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The Vaiden Trilogy #2
The Store
The Pulitzer prize-winning The Store is the second novel of Stribling’s monumental trilogy set in the author’s native Tennessee Valley region of north Alabama. The action begins in 1884, the year in which Grover Cleveland became the first Democratic president since the end of the Civil War; and it centers about the emergence of a figure of wealth in the city of Florence.
In The Store , Stribling succeeds in presenting the essence of an age through the everyday lives of his characters. In the New Yorker , reviewer Robert M. Coates compared Stribling with Mark Twain in his ability to convey the “very life and movement” of a small Southern town: “Groups move chatting under the trees or stand loitering in the courthouse square, townsfolk gather at political ‘speakings’ and drift homeward separately afterward; always, in their doings, one has the sense of a whole community surrounding them, binding them together.” Gerald Bullet wrote in The New Statesman and Nation that the novel “is a first-rate book…filled with diverse and vital characters; and much of it cannot be read without that primitive excitement, that eagerness to know what comes next, which is, after all, the triumph of the good story teller.”
In The Store , Stribling succeeds in presenting the essence of an age through the everyday lives of his characters. In the New Yorker , reviewer Robert M. Coates compared Stribling with Mark Twain in his ability to convey the “very life and movement” of a small Southern town: “Groups move chatting under the trees or stand loitering in the courthouse square, townsfolk gather at political ‘speakings’ and drift homeward separately afterward; always, in their doings, one has the sense of a whole community surrounding them, binding them together.” Gerald Bullet wrote in The New Statesman and Nation that the novel “is a first-rate book…filled with diverse and vital characters; and much of it cannot be read without that primitive excitement, that eagerness to know what comes next, which is, after all, the triumph of the good story teller.”
592 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1932
About the author
T.S. Stribling
42 books24 followersThomas Sigismun Stribling was a staff writer for "Saturday Evening Post" and a lawyer. He published under the name T.S. Stribling. In the 1920's and 1930's, T. S. was America's foremost author. His most notable works were "Birthright," "Teeftfollow," "Backwater," "The Forge" and "The Unfinished Cathedral". He won the Pulitzer Prize for his book, "The Store" in 1933.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
July 27, 2013
This book should be required reading for everyone in America. An unflinching portrayal of race relations in the deep south after The Civil War and during the Reconstruction Era, it holds no punches. With the end of the Civil War and slavery, Colonel Miltiades Vaiden has lost his jobs as the overseer of a cotton plantation, a Confederate Army officer, and a Ku Klux Klan leader. He is adrift and trying to clamor his way back into the middle class. He has virtually no redeeming qualities and I hated and was disgusted by him for the entirety of the book, yet I couldn't stop reading. A critically important book that provides accurate historical context that could help inform a thoughtful and tempered national discussion about the history and current status of American race relations, more people should read this book.
September 21, 2021
This was a difficult book about Alabama under Reconstruction. It is a realistic document of the racism and hypocrisy in a Southern town. The protagonist is pretty reprehensible: ex-Confederate Colonel, ex-plantation overseer, ex-KKKlansman, and father of poor, black bastard children. The book is basically a descent throughout where he loses status and commits a crime which becomes widespread knowledge.
The writing does occasionally rise above average: "No, but you are made up of that romance and tragedy. Its shocks and emotions are yours. I have thought that every era of history is written not on books by withered scribes, but upon the hearts and souls of the children of that generation. All historians can do is make a few passing footnotes to explain why your eyes are pensive and your lips wistful. " (p. 385)
I found that the narrative did move along and there were comic elements as well as more serious ones. But, again, I found it hard to move past my revulsion at the society he was painting and the social attitudes he was describing and in my mind I kept comparing them to today's maga(t)s and how little progress we have made in the red states.
Nevertheless, I was not enamored with the protagonist enough to want to read the first and third parts of this trilogy. One was enough. Also, why the Pulitzer went to this book instead of the monument Light in August that was published the same year is beyond mystifying. Faulker's book describes the state next door and a similar period, but with a power and vision that makes Striblings book look like kindling to Faulkner's bonfire.
My votable list of Pulitzer winners which I have read (only have the 40s, 50s, and 60s to finish!):
The writing does occasionally rise above average: "No, but you are made up of that romance and tragedy. Its shocks and emotions are yours. I have thought that every era of history is written not on books by withered scribes, but upon the hearts and souls of the children of that generation. All historians can do is make a few passing footnotes to explain why your eyes are pensive and your lips wistful. " (p. 385)
I found that the narrative did move along and there were comic elements as well as more serious ones. But, again, I found it hard to move past my revulsion at the society he was painting and the social attitudes he was describing and in my mind I kept comparing them to today's maga(t)s and how little progress we have made in the red states.
Nevertheless, I was not enamored with the protagonist enough to want to read the first and third parts of this trilogy. One was enough. Also, why the Pulitzer went to this book instead of the monument Light in August that was published the same year is beyond mystifying. Faulker's book describes the state next door and a similar period, but with a power and vision that makes Striblings book look like kindling to Faulkner's bonfire.
My votable list of Pulitzer winners which I have read (only have the 40s, 50s, and 60s to finish!):
July 27, 2017
"The Store" is the second book in a trilogy by Tom (T.S.) Stribling.
It has a cast of wonderfully flawed characters and it reveals much about the practices in the South after the Civil War.
"The Store" was published in 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1933.
Stribling was reviled by his townspeople ever after because they believed that Miltiades, the main character, who gained a foothold on wealth by cheating a man who had cheated his family 20 years earlier, was based on an actual merchant in the town who was said to have got his start when he stole a diamond.
Stribling was my mother's cousin and this makes his work and life especially interesting to me.
It has a cast of wonderfully flawed characters and it reveals much about the practices in the South after the Civil War.
"The Store" was published in 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1933.
