*received for free from netgalley for honest review* This was an interesting book, the audiobook definitely added to it. would recommend to certain people lol

Really enjoyed the book from start to finish. Author wrote this with great pace. This book is now one of my top books of the year for sure. Loved every second of this book.

I love it!!! The voice of the man reading it is absolutely wonderful!! I felt so relaxed listening to this book. I laughed alot. I will be checking out other books from this author. A must read actually I recommend to listen.

"I'm about to bullshit you, but all of it is true"

I read both the book and the ebook and both are great but I can't recommend the audio book, narrated by the author, highly enough.

Bell Hammers is Americana at its very best! It is honest and funny, with characters so vivid I would recognize them on the street. For me. it is reminiscent of the best of Mark Twain and Garrison Keillor. I have no doubt that Bell Hammers will be a top read of the year for me.

We follow rapscallion extraordinaire, Wilson Remus (Remmy) from age seven in 1941 to his death in 2012. It is a story not unlike David and Goliat, performed as a comedy. Remy is a blue collar hero fighting against the evils of a big oil company (mostly in the form of his archnemesis, Jim Johnstone) in his small town of Little Egypt in southern Illinois. It is a story of family, neighbors, and a community that sticks together in good times and in bad. Remy has a heart as big as they come and likens himself to something of a cross between Robin Hood and King Arthur. He is a Prankster, with a capital P, but as he ages the consequences of his pranks become more serious and far reaching. Can the town of Little Egypt survive and can they find a way to heal the sins of the past?

I received the audio book from the publisher via NetGalley. I also purchased the print version for my library.

Bell Hammers is an eye-opening, fast-paced historical fiction Audible. It should be defined as Wilson Remus’s (Remmy) story as told by his grandson. The Remus family lives in Southern Illinois. Oil is the backbone of the local economy.

Bell Hammers is packed with the reality of growing up in Southern Illinois going back to Pearl Harbor Day. Remmy was a six-year-old in a one-room schoolhouse with 11 students total on that day. Growing up through Remmy is eye-opening and entertaining. I had no idea everything that happened in that part of Illinois. Big oil companies were taking advantage of the people and the environment.

Remmy’s pranks are a part of this story. The reason behind these pranks is the meat of the story. I looked up many things I read about and will look for more books expanding on what I’ve learned in Bell Hammers. Thingd that did happen were funny, sad, or disturbing. Through everything, Remmy and his wife, Beth, continue their lives. Remmy is a tenacious, bright, and resourceful person, which is what makes this audible so good.

His grandson, Lancelot Schaubert, is the writer and narrator. Mr. Schaubert is a talented narrator. I loved listening as he made each character come alive. Being a fan of historical fiction, the author offered me a copy of this Audible. I want the thank author because I loved this story. Schaubert took his interviews with his grandfather and turned them into an addictive Audible I couldn’t wait to listen to. I am floored by some of the actual events that took place.

3⭐
Publication date ~ book ~ October 12, 2020, audio ~ March 9, 2023
Page Count ~ 336
Audio length ~ 7 hours 29 minutes
Narrator ~ Lancelot Schaubert (more on that below)
POV ~ 3rd person
Featuring ~ historical fiction, short chapters

This is another instance where I probably would not have picked this book up on my own, but I'm not mad I read/listened to it. I wasn't blown away, but I had a fine time with it.

(Wilson Remus) Remmy's story spans from 1941 - 2012. Each chapter is a new year of his life told in chronological order, which made it easy to follow along with. It was entertaining with some humorous moments and quite a bit of pranking going on. There's a little true crime and religion sprinkled in too. It's always interesting to read about how living was back in the day.

Narration ~ I really like when the author narrates their own work. I feel like it give the story a little extra pizzazz. Since they've written it they know when to show proper emotion and really get the reader engaged. It felt like he had a real connection to the story. I liked the extra audio effects and he even sang us a tune or two.

I received this through NetGalley, so I gave it a listen. The author does a good job with the narration.

This is exactly what the blurb promises. The story of the life of Wilson Remus (Remmy) through his pranks and exploits. He spends his life wanting to surround himself with merry-men, a mixture of Robin Hood comics and Arthurian influence that continued into his adult life. He was giving, but also played pranks at points regardless of the cost.

Below the surface, the story deals with a character that is flawed. He is arrogant at times, prideful, and vengeful even. However, he does speak to the lord, in funny bits of dialogue, where he is also forgiving and forgetting. He is an accepting and understanding father, and he does read as grounded even with the larger than life pranks.

It does tackle certain aspects of race, how people should and shouldn’t have behaved, and how everyone can be good. It’s hard to traverse the time periods without mentioning it (1940-2000s).

This was not my typical choice for a read, however I did enjoy it, and it was rather fun. I would suggest it to others looking for a lighter read. Personally a 3/5*.

I wanted to love this book, but just didn't connect with the characters or the writing style. It is outside of my usual genre so I was happy to give it try, but it just didn't hold my attention. I appreciate the opportunity to listen to it though and I'm sure that it will resonate with the right audience.

I tried several times to listen to this, but I just couldn’t get into it- and didn’t love the overly folksy narration either. Many others seem to love it, I just finally decided it wasn’t for me.

Following the narrative of one character, from being a young boy right up to being an older man. This was such a journey in characterisation through happenstance. The writing felt reminiscent of a modern classic, the kind of punchy and poetic narration you expect from heralded titles.

