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A Cure for Dreams
A story that traces the bonds between four generations of resourceful Southern women through stories passed from one generation to another.
182 pages, Hardcover
First published January 3, 1991
About the author
Kaye Gibbons
36 books547 followersKaye Gibbons was born in 1960 in Nash County, North Carolina, on Bend of the River Road. She attended North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studying American and English literature. At twenty-six years old, she wrote her first novel, Ellen Foster. Praised as an extraordinary debut, Eudora Welty said that "the honesty of thought and eye and feeling and word" mark the work of this talented writer, and Walker Percy said, "Ellen Foster is a Southern Holden Caulfield, tougher perhaps, as funny…a breathtaking first novel."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 148 reviews
February 24, 2022
This was my first Kaye Gibbons book. . . .I loved it. It's actually hard to amuse me when I'm reading, and when it happens, it feels extraordinary. This one did that, the voice of Betty tells you (the Reader) about living as tight as a shadow with her mother Lottie, and her mother's mother's experience (that'd be Bridget, ya know), and the communities from whence they spring, and where they sprang to, and weaves many extra characters and happenings that keep you engaged and interested over your cuppa. . . .and then Betty's life develops wings, and you never realize it until the end. . . the story wasn't for you, the Reader. . .it was for the wee thing she just birthed. . . her daughter.
A mother/daughter-mother/daughter-mother/daughter-mother/daughter-story. . . that maternal dna chain that goes all the way back to Evie. Or Annie? Or Bythia? Or Olga? Or Nut?
A mother/daughter-mother/daughter-mother/daughter-mother/daughter-story. . . that maternal dna chain that goes all the way back to Evie. Or Annie? Or Bythia? Or Olga? Or Nut?
April 24, 2021
Slices of life in rural Virginia which I thoroughly enjoyed. Women of home places during the first half of the 20th century and primarily in depression lacks. Honesty to crass words to valor. Work and card time within every day patterns and extremes. Loved the particular dialect and flavor. Every bit. No remnant was boring to me and no detail staid or flavorless.
Betty lived nearly an antithesis for my own style, place and time period of community. Yet that didn't stop at all my thorough embedding to her women role modeled world. Gibbons made me remember happy, simpler times within other dynamic perceptions than those of our stereotyped present 2021 inclusions and exclusions. It will be a joy to read her others.
Betty lived nearly an antithesis for my own style, place and time period of community. Yet that didn't stop at all my thorough embedding to her women role modeled world. Gibbons made me remember happy, simpler times within other dynamic perceptions than those of our stereotyped present 2021 inclusions and exclusions. It will be a joy to read her others.
December 5, 2019
Kaye Gibbons is one of my favorite authors. Fell in love with the book Ellen Foster.
August 20, 2011
It pains me to give this 2 stars, because I find comfort and familiarity in Kaye Gibbon's writing, and this was no exception - she has a knack for giving strong, Southern woman an authentic and unique voice. However, this story was just... boring.
May 27, 2020
This is a quirky and brief novel by the North Carolina writer–part of my 20th-Century Backlist project.
It follows four generations (very quickly) of women in a family that settles in rural North Carolina, from the Depression to the middle of World War II.
It's funny at times, feels very old-fashioned in its narrative style, and is worth the quick read. I think a more representative choice for Gibbons would have been A Virtuous Woman or Ellen Foster. I'm surprised that the list I pulled this from only included A Cure for Dreams.
It follows four generations (very quickly) of women in a family that settles in rural North Carolina, from the Depression to the middle of World War II.
It's funny at times, feels very old-fashioned in its narrative style, and is worth the quick read. I think a more representative choice for Gibbons would have been A Virtuous Woman or Ellen Foster. I'm surprised that the list I pulled this from only included A Cure for Dreams.
May 4, 2015
I read A Cure for Dreams only about a week ago and yet when I came to write this review, I realized I couldn’t remember a thing about it! Which is in itself a rather damning review… And yet I rather liked A Cure for Dreams. The fact is, it’s not about plot. It’s more about evoking this small Southern town, and what it’s like for the women who live there. The character studies are compelling and beautifully drawn, the prose is lovely, the atmosphere immersive, and yet not very much happens (and yet in the lives of these women, the small happenings are momentous). I cared a lot about these characters. While I preferred Ellen Foster by the same author, a much meatier tome than this charming little piece, if you like character-driven coming of age ensemble pieces, this little book may well charm you.