Stribling was reviled by his townspeople ever after because they believed that Miltiades, the main character, who gained a foothold on wealth by cheating a man who had cheated his family 20 years earlier, was based on an actual merchant in the town who was said to have got his start when he stole a diamond.
Stribling was my mother's cousin and this makes his work and life especially interesting to me.
May 6, 2024
This was on my list and physically on my shelf. The investment had been made, but after looking at some of the reviews, I was not looking forward to it. However, I found myself thoroughly enjoying it. The first obstacle I had to overcome, and with which I think most readers struggle, is the language. It is racist. It is offensive. But this book is set in the post Reconstruction South in Florence, Alabama, in the mid 1880’s as Grover Cleveland is elected and taking office. This is historical fiction, and I had to ask myself was the novel being truthful to time and place. From everything I knew and checked, it was. That is my foremost expectation of historical fiction: I want the story to provide me with emotional insight into time and place that aligns with historian accounts. I want it to augment not contradict or re-imagine or ignore history. In reading the novel and in reading about the author, I learned that Stribling was very empathetic towards the struggles and challenges of black Americans of this period. I realized that the language used was necessary to accurately represent this part of the country at that time.
The story is good, for a variety of reasons. The prose is lacking: it feels antiquated and cumbersome. The structure of the novel is a traditional narrative, told in 3rd person, time running forward. The protagonist is a colonel that had been in the Confederate Army and was a former Ku Klux Klan leader; it is to the author’s credit that you find yourself struggling not to like Miltiades Vaiden. While he is racially offensive in language and attitude, he treats blacks better than most anyone else in the community. The Store addresses many of the same social issues that Faulkner addresses in his novels. This is intriguing given this novel was published in 1932, just as Faulkner was starting to produce his most significant works. It would not have been a surprise to see Flem Snopes make an appearance in this story. Unfortunately, Stribling’s prose does not have any of the beauty or eloquence or rhythm of Faulkner’s; nor does Stribling use any of the structural elements in his novel that often make Faulkner’s novels unique.
This novel is the second in a trilogy and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1933. I find myself considering the possibility of reading the other two in the trilogy. But then I also feeling motivated towards a re-read of some of Faulkner’s works.
The story is good, for a variety of reasons. The prose is lacking: it feels antiquated and cumbersome. The structure of the novel is a traditional narrative, told in 3rd person, time running forward. The protagonist is a colonel that had been in the Confederate Army and was a former Ku Klux Klan leader; it is to the author’s credit that you find yourself struggling not to like Miltiades Vaiden. While he is racially offensive in language and attitude, he treats blacks better than most anyone else in the community. The Store addresses many of the same social issues that Faulkner addresses in his novels. This is intriguing given this novel was published in 1932, just as Faulkner was starting to produce his most significant works. It would not have been a surprise to see Flem Snopes make an appearance in this story. Unfortunately, Stribling’s prose does not have any of the beauty or eloquence or rhythm of Faulkner’s; nor does Stribling use any of the structural elements in his novel that often make Faulkner’s novels unique.
This novel is the second in a trilogy and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1933. I find myself considering the possibility of reading the other two in the trilogy. But then I also feeling motivated towards a re-read of some of Faulkner’s works.
June 18, 2017
I've never read a book that makes me hate reading so much. This long miserable (Pulitzer Prize winning?!) book is perfect for you if you like casual racism and intricate plots about nothing.
August 16, 2012
In short, this book is pretty much the complete opposite of "The Help."
January 16, 2013
This was a difficult book to read because it so matter-of-factly presents the racism of Reconstruction era Alabama. The recently freed slaves are little better off than they were before. As one character states: "The white people made the law to use for the white people." It might have been easier if I could think of it as a relic of the past, but as a native of Alabama and member of a large Alabama family, I know too well how these same attitudes still find places to linger.
The most surprising element in this book is the young Jerry who has rejected Christianity and is instead using a library book to learn how to become a yogi. He is at all times expecting a test from a mystic in order to prove his transcendence and leave the plane of usual existence. In the end, he gets his test.
Stribling also presents the complexities of the black community from those who embrace the Christian pulpit version of their destiny to live lives of injustice to a more enlightened view from a young woman intent on living separately from white people and educating her community.
This book was unsettling, but so is the history of inhumanity towards the black community in the South.
The most surprising element in this book is the young Jerry who has rejected Christianity and is instead using a library book to learn how to become a yogi. He is at all times expecting a test from a mystic in order to prove his transcendence and leave the plane of usual existence. In the end, he gets his test.
Stribling also presents the complexities of the black community from those who embrace the Christian pulpit version of their destiny to live lives of injustice to a more enlightened view from a young woman intent on living separately from white people and educating her community.
This book was unsettling, but so is the history of inhumanity towards the black community in the South.
December 30, 2012
#149of2012
I'm not surprised the way black people were still being treated 20 years after the Civil War here. It's almost like nothing changed.
I know Governor O'Shawn's character was actually Governor O'Neal not much a stretch there. The streets he mentioned are all still here except Market Street and I think that's Court Street now but I'm not sure. BeShear's Crossroads may be Threet's Crossroads again I'm not sure about that. I've read that Roger's Dept store was suppose to be The Store but he denied it. He also denied that Jerry Catlin was a self-portrait of himself. I read some of that here http://chotank.com/astrib.html
I'm not surprised the way black people were still being treated 20 years after the Civil War here. It's almost like nothing changed.
I know Governor O'Shawn's character was actually Governor O'Neal not much a stretch there. The streets he mentioned are all still here except Market Street and I think that's Court Street now but I'm not sure. BeShear's Crossroads may be Threet's Crossroads again I'm not sure about that. I've read that Roger's Dept store was suppose to be The Store but he denied it. He also denied that Jerry Catlin was a self-portrait of himself. I read some of that here http://chotank.com/astrib.html
August 28, 2010
The Store is the 2nd book in the T.S. Stribling Vaiden series. I've already reviewed the first book, The Forge, and most everything I have to say about this book was summed up in that review. The rating has been raised, as a result of the fact that I'm currently about 1,500 pages into the series and am nowhere near ready for it to be over. That's saying something.
