Grace Metalious (1924–1964)

The parts I liked most about Peyton Place was the detail about the New England Upper Connecticut River Valley life. I could very much relate to the places since White River (Junction), the "town" that is directly across the Connecticut, in Vermont, is in the same county as the one I grew up in. However, I get the unsettling feeling Metalious wanted to upset the people living here more than anything.

The things I disliked most about the book was there were too many characters for a novel that was only about 350 pages and the focus character switched too much. Also, I found the last chapter unsatisfying with a somewhat selfishness to it, right after the dramatic court case which was very progressive for a book written in the 1950's. It's more a good trashy soap opera than a good nighttime drama, in my opinion.

Another major problem I had with the book was the excessive, and only why, she descried a free black slave using the worst word a white person could say (note: Samuel Peyton was the only non-white person even mention and he wasn't even an actual charter).… (meer)