Sheri Holman's The Mammoth Cheese is the Mississippi River of novels. It winds along through most of the great themes of American fiction (tradition vs. innovation, the weight of the past, the dehumanizing effects of industrialization, the rifts between parents and children, men and women), picking up bits of history along the way, and carrying you wherever Holman wishes. The opening pages introduce at least 15 characters (not including the 11 premature babies born to dog trainer Manda Frank), a rough outline of the history of Three Chimneys, Virginia, and more information on small-farm cheesemaking than you might ever have thought you'd would want to learn, let alone absorb with fascination. Along with its moving themes, the pleasures of this novel are in Holman's grasp of human (and not only human) nature, and her gift for expressing this through unexpected details of daily life--that the cows in the local dairy give more milk when Sinatra's playing; that the dirty secret under an eighth-grade girl's mattress is Bride Magazine. Her inconspicuous flashes of verbal brilliance may go unnoticed by all but the most observant readers, but they lend sparkle to a complex and ambitious novel. --Regina Marler


From AudioFile
This quirky novel will remind listeners of a John Irving novel with its wildly diverse characters acting in extreme situations amid a vivid setting. Laural Merlington informs the plot with her skillful ability to convey the conflicting emotions and self-doubts of each character. There's the new mother of 11 babies, born of fertility treatments; the minister who talked her into having all of them; and his son, August Vaughn, farmhand and longtime secret admirer of Margaret Prickett. And it's Margaret who creates the mammoth cheese in an effort to save her family's century-old dairy farm. It sounds Dickensian, but the novel unfolds cleanly, revealing a beautifully crafted story and vibrant characters. D.G. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
This big but nimble novel, by the author of the well-received Dress Lodger (2000), is absolutely compelling in its swift satire, yet readers will also respond to its deep sympathies for "well-foibled" individuals. The setting is the little Virginia town of Three Chimneys, which has just experienced a record-setting event: the multiple births of 11 infants to a young, unsophisticated couple artificially helped in their pursuit of fertility. National focus on the little burg is enhanced with the visit of presidential candidate Adams Brooke. One avid supporter of Brooke is local cheese maker Margaret Prickett, whose dairy farm is in financial distress; what Margaret appreciates in Brooke's candidacy is his avid support of the small farmer. But as the weeks go on, and as the babies begin to die, the townspeople, to make themselves look good again, endeavor to take a giant cheese, created by Margaret, to Washington, D.C., to duplicate an act that apparently happened during Thomas Jefferson's presidency. Human nature exposed at its rawest--and most entertaining. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
An Our Town for our times, The Mammoth Cheese is beautifully crafted and driven by warm, vibrant characters as it follows the residents of rural Three Chimneys, Virginia, on their journey to re-create the original Thomas Jefferson-era, 1,235-pound "Mammoth Cheese." As the book opens, the town is joyously celebrating the birth of the Frank Eleven: eleven babies simultaneously born to Manda and James Frank after fertility treatments. But as autumn progresses and the babies weaken, the community seeks to redeem itself through the making and transporting of a symbolic Mammoth Cheese to Washington, as a gift for the newly elected President Brooke. The cheese is the brainchild of August Vaughn, a farmhand by day and a President Jefferson impersonator by night, and the creation of Margaret Prickett, a single mother and cheese maker trying to save her century-old family farm. Sheri Holman seamlessly weaves together the lives of Three Chimneys, delving into her characters' inescapable family histories as they grapple with religion, divorce, politics, and unrequited love. The Mammoth Cheese is a triumphant exploration of the burdens and joys of rural America and the debts we owe to history, our parents, and ourselves.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