One thing that was different in this book was that there was a new fat character, and apparently her entirely personality was that of 'fat'. Seriously, he actually wrote :
"I don't know," she called back flabbily, "I might want something to eat."
How exactly does a person speak 'flabbily'?
One thing that was different in this book was that there was a new fat character, and apparently her entirely personality was that of 'fat'. Seriously, he actually wrote :
"I don't know," she called back flabbily, "I might want something to eat."
How exactly does a person speak 'flabbily'?
February 10, 2022
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER: 1933
===
2.5 rounded down
Second in a trilogy, but I didn't read the first and didn't feel confused/lost, so that's good I guess. Takes place in the South during the Reconstruction Era and fuck, it was a hard read. I'm sure it was an accurate portrayal, but the racism, sexism, and hypocrisy was hard to swallow. Hardly any of the characters, particularly the white men, are in any way likable, and even as anti-heroes, there was nothing to endear them. The writing was okay, but a LOT of epithets, which are annoying enough, but these had the fun benefit of usually being racist epithets, and the whole thing just felt a little pointless. But I actually got through it pretty quickly and somehow the plot managed to hook me just enough that I wanted to know how it all played out, but I ended this book feeling a bit dirty.
===
2.5 rounded down
Second in a trilogy, but I didn't read the first and didn't feel confused/lost, so that's good I guess. Takes place in the South during the Reconstruction Era and fuck, it was a hard read. I'm sure it was an accurate portrayal, but the racism, sexism, and hypocrisy was hard to swallow. Hardly any of the characters, particularly the white men, are in any way likable, and even as anti-heroes, there was nothing to endear them. The writing was okay, but a LOT of epithets, which are annoying enough, but these had the fun benefit of usually being racist epithets, and the whole thing just felt a little pointless. But I actually got through it pretty quickly and somehow the plot managed to hook me just enough that I wanted to know how it all played out, but I ended this book feeling a bit dirty.
April 28, 2012
The Store by Thomas Sigismund (TS) Stribling won the Pulitzer in 1933 and is the 2nd in his Vaiden trilogy. This book takes place in November of 1884 as Grover Cleveland is being elected the first Democratic President since the Civil War. The book's main character is Miltiades (Milt) Vaiden a former Colonel in the Confederate Army and KKK member. In this book taking place some years after the first (the Forge) he is married and has no money. The book focuses on the post-war relations between the White former slave owners and the former slaves. The black characters in the book are free only by law - but still acting as slaves. Although Vaiden is a former KKK member he seems to treat them as well as anyone - although there is still distrust of them. The language used is pretty offensive today but probably pretty accurate. The "N"-word is used pretty regularly and after a while you just accept it - this is the way they spoke. The former slaves speak uneducated English and much of what they are saying is tough to read. There is much inter-relations and children between the white owners and the black women. This is pretty well accepted and known - although the reverse situation is thought of as disgusting. What is interesting is the symbiotic relationship between the two cultures.
Stribling's prose is eloquent and this contains elements of theocracy, race relations, poverty etc.
Stribling's prose is eloquent and this contains elements of theocracy, race relations, poverty etc.
Read
March 17, 2018A complicated book.
Set in the days after the Civil War, when slavery had been abolished in name but remained a reality. Stribling doesn't pull any punches. He doesn't pretend that history was other than it was. There were several times when I literally put the book down because of how revolting it was.
This doesn't mean it wasn't a phenomenal book. Stribling makes it clear what his opinions are. His black characters have agency; they are nuanced and true. They are as significant to the plot as anyone else - something rare today but so much rarer in the 1930s when it was originally published. Through subtle, cutting wit Stribling offers a deadly criticism of the South post-emancipation.
Also? My American Lit professor wrote the intro so that's neat.
Set in the days after the Civil War, when slavery had been abolished in name but remained a reality. Stribling doesn't pull any punches. He doesn't pretend that history was other than it was. There were several times when I literally put the book down because of how revolting it was.
This doesn't mean it wasn't a phenomenal book. Stribling makes it clear what his opinions are. His black characters have agency; they are nuanced and true. They are as significant to the plot as anyone else - something rare today but so much rarer in the 1930s when it was originally published. Through subtle, cutting wit Stribling offers a deadly criticism of the South post-emancipation.
Also? My American Lit professor wrote the intro so that's neat.
December 29, 2019
The writing is not his strong point, but his portrayal of white southerners in the years after Reconstruction was compelling. Most of his white characters and his main character, in particular -- a former plantation overseer, Confederate solider, and Klan member -- are a morass of unexamined beliefs, self-delusion, and white supremacy that they work hard to maintain in the face of reality. There were interesting insights, but I'm glad to leave these characters behind.
April 19, 2019
T.S. Stribling won the Pulitzer Prize for The Store in 1933. The book chronicles life in the South post Civil War as southern plantation owners come to grips with a new world in reconstruction. The story telling was excellent with many flawed characters in this disturbing book. I give this book 4 stars.
August 27, 2018
Gahhhh this was so unexpectedly good! I don't know how more people don't know about this book. It reminded me of Faulkner except the plot was better. The sheer hypocrisy outlined in this book is very engaging and hard to read a lot of times.
August 3, 2013
Fantastic book -- completely surprised me.
