Cross Creek

Here is a memoir that is difficult to categorize and which also poses a problem for a reader in the third decade of the third millennium. Well ahead of Truman Capote, it presents as something of an episodic nonfiction novel. As it focuses on elements of nature in central Florida I was inclined to call it nature writing, but that is too constricting a term, because it is also about the area’s agriculture, its physical beauty and ugliness, and the adventures of the Yankee writer who moves there seeking a life closer to the earth, away from the hustle of the city. It’s a guide to local animals wild and domestic, and how the residents interact with them, including through hunting and fishing. It's about the weather. It is in its description of the preparation of food almost a Florida cookbook (see the descriptions of the variations of cornbread), it is an adventure story, it’s the autobiography of a strong woman, and it’s the story of the area’s people in their interactions with one another and with the author. This last point gives large pause to a reader in 2021, for it is also an unvarnished depiction of how the Black and White races interact there. I was reporting on this book to my spouse as I read along and I told her Rawlings is such a good writer, very evocative, somewhat poetic, but that there is also this thing about race, where the Black race is assumed to be primitive in comparison to the White, where Blacks are servant class and Whites cannot be, where Blacks are sometimes referred to in the most pejorative terms, and yet where the two races coexist to each other’s benefit and where there is love and respect between some individuals. Near the end of my reading my spouse asked, So what is the verdict on Rawlings? I said you have to hold two conflicting stances at the same time. You appreciate her for her evocations of an area I wasn’t very familiar with, but you also see that she is unable to rise out of the sea that the US, especially the southern US, was swimming in at the time, of racial attitudes, of white-privileging assumptions. These are attitudes I saw reflected during my brief travels in Louisiana and East Texas 23 years after this book’s initial publication, and in the last few years they have not only surfaced again, but become, if anything, more overt. To me this makes Rawlings even more relevant to the present day. I may never read Rawlings’s The Yearling, because I think it would destroy me, but for a reader who is willing to experience the area in all its perfection and imperfection in the 1930s, one who is willing to look at what life was like in that place in that time, I recommend Cross Creek very strongly.

I just finished the book, I loved it! I bought it after having visited her home, it was everything I hoped it would be and more. The insight of her life and that of old Florida was and is so amazing to me. The hardships and triumphs, she detailed so much and I felt like I was let in on a secret.

Enjoyed this book about a Yankee moving to Florida to write and own a Citrus Grove.This was a reread for me. I didn't realize it until some passages seemed very familiar.I loved her descriptions of Florida's natural beauty including the weather in Summer.Her descriptions of interactions with her neighbors is funny at times and frightening at others.Much of Florida is still like this...both about the natural beauty and the weird characters.Her descriptions of race relations and about hunting or other animal stories are a bit upsetting for modern ears.Overall a very enjoyable read.

The book Cross Creek was not available in my local public library, so I bought it. Once I started reading the book, I became suspicious it had been banned from the library. The language and racial attitudes are unsettling. But, they are typical of what existed in the 1930s in much of this country, and especially in rural Florida.This is as much a cultural and social work, as literary. It captures a part of our history that largely has vanished and has been forgotten. The characters, their portrayals, and their language probably are greatly exaggerated, to make the book more captivating. The book can be viewed as racist, but Rawlings pretty much treats the Cracker Whites about equally to the not-too-far-from-slavery, Blacks. Rawlings was sued for libel by one of her white neighbors she depicted in the book.This was a foreign land; Rawlings could just as easily have been writing about a hamlet in some Third World country. She was in it, became part of it, but was born in it. She had the degree of separation and perspective needed to write about Cross Creek. But, she also portrayed some of her characters quite harshly.Many of Rawlings' Cross Creek backwoods neighbors, black and white, lived at the fringes of society, culture, and the economy. They had a subsistence lifestyle, and experienced severe privation and even real hunger in the 1930s. They survived on bream (sunfish, or bluegills), grits, black-eyed peas, and collard greens. "White bacon" was a real treat. Some of these people were the "left behinds," as the more capable individuals emigrated to urban areas, South and North, in the early to mid 20th Century to improve their fortunes.As a native of the Deep South, I enjoyed reading this beautiful description of an earlier time and now transformed place. This is the "Old Florida," more of which still existed and I remember as a child over 50 years ago. I've visited the house in Cross Creek (now a Florida State Park) a couple of times, and I highly recommend visiting Cross Creek, as well as reading the book. These are true remnants of the "Old Florida."

This may be my favorite book. It is beautifully written, and there are so many things to enjoy within these pages. There are hilarious interactions with neighbors and an abundance of outdoor adventures. If you enjoy fishing and hunting you will love this book. If you are into culinary delights this book is for you. This book could also be considered a love letter to birds and flowers. I love Mrs. Rawlings’ poetic descriptions of the natural world.After I read this book, my wife and I visited Cross Creek. I also read Mrs. Rawlings entire body of work, and all of the biographies on her life. This book is probably the best place to start.I reread “Cross Creek” after our trip to Mrs. Rawlings’ home with an even deeper sense of satisfaction. I highly recommend anything written by MKR, but especially this book.

The kindle makes reading easy and no library returns. Great if you live out of town.

A super graceful read. To be enjoyed on a long holiday or commute. Not a quick read, but has some beautiful descriptions especially The Magnolia Tree.

I can barely remember this book. I read about 50 pages and it was just forlorn to continue. If you are already depressed you may enjoy iy.