April 25, 2014
Years ago a friend introduced me to the work of Kaye Gibbons. Ellen Foster was a treasure as was A Virtuous Woman, so when hunting for something other than murder, I came across this novel. I have to say, that while the writing was still worthwhile, the story itself just left me flat. I just can't recommend it. Dang.
September 2, 2021
This was an interesting historical novel about life in rural Virginia and Kentucky, set in the first half of the 20th century (including the "sinful city" of Richmond, where I lived for a couple years). The family's troubles felt authentic, and the author even researched songs of the period about the WPA and midwifing.
There is a lot to like about the book - strong women characters and some nice colorful writing. For example, Mother Betty's death was described thusly: she "died in a chair talking, chattering like a string-pull doll."
The book was essentially a re-telling of Mother Betty's stories of her life and family. The stories were interesting for the most part, but I felt that the third quarter of the book was not all that compelling, so over all, I ended up giving the book three stars.
I'll close this little review with two more colorful quotes:
- keeping a secret was like "carrying a bomb around in my mouth."
- one man in the family was described as "waiting for God to reverse His notion of water flowing downhill" (he was more willing to blame life than to do any work to improve things).
There is a lot to like about the book - strong women characters and some nice colorful writing. For example, Mother Betty's death was described thusly: she "died in a chair talking, chattering like a string-pull doll."
The book was essentially a re-telling of Mother Betty's stories of her life and family. The stories were interesting for the most part, but I felt that the third quarter of the book was not all that compelling, so over all, I ended up giving the book three stars.
I'll close this little review with two more colorful quotes:
- keeping a secret was like "carrying a bomb around in my mouth."
- one man in the family was described as "waiting for God to reverse His notion of water flowing downhill" (he was more willing to blame life than to do any work to improve things).
February 18, 2014
Disappointing, in light of Ellen Foster which I really enjoyed.
October 29, 2020
More a linked collection of very short stories than a novel. Didn't mind the general drift — an arch description of the semi-secret life of women in a male-dominated (in fewer respects than the men may think) community in the middle of North Carolina from the First World War to the Second. The stories are somewhat revealing and often fairly funny, although one-dimensional. Did mind the narrative voice, which I interpreted as artificial and overly mannered; that may be wrong but the writing felt like a put-on version of a regional and cultural stereotype. Oddly, the book is skewed toward a female audience when it's men who may learn more from it, although women may find some reassurance if not inspiration. The mauve and white colours and greeting-card font used on the cover of the 1992 Vintage Contemporaries edition blares the choice of marketing target. Glad it was short; I may not have finished it if it was longer.
July 8, 2024
I can see and definitely hear these women. Very nice read.
July 24, 2021
Love the strong women Kaye Gibbons creates and all their southern ways. This was no Charms for the Easy Life—but I guess not every book can be. But it was still endearing and quirky. I’ll pick up anything she writes down.
August 19, 2023
you’re telling me the same author wrote ELLEN FOSTER? goodnight
edit: this cover also haunts me at night
edit: this cover also haunts me at night
January 8, 2018
My Original Notes (1997):
Not nearly as good as her other books. Same sort of plot, too. (Strong women and men that leave them.) It didn't grab me like Charms for the Easy Life. A quick read, though. So-so.
My Current Thoughts:
After reading Charms for the Easy Life and Ellen Foster (both of which I loved), I was eager to read all of Gibbons' backlist and went on to read A Virtuous Woman and A Cure for Dreams. I read all four within one month and now I wonder if that's why I wasn't as impressed with this particular novel -- too much of the same sort of stories too close together. I guess I'll never know, since I only plan to reread my all-time favorites.
Not nearly as good as her other books. Same sort of plot, too. (Strong women and men that leave them.) It didn't grab me like Charms for the Easy Life. A quick read, though. So-so.
My Current Thoughts:
After reading Charms for the Easy Life and Ellen Foster (both of which I loved), I was eager to read all of Gibbons' backlist and went on to read A Virtuous Woman and A Cure for Dreams. I read all four within one month and now I wonder if that's why I wasn't as impressed with this particular novel -- too much of the same sort of stories too close together. I guess I'll never know, since I only plan to reread my all-time favorites.