August 5, 2017
As for superior writing, I wouldn't rank this 1933 Pulitzer winner for fiction among the best. But it was an enjoyable read and its themes were complex and prodding enough to merit some accolades. Even still, I gave the book a four-star ranking for two reasons, the first having to do with the merits of the book itself and the second for its sociological value: (1) though it was not the work of a literary genius, it has very few, if any, discernible flaws. It's solid, though basic. (2) I found it extremely fascinating to read a book about post-abolition race relations in the deep south but written during a period in which Jim Crow was still very much the operating norm in the same deep south. The novel still has a very uncomfortable coziness with racist tropes and language that would be offensive to almost anyone in today's reality; but even within what we would consider to be a racist apologetic (i.e. the main character of the novel for whom a very empathetic portrayal is given, Col. Miltiades Vaiden, is also an unapologetic and bald-faced racist who even was Klan leader), there is a critique of race relations that one might even point to as being pro-abolitionist. In other words, in the Jim Crow reality of race relations in 1933 in the segregated south, this book might have been well-within the segregationist mainstream, but also one that might have also been considered sensitive to the complexities and injustices of race relations in the immediate post-emancipation south and a critique of a certain kind of continuation of slavery-like racial oppression that managed to linger after the emancipation proclamation.
Another fascinating thing about this book for me was the picture it presented of how incestuous the south was among the white population, partly because of a practice of casual sexual exploitation (rape) of black or mixed-race women by white men which often times produced offspring whose parentage was often publicly obscured for all kinds of reasons.
The more I think about this book, the more I realize that the real villains were often unscrupulous, ignorant, and violent white men; and that incivility often manifested itself among the white population in their relations with one another within the white community, albeit wrapped in the absurd veneer of a kind of imperious and irreproachable southern chivalry and gentility.
In short, there's a lot in this book for a current student of race relations to ponder and evaluate from a variety of angles. How did someone from the Jim Crow segregationist south view the late 19th Century social reality of race relations? What was considered a progressive view of race relations and civil rights in the 1930s? What constituted a novel that could be considered a radical critique of racism and oppression at the time? Etc., etc.
If you want to see what mainstream US literary culture embraced as an example of superior writing about the complex subject of racism in an era of Jim Crow segregationism in the US (and particularly in the US south), this book is a worthwhile read. It certainly makes a reader of today think about these topics in a way that I am sure readers in 1933 couldn't even fathom considering.
Another fascinating thing about this book for me was the picture it presented of how incestuous the south was among the white population, partly because of a practice of casual sexual exploitation (rape) of black or mixed-race women by white men which often times produced offspring whose parentage was often publicly obscured for all kinds of reasons.
The more I think about this book, the more I realize that the real villains were often unscrupulous, ignorant, and violent white men; and that incivility often manifested itself among the white population in their relations with one another within the white community, albeit wrapped in the absurd veneer of a kind of imperious and irreproachable southern chivalry and gentility.
In short, there's a lot in this book for a current student of race relations to ponder and evaluate from a variety of angles. How did someone from the Jim Crow segregationist south view the late 19th Century social reality of race relations? What was considered a progressive view of race relations and civil rights in the 1930s? What constituted a novel that could be considered a radical critique of racism and oppression at the time? Etc., etc.
If you want to see what mainstream US literary culture embraced as an example of superior writing about the complex subject of racism in an era of Jim Crow segregationism in the US (and particularly in the US south), this book is a worthwhile read. It certainly makes a reader of today think about these topics in a way that I am sure readers in 1933 couldn't even fathom considering.
March 4, 2011
Set 20 years after the Civil War which freed the slaves of the plantations around Florence, Alabama, those living there are still trying to sort out the relationships and rights of both white and black residents. The Store explores love and loss, trust and betrayal, and the vagaries of reputation and fortunes of the Vaiden family, both the whites and the blacks of that name. The store itself is a dream of Colonel Miltiades Vaiden which, once achieved, is rarely again mentioned and unimportant in the story.
Vaiden, a former Colonel in the Confederate Army, had his money stolen shortly after the end of the War by J. Handback when Vaiden's cotton was put in trust to Handback and then Handback was able to declare bankruptcy and deny the proceeds of the sale of the cotton to Vaiden. This created a resentment on Vaiden's part which festered for the many years since. Handback, believing the Colonel holds no resentments, hires him to work in the Handback store. Since the Colonel gives the same service to the blacks as to the whites of the community, this frustrates Handback. "A nigger pound is not the same measure as a white pound." He removes Vaiden, setting him up to oversee Handback's cotton plantings and his colored tennants thereby setting up the environment which allows Vaiden to get even with Handback. This allows the Colonel to buy his long-dreamed of store beginning a series of repercussions throughout the full community, affecting both whites and blacks, Southerners and Yankees. An intriguing read, with a bit of a ghost story included for good measure.
Vaiden, a former Colonel in the Confederate Army, had his money stolen shortly after the end of the War by J. Handback when Vaiden's cotton was put in trust to Handback and then Handback was able to declare bankruptcy and deny the proceeds of the sale of the cotton to Vaiden. This created a resentment on Vaiden's part which festered for the many years since. Handback, believing the Colonel holds no resentments, hires him to work in the Handback store. Since the Colonel gives the same service to the blacks as to the whites of the community, this frustrates Handback. "A nigger pound is not the same measure as a white pound." He removes Vaiden, setting him up to oversee Handback's cotton plantings and his colored tennants thereby setting up the environment which allows Vaiden to get even with Handback. This allows the Colonel to buy his long-dreamed of store beginning a series of repercussions throughout the full community, affecting both whites and blacks, Southerners and Yankees. An intriguing read, with a bit of a ghost story included for good measure.
October 27, 2013
This was the next of the Pulitzer winning novels that Steve and I are reading. Took some time to track this one down - our daughter finally located it for us in the Chicago Public Library. Although it seemed a bit slow at the beginning, we were soon caught up in the stories of the exquisitely drawn characters in this novel, placed in the post Civil War southern town of Florence, Alabama. The central character, Milt Vaiden, is followed throughout as you see a man who unlike most of the white citizens of the town tries to give the negroes a "fair deal" in the stores. He is not above his own form of chicanery, however, when it suits his purposes, so you feel somewhat ambivalent about him. Not so the case of some of the other characters, particularly the Negro ones. I read these books aloud to Steve and some of the language, including frequent use of the N word, made that somewhat uncomfortable, and it was difficult reading the vernacular as written by Stribling, but this was an amazing, provocative, novel.
