Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.: E. Kitzes Knox: Amazon.com: Books

I'm a huge Mayberry / Gomer Pyle fan - something about the fantasy of the simpler time, and the idea that ice cream and a good heart could fix any ill - so I was pretty happy when I spotted this. And, for a derivative of a television series, it's not too bad. Gomer seems to have forgotten that he spent any time in Mayberry and his new home town is called Sinking Springs - OK, I can adapt - and he has a host of amusing relatives living there that can keep us a'chuckling and a'slapping our sides.

Poor Gomer's platoon is starving for love from their public, and Gomer can't bear to see his brethren unhappy. Of course he asks his home folks to show some affection - and he manages to churn up all sorts of chaos for commissioned officers, three parts delight and one part frustration for the non-coms, and get lots of heart-felt care, feeding and backwoods confusion from the country folk. It's not a laugh out-loud, but it's amusing. Could move a little faster, be a little more unpredictable, and have less stereotypical backwoods ignorance, but looking back in the 21st century, we could say that about the series, too.

It's a little odd that Gomer has these relatives we didn't know about, but it's nice to spend an afternoon with him and Sgt Carter again - without watching a rerun I know so well I can recite the lines myself.