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Nora, Nora CD
by Anne Rivers Siddons (Reader: Debra Monk)
Product Group: Book
Publisher: HarperAudio (2000-08-01)
ISBN: 0694523208
EAN: 9780694523207
Dewy Decimal #: 813.54
Audio CD
Edition: Abridged
Release Date: 2000-07-18
SKU: BX014-A03
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comments: Set of 5 CDs in original box. Very minor wear.
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Editorial Reviews
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Amazon.com
The young heroine of Nora, Nora comes from a long line of angst-ridden adolescents, stretching back through Holden Caulfield and Frankie Addams to Huckleberry Finn. Yet Peyton McKenzie certainly has good reason to be unhappy. Her household, in the small Georgia town of Lytton, is shadowed by the deaths of her mother and older brother. Her father, meanwhile, has withdrawn into mournful distraction: "When Buddy died in an accident in his air-force trainer, when Peyton was five, Frazier McKenzie closed up shop on his laughter, anger, small foolishnesses, and large passions. Now, at twelve, Peyton could remember no other father than the cooled and static one she had." To withstand this mortuary atmosphere--not to mention a touch of small-town claustrophobia--Peyton has founded the Losers Club, where she and two other misfits share their daily doses of unhappiness. But everything changes when her cousin Nora shows up for a visit. This jaunty outsider is unlike anybody else in Kennedy-era Lytton, circa 1961: The first thing you noticed about Nora Findlay, Peyton thought, was that she gave off heat, a kind of sheen, like a wild animal, except that hers was not a dangerous ferality, but an aura of sleekness and high spirits. There was a padding, hip-shot prowl to her walk, and she moved her body as if she were totally unconscious of it, as if its suppleness and sinew were something she had lived with all her life. At first Nora's high spirits have a tonic effect, jogging both Peyton and her father out of their torpor. But her involvement in racial politics eventually rubs some of Lytton's citizens the wrong way--and puts her young cousin's loyalty to the test. Anne Rivers Siddons handles the narrative with a deft touch for local color (right down to the perpetual "three Coca-Colas in an old red metal ice chest"). But her feeling for her cast of characters is even better, mixing just the right proportions of delicacy and Southern discomfort. --Anita Urquhart
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Book Description
Peyton is not ready to share her widowed father with anyone, let alone a barely remembered cousin who just rolled into town. However, her father seems to like Nora well enough, and prim Aunt Augusta hates her, which raises Nora slightly in Peyton's esteem. Maybe Nora is just what quiet Lytton, Georgia needs this summer. The whole household is revitalized by Nora's energy, and it looks as if she might stay on forever. But soon it becomes clear that something is troubling her deeply. It has to be something from her past that's bothering her, something she is running from. When the shocking truth comes to light, it stuns the residents of their small segregated town. It also teaches Peyton the enormous cost of loving -- and the necessity of doing it anyway.
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Customer Reviews
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If Holly GoLightly Met Atticus Finch
Rating  (4)
Date: 2007-10-31
I didn't expect to like this book, as I'm getting tired of To-Kill-a-Mocking-Bird-rip-off-coming-of-age stories set in the South (see The Little Friend). But this is an enjoyable light read. No, it's not Austen, Bronte, Maugham, etc. but do you expect that from Siddons? If you don't mind historical inaccuracies, this is funny and moving and surprisingly engrossing.
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lady in a pink t-bird
Rating (4)
Date: 2007-08-24
My first A.R.S. book has made me want to read all of them. The author's portrayal of the young Peyton is vivid. The story is told in Peyton's point of view and my favorite part of all is her colorful description of cousin Nora and the way she walks. The author's character developments are outstanding enough to make all of them appear as important as the next one. Aunt Augusta and the housekeeper jump off the page as vigorous. The only character who seems weak here is Peyton's remote father, still sullen over his wife's death, to whom Peyton still feels she is responsible for. When cousin Nora zooms into town in her pink T-bird, lives change and many issues rise in this southern town in 1961. I would like to see more of these characters in another novel. There is only one thing that I didn't care for and that is the title. However, that is only my opinion. Also, who really is the main character in this novel, Peyton or Nora? I would like to see this novel in a television movie.
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Wonderful Despite Its Flaws
Rating (4)
Date: 2005-07-26
7 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
OK, OK, I've read the reviews, and I agree this book is seriously flawed. Yes, it's part Auntie Mame, part To Kill a Mockingbird and part The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.
I don't care. I simply raced through this book, enjoying every single derivative page, wincing in some parts, but smiling most of the time. Other reviewers have described the plot in detail, so I will only add my small comments: Small-town Southern motherless girl on the cusp of puberty in the early 60s (well before the hippies) meets free spirited, wild as the wind, too good to be true cousin Nora, who has been everywhere, done everything, seen everyone...and comes roaring into town in her bright pink T-bird. She changes young Peyton's life, the life of Peyton's sad, widowed father, and the lives of just about everyone in the town.
Is there a message? I don't really think so. I just went along for the whirlwind, enjoying it immensely as a highly pleasurable summer read. Don't look for deep insight, but if you need something to take along to the beach, Nora, Nora is perfect.
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Very realistic and entertaining slice of Americana
Rating (4)
Date: 2005-06-09
7 out of 9 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is a very well-written novel, told through the eyes of a young motherless girl, that gives a very personal glimpse into what life was like in a rural town in the 1960's, when civil rights was on the rise. The characters were well-developed and very likeable; my heart reached out to Peyton, and Nora was like a breath of fresh air. As I started reading it, I thought the book had a "To Kill A Mockingbird" feel to it, and it was interesting that later on, Nora used that book as a discussion topic in her English class.
My only criticism of this book was that it was too long and drawn-out in parts. It could have been 75-100 pages shorter without losing any substance or depth, and that would have made it much easier to read. As well, after emotionally investing so much of myself into the story, and as a sucker for happy endings, I felt the conflict at the end of the story was unnecessary and I would have liked it better ifthe story had been tied up more 'neatly'.
*In an unexcusable editing error on page 284, they are dining in an Italian restaurant and order scungelli, accurately described as delicate browned medallions. At the end of the meal, Peyton asks what kind of fish scungelli is, and Nora replies that it is squid or octapus. Hmmmm - Nora, squid is calamari. Scungelli is conch or snails. Further emphasizing this error, Nora then says that next time she will take Peyton to a French restaurant for escargot so she can try snails. Hmmm - Nora, she already had snails when she tried the scungelli!
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Unexpectedly good!
Rating (4)
Date: 2005-05-31
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
I run hot and cold with Siddons's book....several of them have never enticed me past page 50. I had no expectations when I started "Nora Nora" so I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it.
The characters in this book were wonderful and fully fleshed-out. I actually missed them when I had finished the book!
Poor lonely Peyton was a disaster waiting to happen...and when her cousin Nora entered the picture, Peyton did not realize how much spirit she would bring into her life and the life of her brooding father.
While sometimes predictable, the wonderful characters and setting carried this story along and made it a good reading experience.
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