June 21, 2014
If a novel can be winsome, this one is. Kaye Gibbons gives us the appealingly candid Betty who shares not gauzy reminiscences but tart recollections of her life from the earliest days of childhood to her beginning days as a young mother. Betty has the capacity to see, savor, and matter-of-factly share with us the eccentricities in all of the figures who populate her life, but most especially, the women. Because she sees herself and them without sentimentality, she can embrace them that much more fully.
October 8, 2019
This very short and spare novel features Betty Davies Randolph telling the story of her mother, and of her own childhood and young adulthood, marriage, and her daughter's birth. Betty and her mother Lottie were both strong women who led their lives as they saw fit (though they weren't necessarily happy in the end--are these stories meant to be the cure for her own daughter's dreams?). As usual, I would have liked more--especially more from Marjorie.
I definitely want to read Gibbons' better-known works.
I definitely want to read Gibbons' better-known works.
July 19, 2021
This was a strange, strange little book - a quick, but mostly unsatisfying read. I never did figure out how the title related to the content. There was no story per se, just women who were unbelievably strange in a variety of ways, either through their actions, inactions or their words. Although the writing was well done, I wouldn't recommend it.
March 24, 2016
I thought this was an awful book. It seemed to ramble on discussing nothing but how a "proper" woman should act only making me annoyed with the characters whenever they did or said anything. The ending was just there with no closure. The only redeeming quality was the fact it was such a quick read thus not prolonging my torture.
February 26, 2016
Once I'd read "Ellen Foster" I couldn't get enough of Kaye Gibbons, and devoured all the books by her I could find. This one is set in the small towns of Virginia and Kentucky and celebrates strong women who survive within their rural communities.
September 1, 2019
Took me a all summer to finish this Super short book. Just didn’t care for it. I didn’t care about any of the characters, and since this is a character driven not a plot driven book, that is a problem.
June 12, 2009
I learned some about female relationships. I think this would have worked better as a short story.
April 18, 2013
Kaye Gibbon's story of 3 generations of strong irish women. Read this book to the end, but did not find it that compelling. I definitely love this author, but to me this wasnt her best work...
April 1, 2013
Quick read told as a conversation between mother and daughter. Nice switch between voices. I've read a few of her books.
January 11, 2015
Another one that tugs your heart.
I love anything Kaye Gibbons writes. She has a way of reaching in and grabbing your heart strings. Good read!
I love anything Kaye Gibbons writes. She has a way of reaching in and grabbing your heart strings. Good read!
November 22, 2020
Sorry, I just didn’t like the story even though the author is very talented.
May 24, 2021
I enjoy this author and this one didnt disappoint...a very sweet book.
July 18, 2023
This is the third Kaye Gibbons novel I’ve read and I never grow tired of her characters, their place in history, and rustic settings.
This turn of the century tale set in the rustic backwater of the south is structured as an oral-history of four generations of women whose experiences and begins and ends with a single set of quotation marks. While somewhat simple (or boring as others have mentioned in negative reviews) to those looking for some action or complex plot, these collected vignettes are warm, empowering, and beautifully crafted portraits of women sans the impact of too many men (it’s as if Gibbons is writing the inverse of Hemingway’s, “Men Without Women”!).
The arrival of Majorie heralds the most polished theme of this quickly-read story from our most recently born recorder of memories, “The first true memory is sound…I wasn’t sleeping, not for all the sounds of the women talking” (171). The voices of this novel’s women recount its grandest assertion: it is through the voices and acts of women that the communities of small-town America blossomed, thrived, and continued into prosperity throughout history. Theirs is a disenfranchised and neglected history in dire need of dramatization and retelling in literature like this.
This turn of the century tale set in the rustic backwater of the south is structured as an oral-history of four generations of women whose experiences and begins and ends with a single set of quotation marks. While somewhat simple (or boring as others have mentioned in negative reviews) to those looking for some action or complex plot, these collected vignettes are warm, empowering, and beautifully crafted portraits of women sans the impact of too many men (it’s as if Gibbons is writing the inverse of Hemingway’s, “Men Without Women”!).
The arrival of Majorie heralds the most polished theme of this quickly-read story from our most recently born recorder of memories, “The first true memory is sound…I wasn’t sleeping, not for all the sounds of the women talking” (171). The voices of this novel’s women recount its grandest assertion: it is through the voices and acts of women that the communities of small-town America blossomed, thrived, and continued into prosperity throughout history. Theirs is a disenfranchised and neglected history in dire need of dramatization and retelling in literature like this.