Read
October 26, 2011Thank goodness I'm through this book. If you have any need to hear how former slaves were treated and spoken about, this book is for you. I haven't had to deal with hearing such language ever. It pains me to think that this was considered good contemporary fiction when published . It was a terribly cruel time and well documented by this novel
October 13, 2013
Wow....this was hard to get through. Can't tell if I am for M. Vaiden or not. I almost felt sorry for the man but in the end I am disgusted. I am still compelled to read the other 2 novels in this trilogy.
February 1, 2013
made me think about my life.its a book i could read again and again
September 16, 2013
My final review can be found on my blog: http://followingpulitzer.wordpress.co...
February 19, 2023
Interest on those REPARATIONS keep accruing.
July 13, 2020
When I was in graduate school, I took a literature course called “Black Subjectivity.” As a student looking for clear-cut answers and definitions, I found the course’s title (and some of the readings) puzzling: What is “subjectivity,” what does it mean to talk about Black subjectivity, and why don’t any authors seem to agree on the answers to these questions? Looking back, I think my confusion was kind of the point of the course.
T.S. (Thomas Sigismund) Stribling’s 1933 Pulitzer winner, The Store, was not included on the “Black Subjectivity” syllabus. And yet, I thought often of that course, and the concept of subjectivity as I was reading it. Generally speaking, the novel addresses the upheavals the town of Florence, Alabama, confronted in the years following the Civil War. It identifies many different kinds of transitions — social, political, economic, and otherwise — but the one that really stands out to me is the changing relationships between white and Black folks. The former group is comprised of landowners with dwindling fortunes, middle-class opportunists who think they can improve their station under the new social order, and poor, uneducated whites who resent doing the work enslaved Black people used to do. The Black characters reveal a generational divide between older folks (parents, grandparents) who remember slavery and worry about having their freedom, such as it is, revoked, and younger folks who want education and think they can hold white people accountable to laws and business contracts. Understandably, both groups of Black characters distrust the white characters and attempt to keep their distance from them.
The author tells much of his story through the perspective of Colonel Miltiades Vaiden, a scoundrel of a white man who worked as an overseer before the war, was a KKK leader after the war, and gets this book going by attempting to recover an old debt through what can only be described as an act of economic vigilantism. At first, I was so put-off by Vaiden’s character that I really wondered if I was going to be able to make it to the end of this book. The Black characters, the white female characters, Miltiades’s nephew Jerry — any one of these would have made a more sympathetic protagonist.
However, around page 300 (3/5ths of the way through), I decided that Miltiades was the perfect center for this book about the transforming South. Ultimately, Stribling wants to condemn the romantic myths that (still) spread about the pre-War South, where plantations are serene, beautiful economic engines and benevolent whites enslave Black laborers — but only because the Lord in his wisdom expected them to. In fact, I was frequently surprised by the author’s attention to what we today understand as “systems” or “structures” of racism, as when he discusses the different rules that apply to white and Black people who have broken the law. If even Miltiades, a former overseer and Klansman, who fought and lost a brother in the Civil War, can grow to understand that “there [is] a plane of life outside of personal service to white persons whichNegroes might occupy,” then a 20th/21st century reader should be able to push even farther. Returning to that class I took on “Black Subjectivity,” a modern-day white reader should be able to make the leap from accepting that people of color are, well, people, to heeding the call to identify and dismantle structures that have historically limited their opportunities.
I ended up admiring the author and book more than I expected to. Its characters are not always sympathetic, but they are distinct and memorable, and like I have tried to say, the book’s messages about race and discrimination are surprisingly progressive for a 1930s Pulitzer winner. That said, I would stop short of issuing a glowing recommendation to other readers. If, like me, you are wanting to read all the prize winners, then yeah, you are obliged to work this one through. But there are lots of other books that address the same era, preach the same gospel, and do so with even more authority because they are written by authors of color. (Charles Chesnutt’s classic, The Marrow of Tradition, might be a place to start.) There are also other books that show more restraint with racist terminology (the N-word, etc.) and “dialect.” Though I think Stribling’s “heart is in the right place,” or whatever, I think his desire to shock the (white) reader with scenes of real/realist hatred and violence have as much potential to traumatize as educate.
T.S. (Thomas Sigismund) Stribling’s 1933 Pulitzer winner, The Store, was not included on the “Black Subjectivity” syllabus. And yet, I thought often of that course, and the concept of subjectivity as I was reading it. Generally speaking, the novel addresses the upheavals the town of Florence, Alabama, confronted in the years following the Civil War. It identifies many different kinds of transitions — social, political, economic, and otherwise — but the one that really stands out to me is the changing relationships between white and Black folks. The former group is comprised of landowners with dwindling fortunes, middle-class opportunists who think they can improve their station under the new social order, and poor, uneducated whites who resent doing the work enslaved Black people used to do. The Black characters reveal a generational divide between older folks (parents, grandparents) who remember slavery and worry about having their freedom, such as it is, revoked, and younger folks who want education and think they can hold white people accountable to laws and business contracts. Understandably, both groups of Black characters distrust the white characters and attempt to keep their distance from them.
The author tells much of his story through the perspective of Colonel Miltiades Vaiden, a scoundrel of a white man who worked as an overseer before the war, was a KKK leader after the war, and gets this book going by attempting to recover an old debt through what can only be described as an act of economic vigilantism. At first, I was so put-off by Vaiden’s character that I really wondered if I was going to be able to make it to the end of this book. The Black characters, the white female characters, Miltiades’s nephew Jerry — any one of these would have made a more sympathetic protagonist.
