Walking Across Egypt

by Clyde Edgerton

Book Overview

"An unpretentious, finely-crafted novel that will linger with the readers like the last strains of a favorite hymn. It is more enjoyable than a pitcher full of sweet tea and one of Mattie's home-cooked dinners."-- The Atlanta Journal & Constitution She had as much business keeping a stray dog as she had walking across Egypt--which not so incidentally is the title of her favorite hymn. She's Mattie Rigsbee, an independent, strong-minded senior citizen,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0912697512
• ISBN13: 9780912697512
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.3" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

Funny and Sweet

Mattie is a little old church going lady who lives alone and gets mixed up with Wesley, a 15 year old jailbird. Her children, a grown son and daughter, are horrified. So are the neighbors,and her fellow church members. But Mattie and Wesley are innocents; Mattie determined to "do good", and Wesley was just there for the cooking. At one point he tried to steal a cake. There is something special about this story, you'd have to read it to understand. And it is truly one of the funniest books I have ever read. The story is wonderful, but the five stars are for making me laugh out loud, not once but all thru the book.

Clyde Edgerton puts on quite a dance with Mattie & Wesley

First I read Raney. Then I read everything Clyde Edgerton has written. And I don't know why this book is classified as YA; I'm a good 5 decades removed from YA status, and I loved this book.Walking Across Egypt, the title of church-going Mattie's favorite hymn, is southern folks, southern setting, southern cooking, and southern humor at their best. Once she's finished watching her soap operas, Mattie Riggsbee, a 78yo widow, decides to take in Wesley, a small-time juvenile delinquent, and determines to see if her pies and biscuits can make an honest young man of him. They need each other in wildly different ways, as rapidly becomes apparent. The plot gathers speed when Wesley high-tails it to Mattie's house when he escapes from a detention center - and the sheriff comes a-calling.Highest recommendation - for adults, and yes, for YAs, too.

The best book ever

Anyone who did not enjoy this book, never lived in the South and had relatives like my great-grandmother. I could feel the flakes of crisp apple pie crust in my mouth and hear the grease crackling while Mattie cooked. Tears rimmed my eyes at the conclusion and I laughed out loud about the Reader's Digest and the casket purchase. Thank God for books like these. They ought to make a movie.

This book will be my Christmas gift to many friends......

When I finished this book, I must have bored everyone I spoke to in the next few days with the story of Mattie getting stuck in that rocking chair! It was as if it had happened to one of my own neighbors. A funny, sweet, and spiritually uplifting book, and it takes a lot to lift my cranky spirits! Read this book if you are feeling down, way better than Prozac!

Warm, offbeat humor dished up glorified and Southern-fried.

The voice of the Southern writer, Clyde Edgerton, will dance a jig across your heart in "Walking Across Egypt." Edgerton's characters are more than realistic. They're alive and kicking and most definitely of the Southern persuasion. The widowed Mattie Rigsbee's belief that she must follow the Lord and "love the least of these my brethren," nearly gets her in a heap of trouble when she meets young Wesley Benfield, a pie-lovin', biscuit-eatin' juvenile delinquent who's not yet seen the error of his ways but relishes her cooking and likes taking a bath in her tub anyway. Mattie decides to help reform the boy, but only after she's finished watching her daily dose of "All My Children," gone casket shopping with her sister Pearl before it's too late for either one of them, and worriedly wondered whether her own two children will ever settle down and have families of their own. The book made this Southern transplant long for good ol' Southern meals and the pitch and timbre of the Southern accent. Even if you're not a Southerner, these are voices you'll want to hear