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Title details for Long Time Leaving by Roy Blount, Jr. - Available

Long Time Leaving

Dispatches From Up South

by Roy Blount, Jr.
Roy Blount
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
The first collection of the beloved humorist's sly, dry, hilarious essays in more than a decade focuses on a perennially popular topic: the South vs. the North. "When [Northerners] ask me to explain grits, I look at them like an Irishman who's been asked to explain potatoes." "When I was a boy in Georgia, college sports was Bobby Dodd versus Bear Bryant immemorial. Compared to that the Harvard-Yale game is a panel discussion." "Anybody who claims . . . not to have 'a racist bone' in his or her body is at best preracist and has a longer way to go than the rest of us." Hard-working humorist Roy Blount Jr. lives in the North but he's from the South, a delicious tension that has always informed and shaped his work. In this new collection, he directs his acerbic wit and finely-tuned insight toward the persistent and colorful differences between the two. His essays treat every conceivable topic on which North and South misunderstand each other, from music to sports, eating, education, politics, child-rearing, religion, race, and language ("remember when there was lots of discussion of 'ebonics'?"). In this eminently quotable collection, Blount does justice to the charming, funny, infuriating facets of Southern tradition and their equally odd Northern counterpoints.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 1, 2007

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781598875003
      • File size: 229669 KB
      • Duration: 07:58:28

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      There are few audiobooks that should be sold with a bib. Georgia-born and raised humorist Roy Blount, Jr.'s, delicious descriptions of Southern cooking would make anyone's mouth water. But he doesn't stop there. Don't try to drink anything (you'll spit or choke) while Blount talks about everything from boiled peanuts to fancy dinner parties to summer vacations and more. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud observations like why he doesn't like being called a "sophisticated redneck" and how Southerners sometimes make animal noises when they eat from the man best known for appearances on public radio programs like "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Wait, Wait . . . Don't Tell Me!" LONG TIME LEAVING is one audiobook that will have you wishing you had more time to stay. R.O. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 25, 2007
      More than anything else, Blount provides an insightful and distinctive critique of Southern cultural disposition. He addresses the elitism of overall American (and in particular, Northern) culture to dispossess the South of legitimate and unstigmatized cultural existence. While recognizing the contradictions and misunderstandings about the South, Blount encourages listeners to be critical of all aspects of American culture, not just Southern culture. While a tenuous thread connects his essays, this rambunctious rambling ranges from outsider folk art and songs about food to sports. With a gruff voice and hints of a Southern accent, Blount offers an impressive performance. While reading lists on audio can often bore listeners, Blount uses emphasis and a quickened cadence to successfully compensate for his sometimes extensive lists. His harmonic voice proves especially enjoyable during his discussions of limericks and music. One puzzling aspect of this audiobook is occasional random voices injecting quotes. These quotes read by others are superfluous or hint at production problems since Blount reads most other quotes. Simultaneous release with the Knopf hardcover.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from December 31, 2007
      Ever since beloved Southern writer Blount moved to Massachusetts, he's been trying to use his “regional ambivalence... to get Aunt Dixie and Uncle Sam on speaking terms.†In this diverse collection of humorous essays and occasional verse, Blount tackles a number of topics, including Immanuel Kant, the mind-boggling “Bushy Juggernaut†and the correct grammatical usage of y'all
      (always plural). Concerned largely with his own pleasures and peccadilloes, Blount sings the praises of New Orleans's jazzy Boswell sisters, staying up late and the company of Jack Russell terriers (“like living with a movie star who seems to be able to handle quite a lot of cocaineâ€). On the other hand, Tom DeLay of Texas gets called “the thinking person's Satan,†Garth Brooks and Forrest Gump
      both receive snubs, and caring about college sports in the Northeast draws comparison to “caring about French food in South Carolina.†Adorned with poetical lists and quirky details, Blount's work is unflaggingly passionate and provocative over a range of subjects, including food, politics and all things Southern, and he's as likely to quote the Women's Times
      as Shakespeare or Zora Neale Hurston. A lively curmudgeon who's talked to just about everyone on just about everything (especially grits), Blount's energetic, unpredictable essays are surefire fan pleasers and fine discoveries for newcomers.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Funding for additional materials was made possible by a grant from the New Hampshire Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.