However, around page 300 (3/5ths of the way through), I decided that Miltiades was the perfect center for this book about the transforming South. Ultimately, Stribling wants to condemn the romantic myths that (still) spread about the pre-War South, where plantations are serene, beautiful economic engines and benevolent whites enslave Black laborers — but only because the Lord in his wisdom expected them to. In fact, I was frequently surprised by the author’s attention to what we today understand as “systems” or “structures” of racism, as when he discusses the different rules that apply to white and Black people who have broken the law. If even Miltiades, a former overseer and Klansman, who fought and lost a brother in the Civil War, can grow to understand that “there [is] a plane of life outside of personal service to white persons which
I ended up admiring the author and book more than I expected to. Its characters are not always sympathetic, but they are distinct and memorable, and like I have tried to say, the book’s messages about race and discrimination are surprisingly progressive for a 1930s Pulitzer winner. That said, I would stop short of issuing a glowing recommendation to other readers. If, like me, you are wanting to read all the prize winners, then yeah, you are obliged to work this one through. But there are lots of other books that address the same era, preach the same gospel, and do so with even more authority because they are written by authors of color. (Charles Chesnutt’s classic, The Marrow of Tradition, might be a place to start.) There are also other books that show more restraint with racist terminology (the N-word, etc.) and “dialect.” Though I think Stribling’s “heart is in the right place,” or whatever, I think his desire to shock the (white) reader with scenes of real/realist hatred and violence have as much potential to traumatize as educate.
December 6, 2017
Another Pulitzer Prize winner behind me. Tale of reconstruction South. It was interesting to hear the perceptions and thinking processes of those in the wake of the Civil War. Also interesting to explore the class distinctions and how they drove people.
March 1, 2015
In my pursuit of reading the Pulitzers, I purchased this gorgeous copy of T.S. Stribling's 1933 winner, The Store. I'm sure I spent quite a bit of money on it - it's leather-bound, gilt-edged, and has a ribbon bookmark - I'll be adding it to my permanent collection.
This book, the second in Stribling's trilogy, follows the further adventures of the Vaiden family, focusing specifically on Miltiades Vaiden. It is now post-Reconstruction in Florence, Alabama. Milt hasn't made much of himself since his days as a Civil War hero and local leader of the Ku Klux Klan. Milt is still rankled by what he perceived as a local store owner's "theft" of cotton from the family, and he sets out to get the family's rightful property (or the money owed them therefrom) back from the store owner, J. Handback.
Where Stribling really excels in this book, as he did in his last, is in the close examination of race relations in the post-Reconstruction South. With the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, it was clear to me that we haven't come that far since the late 1800's - certainly not as far as we should have. White landowners in the South are struggling with how to deal with former slaves who now have rights. Milt Vaiden embodies the lost soul of the white Southerner who has been thrust into an existence that he is neither prepared nor happy for. Once a Civil War hero, a successful overseer, and leader of the KKK, in the New South, Milt Vaiden doesn't know what to do with himself. The book explores the lives of former slaves as they, too, seek to learn how to make do in a land where they no longer have the protection of their former owners, but do not quite have a fully independent existence, due to how they are seen and treated by most whites in the South. The book also explores the lives of those biracial products of rape and/or consensual relations between (usually) white male slave owners and their former slaves, particularly through the person of Toussaint Vaiden. How is a man who is neither white nor black to make his way in the world after the Civil War? Where does he belong, and how does he fit into the self-segregated society that is blossoming after Reconstruction?
As in the last novel, there are many uses of derogatory names for former slaves. The casual way the n-word is used is by far the most disturbing part of the novel, although I'm sure it was par for the course in that time and place (and may still be in some places). There were no rapes in this novel, but ***SPOILER ALERT*** there is a lynching at the very end. Not recommended for those who would be overly offended by these issues.
I give this book five out of five Whatevers. I see why it won the Pulitzer. There is so much about it to admire - the way Stribling strips down race relations after the War and really tries to present both sides of the issue; the slight tinge of spiritualism that invades the book; the examination of love, and the many ways in which one can love another person. I couldn't put it down over the Thanksgiving break, and I'm very glad I read it. I would not say that I liked Milt Vaiden, as a character...he was somewhat of a scalawag. But there were other characters I loved (including Gracie, former slave of the Vaiden family, and Lucy, the educated black woman who tries to teach the neighborhood's black children and eventually marries Toussaint). Highly recommended for an interesting look at the Old South as it became the New South, and for a look at race relations that might just be needed in today's society, as well.
This book, the second in Stribling's trilogy, follows the further adventures of the Vaiden family, focusing specifically on Miltiades Vaiden. It is now post-Reconstruction in Florence, Alabama. Milt hasn't made much of himself since his days as a Civil War hero and local leader of the Ku Klux Klan. Milt is still rankled by what he perceived as a local store owner's "theft" of cotton from the family, and he sets out to get the family's rightful property (or the money owed them therefrom) back from the store owner, J. Handback.
Where Stribling really excels in this book, as he did in his last, is in the close examination of race relations in the post-Reconstruction South. With the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, it was clear to me that we haven't come that far since the late 1800's - certainly not as far as we should have. White landowners in the South are struggling with how to deal with former slaves who now have rights. Milt Vaiden embodies the lost soul of the white Southerner who has been thrust into an existence that he is neither prepared nor happy for. Once a Civil War hero, a successful overseer, and leader of the KKK, in the New South, Milt Vaiden doesn't know what to do with himself. The book explores the lives of former slaves as they, too, seek to learn how to make do in a land where they no longer have the protection of their former owners, but do not quite have a fully independent existence, due to how they are seen and treated by most whites in the South. The book also explores the lives of those biracial products of rape and/or consensual relations between (usually) white male slave owners and their former slaves, particularly through the person of Toussaint Vaiden. How is a man who is neither white nor black to make his way in the world after the Civil War? Where does he belong, and how does he fit into the self-segregated society that is blossoming after Reconstruction?
