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A Short History of a Small Place
1985 novel by T. R. Pearson From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A Short History of a Small Place is a 1985 novel by T. R. Pearson. It describes the lives and eccentricities of the inhabitants of the fictional town of Neely, North Carolina.
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The book is Pearson's first novel. It is told from the point of view of a young boy, Louis Benfield. It focuses on the fates of the Pettigrew family, and particularly Myra Angelique Pettigrew, a Miss Haversham figure, who has withdrawn from society after a failed love affair, and lives with only a chimpanzee named Mr Britches for companion.[1][2]
Neely has been identified by some readers as a thinly disguised Reidsville and was also the setting for Pearson's second book, Off for the Sweet Hereafter.[3]
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Reception
The Independent described it as "an entertaining, innocuous, at times witty and at times trite novel which, happily bouncing its way from episode to episode, barely ever strikes a false note and hardly ever rings a true one".[2]
Kirkus Reviews described the novel as a "colorful, often amusing, but ultimately frustratingly episodic novel", noting that it shows "a strong sense of place, a fine ear for speech, a confident, old-fashioned way of storytelling, and a subtle, disarming humor".[1]
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References
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