't know who left it here, but I was short library books, so I picked this off the bookshelf. I liked it. I liked the characters; I liked that I learned a little more about peanut viruses, chickens, and camellias than I knew before. I liked the human connections. It reminded me of Steinbeck's Salinas books and that odd cast of characters, but was easy on the reading. Left a little glow behind.

Ugh. I really disliked this book. I kept waiting for something to happen and it never did. I would put this book down for long periods of time (months) because I was so bored with it. I finally told myself that I needed to finish it before the end of 2019, just so that I could be done with it. What a drag and a disappointment. It talked endlessly of birds (and I like birds) and agriculture and swamps and other uninteresting things. Others may have liked this book, but I couldn't wait for it to be over. Too many different characters--difficult to keep them straight and even though the book provided a cast of characters at the beginning, I found that I disliked this book so much that I really didn't care about any of the characters.

I hate giving a book such low stars and I guess there is nothing wrong with this book except for I had no idea of its point. I never felt a connection to the characters (except maybe the woman losing her mind searching for aliens) but I just was so underwhelmed. BUT it started with a Q so it hit one of the Popsugar reading challenges.

While this book includes a host of interesting (weird) characters, there wasn't enough plot to carry them along.

Southern comfort

Some may find this story a little hard to read but as someone who lived in the south, it made complete sense. Very quirky with charm and humor. I liked it very much.