As in the last novel, there are many uses of derogatory names for former slaves. The casual way the n-word is used is by far the most disturbing part of the novel, although I'm sure it was par for the course in that time and place (and may still be in some places). There were no rapes in this novel, but ***SPOILER ALERT*** there is a lynching at the very end. Not recommended for those who would be overly offended by these issues.
I give this book five out of five Whatevers. I see why it won the Pulitzer. There is so much about it to admire - the way Stribling strips down race relations after the War and really tries to present both sides of the issue; the slight tinge of spiritualism that invades the book; the examination of love, and the many ways in which one can love another person. I couldn't put it down over the Thanksgiving break, and I'm very glad I read it. I would not say that I liked Milt Vaiden, as a character...he was somewhat of a scalawag. But there were other characters I loved (including Gracie, former slave of the Vaiden family, and Lucy, the educated black woman who tries to teach the neighborhood's black children and eventually marries Toussaint). Highly recommended for an interesting look at the Old South as it became the New South, and for a look at race relations that might just be needed in today's society, as well.
April 26, 2020
Set in the reconstruction South, The Store is the second book in a trilogy that outlines the progression of the region before, during, and after the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. I hadn't read the first book in the series, and because of that, I may have missed some levels of detail and nuance. Nonetheless, I had no serious problems following this tale.
The main plot line involves Colonel Miltiades Vaiden, a former plantation overseer, KKK chapter President, and Civil War veteran. Returned from the war, his economic status is much reduced. He lives with an unhappy marriage and takes as a clerk at his store in town, working for one of his old rivals, a man who cheated him many years ago. Vaiden comes up with a plan to deceive his boss, and establish himself as a store-owner in his own right. This plot will put him back on track to being an important and wealthy man in the community of Florence, Alabama.
The fight for economic sufficiency provides one central plot line in the book, but there are also many sub-plots. At over 550 pages, the novel comes jam-packed with characters and situations, filled with intrigue and incidents - affairs, murders, and more. Some of these struck me as unnecessarily melodramatic, but most come fully motivated by the characters, their beliefs and attitudes. Politics and race play central roles in the book, as you might imagine. The people of Florence look forward to the next national election when they hope Grover Cleveland, a Democrat candidate, sympathetic to the South, will be elected. They believe this will bring economic prosperity back to the region. Meanwhile, they continue to have a strange and uneasy relationship with the freed slaves, treating their black neighbors as something less than human, while having to accept that they are hopelessly interconnected - by economics, geography, and even by procreation. Many of them are now interrelated to the white families - one major plot thread concerns a Negro boy who "could pass for white," a troubling idea for the townspeople.
The book leads to a tragic conclusion, but one that is in some ways inevitable. I didn't immediately see the crushing ending coming, but Stribling leads us through a series of plot points that expose Vaiden's weaknesses, hypocrisies, and venality. I found myself troubled, but satisfied with the conclusion, all at the same time. Vaiden proves to be a tragic figure, a man quick to point out the speck in another's eye, while having a log in his own. His come-uppance may be deserved, but is devastating nonetheless.
The Store can be hard to stomach, especially for a 21st century audience not accustomed to the levels of overt racism displayed here. But as a window into another time, and as an exploration of the seeds of Southern discontent, it has some powerful moments. Written in the 1930's, the melodramatic style of the novel may be an uphill climb for some. However, by the second half of the book, the intricate plot and serious themes will probably carry you through to the conclusion.
The main plot line involves Colonel Miltiades Vaiden, a former plantation overseer, KKK chapter President, and Civil War veteran. Returned from the war, his economic status is much reduced. He lives with an unhappy marriage and takes as a clerk at his store in town, working for one of his old rivals, a man who cheated him many years ago. Vaiden comes up with a plan to deceive his boss, and establish himself as a store-owner in his own right. This plot will put him back on track to being an important and wealthy man in the community of Florence, Alabama.
The fight for economic sufficiency provides one central plot line in the book, but there are also many sub-plots. At over 550 pages, the novel comes jam-packed with characters and situations, filled with intrigue and incidents - affairs, murders, and more. Some of these struck me as unnecessarily melodramatic, but most come fully motivated by the characters, their beliefs and attitudes. Politics and race play central roles in the book, as you might imagine. The people of Florence look forward to the next national election when they hope Grover Cleveland, a Democrat candidate, sympathetic to the South, will be elected. They believe this will bring economic prosperity back to the region. Meanwhile, they continue to have a strange and uneasy relationship with the freed slaves, treating their black neighbors as something less than human, while having to accept that they are hopelessly interconnected - by economics, geography, and even by procreation. Many of them are now interrelated to the white families - one major plot thread concerns a Negro boy who "could pass for white," a troubling idea for the townspeople.
The book leads to a tragic conclusion, but one that is in some ways inevitable. I didn't immediately see the crushing ending coming, but Stribling leads us through a series of plot points that expose Vaiden's weaknesses, hypocrisies, and venality. I found myself troubled, but satisfied with the conclusion, all at the same time. Vaiden proves to be a tragic figure, a man quick to point out the speck in another's eye, while having a log in his own. His come-uppance may be deserved, but is devastating nonetheless.
The Store can be hard to stomach, especially for a 21st century audience not accustomed to the levels of overt racism displayed here. But as a window into another time, and as an exploration of the seeds of Southern discontent, it has some powerful moments. Written in the 1930's, the melodramatic style of the novel may be an uphill climb for some. However, by the second half of the book, the intricate plot and serious themes will probably carry you through to the conclusion.
August 16, 2019
Ordinarily, I wouldn't attempt to read an obscure, 600 page novel about Alabama during the Reconstruction era, but as I have recently completed my goal of visiting every state in the continental US, I've decided to give myself another (less expensive) goal of reading every novel that has won the Pulitzer Prize.
T.S. Stribling's The Store won the award in 1932.