January 6, 2024
I love the way Kaye Gibbons writes. I love her stories. Her stories are always about strong Southern women though I am not from the south, though I have lived in three states of the south, though I wasn't born in this country, but in Ontario, Canada.
A Cure for Dreams is a short story of only 171 pages. I wish it was longer. I can't say that often about the books I read. I'm usually ready to move on before the story has ended, but not with any of Gibbons novels.
It's 1989 and Marjorie Polly Randolph's, now 47, is retelling the stories of the three generations of women in her family. Her mother Betty Davies Randolph, 69, has just died. Betty always had the gift of the gab. Good thing considering Marjorie always enjoyed listening to her family stories.
She would always say to her mother, "Tell me about your mother and you, and Kentucky and Virginia and the wild way I was born. Tell me about the years that made you."
Then her mother would talk. "Talking was my mother's life."
This story was about 3 strong women, through 4 generations, and the no good men they married, over hard times and the bond of these women.
A Cure for Dreams is a short story of only 171 pages. I wish it was longer. I can't say that often about the books I read. I'm usually ready to move on before the story has ended, but not with any of Gibbons novels.
It's 1989 and Marjorie Polly Randolph's, now 47, is retelling the stories of the three generations of women in her family. Her mother Betty Davies Randolph, 69, has just died. Betty always had the gift of the gab. Good thing considering Marjorie always enjoyed listening to her family stories.
She would always say to her mother, "Tell me about your mother and you, and Kentucky and Virginia and the wild way I was born. Tell me about the years that made you."
Then her mother would talk. "Talking was my mother's life."
This story was about 3 strong women, through 4 generations, and the no good men they married, over hard times and the bond of these women.
October 9, 2018
I am currently reading this book and I just finished reading chapter 6. Something I like abut this book is that, the chapters are very short so it's very easy to understand the story. "A Cure For Dreams" is about a girl named Betty Davies Randolph. She is telling her daughter the story about her mother, Lottie O'Cadhain. So far Betty starts off by explaining how great of a mother Lottie was. She explains how everyone in there town loved her and she was an extremely talkative person. Than she starts talking about her dad. Betty's dad wasn't always the best, he was always had something to be angry about. Betty became very sick at a point but her father thought she was making it all up. Lottie however, always knows how to back Betty up. Most of the woman in town have some sort of problem with their husbands. The women all like to gather up to play cards and drink tea.
I am curious to see what happens next because one of the women in the town just shot her husband.
This book is very interesting so far and i'm excited to see whats going to happen next.
I am curious to see what happens next because one of the women in the town just shot her husband.
This book is very interesting so far and i'm excited to see whats going to happen next.
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April 12, 2021Here's my 2 cents:
I finished this book the same day I checked it out and never once read it's description, a thrill if you will. As for me, I loved this book and it will stay on my shelf of "comforting little reads", however, this is a hate it or love it book.
The character's don't have much depth, the stories jump around despite it being in chronological order, it covers a bunch of topics from suicide to childbirth, and despite all these "blemishes", these flaws are what made this book a great one.
Not every book is going to have a great moral, not every book needs to make you feel connected to the characters, not every book needs to have a climax and whatever to make it feel like your traditional: rising action, climax, resolution read.
The little stories, the little climaxes in each chapter, the covering of diverse topics, the little jokes, the simple characters that are there to simply illustrate the story, and the slice of life themes from 1920-1940 are what made this book a gem.
Sometimes the simplest books are the one's that gives us most comfort.
I finished this book the same day I checked it out and never once read it's description, a thrill if you will. As for me, I loved this book and it will stay on my shelf of "comforting little reads", however, this is a hate it or love it book.
The character's don't have much depth, the stories jump around despite it being in chronological order, it covers a bunch of topics from suicide to childbirth, and despite all these "blemishes", these flaws are what made this book a great one.
Not every book is going to have a great moral, not every book needs to make you feel connected to the characters, not every book needs to have a climax and whatever to make it feel like your traditional: rising action, climax, resolution read.
The little stories, the little climaxes in each chapter, the covering of diverse topics, the little jokes, the simple characters that are there to simply illustrate the story, and the slice of life themes from 1920-1940 are what made this book a gem.
Sometimes the simplest books are the one's that gives us most comfort.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 148 reviews