With The Mammoth Cheese, Holman delivers a sharp, contemporary story steeped in history that will captivate a new audience while gratifying readers of her acclaimed earlier work, The Dress Lodger. Beautifully crafted and driven by warm, vibrant characters, The Mammoth Cheese follows the residents of rural Three Chimneys, Virginia, on their historic journey to re-create the making of the original Thomas Jefferson-era, 1,235-pound "Mammoth Cheese." As the book opens, the town is joyously celebrating the birth of the Frank Eleven (eleven babies simultaneously born to Manda and James Frank after fertility treatments) and enjoying the thrill of notoriety as reform-minded presidential hopeful Adams Brooke visits the newborns. But as autumn progresses and the babies start to die, the community seeks to redeem itself through the making and transporting of a symbolic Mammoth Cheese to Washington, as a gift for the newly elected President Brooke. Sheri Holman seamlessly weaves together the lives of Three Chimneys, delving into her characters' inescapable family histories as they grapple with religion, divorce, politics, and unrequited love. The Mammoth Cheese is a triumphant exploration of the burdens and joys of rural America and the debts we owe to history, our parents, and ourselves.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

Like the 1,200-pound cheese of the title, Sheri Holman's novel is a big, ambitious enterprise. Unlike many such enterprises -- though again like the cheese -- it possesses, page by page, or bite by bite if you prefer, an intense, refined and lingering flavor. — Richard Eder

The Washington Post

Holman deftly weaves these stories together, as well as a series of subplots, some of which are profoundly moving. Will Margaret ever notice the Jefferson re-enactor who loves her? Will Polly fall victim to the predatory Harvey March? And what will Washington make of a mammoth cheese floating down the Potomac? That first big cheese may have been a particularly silly slice of Americana, but from it Holman has fashioned a tale that is poignant and powerful and, like an award-winning cheese, surprisingly complex. — Chris Bohjalian

Publishers Weekly

Set in the jittery postboom present, in Three Chimneys, Va., this inventive, offbeat novel by Holman (The Dress Lodger), weaves a deft consideration of American history and political ideals into an exuberantly eccentric tale of smalltown life. With the help of fertility drugs, Manda Frank has just given birth prematurely to 11 babies, and the whole town is reveling in the media attention. But Manda can't quite bond with her fragile brood and feels besieged by their "glittering black fathomless eyes, full of seawater and accusation." Meanwhile, Manda's neighbor Margaret Prickett, about to lose her 18th-century dairy farm, strives desperately for face time with Gov. Adams Brooke, who is running for president on a profarm platform. So obsessed is Margaret with Brooke's candidacy that she blinds herself to 13-year-old daughter Polly's dangerously blooming crush on her American history teacher, as well as to a declaration of love by farmhand August Vaughn, a "living historian" who dresses up as Thomas Jefferson. Then the Frank babies start to die, the cameras leave town and the mood turns ugly. August's father, Pastor Leland Vaughn, comes up with a diversionary tactic: Margaret will recreate the 1,235-pound wheel of cheese presented to Jefferson by Massachusetts Baptists and deliver it to the newly elected President Brooke. What ensues on the banks of the Potomac is unconvincingly violent, but it's the only misstep in a work that dazzles with its combination of history, religion, political satire and tragedy. Every character here is a delicately nuanced, vivid creation-even Margaret's cows, standing "dreamily by like bobbi-soxers, chewing their bright pink Bazooka cud." Agent, Molly Friedrich. (Aug.) Forecast: This is a departure for Holman, whose previous two novels were historical. Here she proves herself adept at contemporary settings as well, while retaining a historical angle. Backed by a $100,000 promo budget and a 12-city author tour, the novel may very well match the success of The Dress Lodger, which has sold more than 200,000 copies to date. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

KLIATT - Nola Theiss

This wonderfully complex novel is set in Three Chimneys, a rural community in Virginia, a state that has been intrinsically involved in the history of the United States. It is a community that believes in hard work, religion and patriotism, but many of those beliefs are challenged by reality. One reality is the "miracle" birth of 11 babies to one of its poor residents and the subsequent death of some of them. Another is the demise of the small farmer, as typified by Margaret Pricket who is struggling to maintain her family dairy farm. Another is the belief that our children are safe in a small town and that we can trust our government. All these issues become wrapped up in the town's effort to recreate a "mammoth cheese" that was presented to Thomas Jefferson. The characters and plot make a good story, but the author has also created a written montage of some of the issues of modern-day America. KLIATT Codes: A—Recommended for advanced students and adults. 2003, Grove, 442p., Ages 17 to adult.

Library Journal