Humor: The Magic of Genie (review)

After twenty-five years of renown as a regional poet, Jim Wayne Miller is trying out the road not taken: he has turned to novel writing as a wider canvas for his observations. The result, marketed by Orchard Press as a children's book, will be required reading in Appalachian Studies, for both its substance and the importance of its author. The book is fine for young people. They will enjoy the story ofRobert Wells, growing up on a North Carolina mountain farm, learning about life from his rich and bookish Wells grandparents and from his poor and kindly Smith grandparents. Tales of Robert's youth are laced with hunting yarns, old superstitions, and a child's wisdom about the ways of adults. We see the break-up of his parents' marriage through the compassion of the innocent bystander, and we are given observations on society worthy of Huck Finn himself. Adults will savor the spare prose descriptions of the mountain South, describing the generation before "America " came to the mountains in the form of Howard Johnson's, MTV, and polyester . Those who are already familiar with Miller's work will find echoes of his poetry in Newfound. The novel is partly autobiographical, and some of the episodes suggest the inspiration for many of his early poems, particularly those in Dialogue With a bead Man. Hanlon Mountain, the ghostly setting of Miller's sonnet "Hanlon Mountain in Mist," is mentioned in a hunting incident in the novel. Newfound HiU, a place name mentioned in Old Man All My Life, suggests the origin of the title; and the superstition of locked hoes described in the sonnet "Meeting" is told as an episode in Newfound. All the characters who came to life in Miller's early work are present in more substantial form in his fiction: the bee woman, the grandfather who taught him farming, Aunt Vi with her love letters, and the mountain family who live forever in Miller's work. Newfound is an important source for those whose interest in Jim Wayne Miller is scholarly. For everyone else, it is another facet of a great talent. Since it is written as a work ofjuvenile fiction, it should be shared with young peoplebut not confined to them. -Sharyn McCrumb Robertson, Joanne. Humor: The Magic of Genie. Houston, Texas: Rich Publishing Company. 216 pages. Hardback . $14.95. The state's tallest (6'2") and funniest Miss North Carolina "took to the roads" as a professional speaker some 25 years ago, and she has been regaling America, Canada, Mexico, and any countries in hearing distance ever since. Jeanne Robertson has become one of the nation's superstars among speakers. Sometimes called "America's first lady of humor," she has been the clown princess reigning over many a meeting and convention. Now she has written one of the funniest books to come along in years. In Humor: The Magic of Genie Robertson demonstrates that she is a humorist of rare skill not only at the speaker's podium but on the printed page. In Genie she describes seven magic potions for developing and enhancing a sense of humor. Each potion is followed by a humorous example ranging from that which provokes a broad silent smile to the bent-double belly-laugh, all of which combine to make the book a fine collection of humor itself. At her best, Robertson achieves voice. In a conversational tone she captures nuances, bears down for emphasis, and brings off humorous lines with skillful timing. She has the rare ability to make you hear her as you read. 60 One of her suggestions for enhancing a sense of humor is " . . . read several jokebooks and select only the jokes that make you burst out laughing." One might begin with Humor: The Magic of Genie. Humor: The Magic of Genie can be ordered from local bookstores or directly from Genie, 2905 Forestdale Drive, Burlington, NC 27215, $14.95 plus $2.00 handling and postage. -Joanne Brannon AIdridge Shirley, Patricia. Mary Pearl Kline. Seven Buffaloes Press, Big Timber, Montana. 98 pages. Paperback. $7.95. Patricia Shirley, who lives and works in Knoxville, Tennessee, writes what Gurney Norman called "story-telling poems," rooted...