This was an excellent strange little story - telling the full life of Remmy and his continual conflicts with the local faces for the oil company that is milking his community dry, We see tales of buck-naked young Remmy going to school and arguing with the son of an oilman, adolescent highjinks involving a race across a lake with the same oilman's son etc. But this book then takes frequent 180s and we are suddenly in the throes of a corporate scandal, environmental disasters and local politics.
The story is all told from the same PoV, one of Remmy's descendants retelling his lifestory as told to him in his final days.
This is at times heartwarming, at times funny, at other times anger-inducing as we side more and more with the down-at-heel likeable local entrepreneur and less and less with the nasty oil corporation. While a work of fiction, and no real oil company is used (I mean the name Texarco is 100% made-up!), I think it closely resembles so many stories of corporations ruining and dividing local communities and not taking any responsibility for the fallout from their actions. Remmy and family/friends are wonderfully crafted characters and the events unfold in a lovely informal campfire way.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book brought back fond memories of my Grandfather telling me wild stories - which I totally believed (yes, I still have the 'dinosaur egg' that is really just a rock). These stories are wilder than my Grandpa's though and I can't help but wonder how much elaboration was involved in them. Most of them are hilarious = whether they're true or not.

The narrator is great and his accent and speaking voice lends itself perfectly to the story and adds a lot.

BELL HAMMERS by Lancelot Schaubert was published a few years ago, but the audiobook was just made available on NetGalley. The cover is quite memorable and I had been intrigued by this collection of tales involving Southern Illinois. Schaubert relates decade long adventures involving Wilson Remus, aka Remmy, a caring, mischievous soul if there ever was one. An early example is his decision to pee publicly into the mop bucket of his one room school house in order to distract his classmates from the horrific radio news about Pearl Harbor. Often compared to the writings of Mark Twain and described as "a hoot" by Publishers Weekly, BELL HAMMERS spans seventy years. Although I did not find the short essays to be that engaging or consistently humorous, this work is clearly a passion for the author/narrator and describes an oft-forgotten piece of Americana.

Listen, I picked up this audio book like 4 different times. I am gonna say this story did not capture me. The narrator didn’t hold my attention and the book just wasn’t for me.

The Good Ole Days

A story told of the life of Remmy (Wilson Remus) throughout his lifetime. The story of Remmy and his wife Beth is a humorous journey through the Little Egypt community in Illinois.

Remmy starts a construction company called Bell Hammers. Their construction company builds houses for the Texaco Oil company. There is a rivalry between Jim Johnstone who runs the local oil company as well as a feud with the Texaco company and Remmy.

The humorous stories about the pranks and funny happenings along the way in the life of this one couple and their friends will keep you entertained. If you like stories about the "Good Ole Days" that your grandparents tell you then you will love this book.

I listened to the audio book and it was entertaining, kept me chuckling as I was on my daily walk. I enjoyed the narrator who did a fantastic job.

I loved hearing about Joplin, Mo, Sikeston Mo, and just the friendly banter that reminds me so much of my father and my late husband and their families from Missouri.

Thanks to Lancelot Scaubert for writing down his grandfather's stories and sharing them with us in his book, to Vale, IBPA for publishing the book and to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the audio book to listen to and review.

Audio
I liked this audiobook.
The narration was really entertaining. This novel, which is based on the life of the author's grandfather. The storytelling was very funny. I laughed out loud many times and enjoyed the author's overall sense of humor throughout the story. It is full of amusing metaphors and pearls of wisdom.
I enjoyed the little tidbits of humor more than I followed the underlying story. At certain points during the book, I didn't know exactly what was going on, but it didn't matter. It basically follows the arc of this person's life.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

🎧Book Review 🎧

When I read the blurb n spotted the word 'Egypt ' I knew I would love it. Never have I ever been so wrong.

The book is a historical fiction with a true crime take on an incident that happened in past. Oil companies' greed for extraction is turning this beautiful place into an emptiness. With all these situations are the lives of people living in Bell Hammers being affected.

It could be the narrative or the writing m not sure, but it wasn't a familiar style for me n it was making very little sense. I had to pay really hard attention to understand what was being said and reread the lines over n over to get a gauge of the events occurring. Which made the reading experience a little sour. For people with different tastes, the book could certainly be humorous. For me, the narrator and the writing style just did not work well.

Thankyou @netgalley for the Audiobook ARC

Genre: #historicalfiction #truecrime

This one was tricky to follow. If you are listening to this audiobook while doing something else, this isn't going to work. You have to be paying attention, as it is read at a clip and you'll miss details you need. I almost felt like I was at an auction and the book was being read by an auctioneer. Not necessarily in a bad way, but whew it goes quick!
I did enjoy the hi-jinks of Remmy and his crew, but I didn't find it laugh-out-loud funny. It was fun to rocket through his life, same little kid, even after 80 years, and see how he ends up.

I received an audiobook for my honest review. If you can keep up with the narration, read on!!

Thanks to NetGalley for a free audio book copy in exchange for an honest review.

Not sure it's fair to give one star, but not sure how to rate it because I did not finish. I.couldn't stand the audio book reader's voice so didn't get very far into it. Would recommend reading the book yourself to give it a fair shake.

I read the book at an earlier date and have now listened to the audiobook. The author did a great job narrating. Fans of “Sean ofThe South” will love this!
Many thanks to Vale and to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest opinion.