It's fun to hypothesize why this particular book won and not Huxley's Brave New World, or Caldwell's Tobacco Road, or Faulkner's Light in August, or even Dos Passos's 1919 - except it's not fun at all and I have no idea why. To even begin to understand why, I'd have to do actual research on it, and that's not something I am interested in doing - so I'll just lament on goodreads how much I didn't enjoy this book.
Okay FIRST of all - let me just get this out of the way- I've never in my life read a book, let alone a work of literature, in which a character could not be mentioned without a comment about their weight. JFC, I've never knew there was this many purple ways to call a woman fat. *Clears throat* "Her breasts overflowing her stomach, her stomach overflowing her legs, her legs overflowing the bed." Beautiful, just beautiful poetry.
If I hadn't known this was written before 1936, I would have assumed "The Store" was written in direct contrast to Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. Whereas Mitchell idealized the South with romantic characters, Stribling brought them right down in the mud where they belonged. The petty scoundrels disguised as heroes and the insipid women disguised as charming southern belles trudge through this tome, knowing words like "honor" and "chivalry", but not their worth - exposing the ideals of the South as nothing but a facade.
The novel and its writer are not without merit, but the book lacks something. It's not the unsavory story or the unlikable white characters that keep it from being a classic. The characters, besides maybe Gracie, lack any real nuance. A novel narrated from Gracie's perspective might have stood the test of time. She could have fleshed out both Vaiden and Handback better.
T.S. Stribling's The Store won the award in 1932.
It's fun to hypothesize why this particular book won and not Huxley's Brave New World, or Caldwell's Tobacco Road, or Faulkner's Light in August, or even Dos Passos's 1919 - except it's not fun at all and I have no idea why. To even begin to understand why, I'd have to do actual research on it, and that's not something I am interested in doing - so I'll just lament on goodreads how much I didn't enjoy this book.
Okay FIRST of all - let me just get this out of the way- I've never in my life read a book, let alone a work of literature, in which a character could not be mentioned without a comment about their weight. JFC, I've never knew there was this many purple ways to call a woman fat. *Clears throat* "Her breasts overflowing her stomach, her stomach overflowing her legs, her legs overflowing the bed." Beautiful, just beautiful poetry.
If I hadn't known this was written before 1936, I would have assumed "The Store" was written in direct contrast to Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. Whereas Mitchell idealized the South with romantic characters, Stribling brought them right down in the mud where they belonged. The petty scoundrels disguised as heroes and the insipid women disguised as charming southern belles trudge through this tome, knowing words like "honor" and "chivalry", but not their worth - exposing the ideals of the South as nothing but a facade.
The novel and its writer are not without merit, but the book lacks something. It's not the unsavory story or the unlikable white characters that keep it from being a classic. The characters, besides maybe Gracie, lack any real nuance. A novel narrated from Gracie's perspective might have stood the test of time. She could have fleshed out both Vaiden and Handback better.
May 17, 2014
As the cover suggests, this truly is a stirring novel. I expected a dull, tedious story about The Old South and a lot of mean-spirited whippings. Instead, I found myself engrossed in this tale that, although would never be published today, fascinated me with its characters and plot.
Colonel Miltiades Vaiden puzzled me. Should I hate him because he thought black people (referred to by a different name in this) were inferior and that he still felt a sense of ownership of them? Or should I love him because he was the only one in the book who would help them in any way and always be honest with them, giving them the full pound they paid for instead of cheating them?
His wife, Ponny, was amazingly referred to as "fat" in every single mention. She spoke "flabbily" and her girth was basically the character. I cringed at the scene where she moaned for Milt to fix her a baked potato because she was hungry. The drama.
I admired Gracie in so many ways - honest, kind, understanding, and non-judgmental. Stribling frequently referred to her as "the quadroon" and to her son, Toussaint, as "the octaroon" or "the white [n-word]." Like I wrote, this would never be published today.
Lucy reminded me of Sofia from The Color Purple, full of spunk and ready to make a stand.
Milt's pride certainly got in the way of his plans, though. His sense of entitlement, I thought, would be his downfall.
The ending came suddenly and swiftly and left my heart fallen. Literally, it was the last five pages of the book; do not expect a resolution beyond sorrow and anger.
I recommend this book because it gives what I consider to be probably an accurate portrayal of life in Alabama in the time immediately after the Civil War, when ownership mentality was still there but freedom was in the books. It must have been difficult for people to adjust their perspectives -- one month you own another human being, the next they own themselves.
Strange book but worth the read and worth the Pulitzer for '33 because of its honest portrayal of American life during Reconstruction.
Colonel Miltiades Vaiden puzzled me. Should I hate him because he thought black people (referred to by a different name in this) were inferior and that he still felt a sense of ownership of them? Or should I love him because he was the only one in the book who would help them in any way and always be honest with them, giving them the full pound they paid for instead of cheating them?
His wife, Ponny, was amazingly referred to as "fat" in every single mention. She spoke "flabbily" and her girth was basically the character. I cringed at the scene where she moaned for Milt to fix her a baked potato because she was hungry. The drama.
I admired Gracie in so many ways - honest, kind, understanding, and non-judgmental. Stribling frequently referred to her as "the quadroon" and to her son, Toussaint, as "the octaroon" or "the white [n-word]." Like I wrote, this would never be published today.
Lucy reminded me of Sofia from The Color Purple, full of spunk and ready to make a stand.
Milt's pride certainly got in the way of his plans, though. His sense of entitlement, I thought, would be his downfall.
The ending came suddenly and swiftly and left my heart fallen. Literally, it was the last five pages of the book; do not expect a resolution beyond sorrow and anger.
I recommend this book because it gives what I consider to be probably an accurate portrayal of life in Alabama in the time immediately after the Civil War, when ownership mentality was still there but freedom was in the books. It must have been difficult for people to adjust their perspectives -- one month you own another human being, the next they own themselves.
Strange book but worth the read and worth the Pulitzer for '33 because of its honest portrayal of American life during Reconstruction.
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