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One Foot in Eden
Will Alexander is the sheriff in a small town in southern Appalachia, and he knows that the local thug Holland Winchester has been murdered. The only thing is the sheriff can find neither the body nor someone to attest to the killing. Simply, almost elementally told through the voices of the sheriff, a local farmer, his beautiful wife, their son, and the sheriff's deputy, One Foot in Eden signals the bellwether arrival of one the most mature and distinctive voices in southern literature.
214 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
About the author
Ron Rash
57 books2,017 followersRon Rash is the author of the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Finalist and New York Times bestselling novel, Serena, in addition to three other prizewinning novels, One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River, and The World Made Straight; three collections of poems; and four collections of stories, among them Burning Bright, which won the 2010 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, and Chemistry and Other Stories, which was a finalist for the 2007 PEN/Faulkner Award. Twice the recipient of the O.Henry Prize, he teaches at Western Carolina University.
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February 16, 2023This is a book about the South. Not the Sweet Tea Magnolia South, a favorite of authors everywhere, but the Marlboro Mosquito South, a favorite of a different sort of author everywhere. Rash's debut (I think) tells the story of a man accused of murder, a wife desperate for a baby, a Korean war hero unsuited for civilian life. Also the Widow Glendower, who is not a witch, probably. There's lots of dialectin' and quilt washin' and plow horse shootin' (sorry, spoiler) and sheriffin' about.
Was it well written? Yes.
Did I like it? No.
I think those who read SERENA and loved it will probably like this one, too, the sensibilities are the same; I didn't realize they were the same author until I got to the section narrated by the wife and thought A-HA HM YES I SEE. For me, it was just a little too joyless. Either the characters or I need to be having a good time at some point in a novel, and this was . . . well, it was a lot of marlboros and mosquitos, without ever saying marlboro or mosquito.
I'm beginning to doubt if truthfully chronicling my experience of reading my way through this list* is a good idea; I'm going to look very crotchety indeed by the end. It's worth emphasizing once again that I am a brittle and crotchety reader, so please don't take my opinions on these novels as universal.
*note: I tackled this book as part of my 2023 reading challenge to read books from this crowd-sourced list of recommended standalone novels published between 1985-2007:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Was it well written? Yes.
Did I like it? No.
I think those who read SERENA and loved it will probably like this one, too, the sensibilities are the same; I didn't realize they were the same author until I got to the section narrated by the wife and thought A-HA HM YES I SEE. For me, it was just a little too joyless. Either the characters or I need to be having a good time at some point in a novel, and this was . . . well, it was a lot of marlboros and mosquitos, without ever saying marlboro or mosquito.
I'm beginning to doubt if truthfully chronicling my experience of reading my way through this list* is a good idea; I'm going to look very crotchety indeed by the end. It's worth emphasizing once again that I am a brittle and crotchety reader, so please don't take my opinions on these novels as universal.
*note: I tackled this book as part of my 2023 reading challenge to read books from this crowd-sourced list of recommended standalone novels published between 1985-2007:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
July 4, 2017
A year ago I read Ron Rash's Serena, a gritty southern historical novel featuring an evil, domineering protagonist often compared to Lady MacBeth. Before Rash reached that point in his career, he was a renown creative writing and literature professor at Western Carolina University, where he still teaches. In a group book swap, I recommended Rash's debut novel One Foot in Eden to a friend as a compelling summer read. Intrigued by Rash's writing set in the Carolina backwoods I decided to read this novel for myself, and Rash did not disappoint.
It is during the 1950s in northern South Carolina and Carolina Power has been threatening to flood the Jocasee Valley. While they do not make good on this threat for another eighteen years, the company is constantly threatening sheriff Will Alexander to remove farmers from the land, some who had been there since before the Revolution. In this regard, we find sheriff Alexander as he searches for the murderer of town no good and menace Holland Winchester. Even though Winchester is a Korean War hero, there are many in the valley who would not mind him being dead.
As Alexander searches for Winchester's whereabouts, Billy and Amy Holcombe must make decisions about their future. The couple had been trying for a baby, only to get the news that Billy is sterile. Yet, Amy has a strong maternal instinct, especially as her younger sister already has two children and it seems as though everyone around her has a baby. Taking matters into her own hands, Amy encourages relations with her neighbor, Winchester. Billy finds out, but he wants a baby as much as Amy does, and he eliminates Holland Winchester from the picture. Billy decides to raise the baby as his own son, even if it means lying to God, to authorities, and to his family.
Rash tells the novel in multiple points of view, with five sections, each telling the same story. We find out the backstories of the sheriff, Billy and Amy Holcombe, as well as their son Isaac much later on. His writing is raw and unpolished, but powerful, gritty writing for a debut novel. Until this point, Rash had only written poetry and short stories which were equally brilliant. He talks of southerners affinity for their land and tales of haints, ghosts, and witches in a manner that only a true southerner can. With this first compelling novel one can tell that Rash is a gifted writer, and this has held up over the last decade and a half.
One Foot in Eden calls to a time when all neighbors are somehow related, where one calls the same place home for generations. Rash's picture of the Jocasee Valley is idyllic yet bleak, detailing character descriptions as he paints a picture of a murder that has implications for a myriad of people involved. It is always a treat to read Ron Rash, and I am glad that I recommended this book to a friend to give me a chance to read it as well. A compelling read for a lazy summer day, One Foot in Eden is a solid 4 stars.
It is during the 1950s in northern South Carolina and Carolina Power has been threatening to flood the Jocasee Valley. While they do not make good on this threat for another eighteen years, the company is constantly threatening sheriff Will Alexander to remove farmers from the land, some who had been there since before the Revolution. In this regard, we find sheriff Alexander as he searches for the murderer of town no good and menace Holland Winchester. Even though Winchester is a Korean War hero, there are many in the valley who would not mind him being dead.
As Alexander searches for Winchester's whereabouts, Billy and Amy Holcombe must make decisions about their future. The couple had been trying for a baby, only to get the news that Billy is sterile. Yet, Amy has a strong maternal instinct, especially as her younger sister already has two children and it seems as though everyone around her has a baby. Taking matters into her own hands, Amy encourages relations with her neighbor, Winchester. Billy finds out, but he wants a baby as much as Amy does, and he eliminates Holland Winchester from the picture. Billy decides to raise the baby as his own son, even if it means lying to God, to authorities, and to his family.
Rash tells the novel in multiple points of view, with five sections, each telling the same story. We find out the backstories of the sheriff, Billy and Amy Holcombe, as well as their son Isaac much later on. His writing is raw and unpolished, but powerful, gritty writing for a debut novel. Until this point, Rash had only written poetry and short stories which were equally brilliant. He talks of southerners affinity for their land and tales of haints, ghosts, and witches in a manner that only a true southerner can. With this first compelling novel one can tell that Rash is a gifted writer, and this has held up over the last decade and a half.
One Foot in Eden calls to a time when all neighbors are somehow related, where one calls the same place home for generations. Rash's picture of the Jocasee Valley is idyllic yet bleak, detailing character descriptions as he paints a picture of a murder that has implications for a myriad of people involved. It is always a treat to read Ron Rash, and I am glad that I recommended this book to a friend to give me a chance to read it as well. A compelling read for a lazy summer day, One Foot in Eden is a solid 4 stars.
June 13, 2023
IL POSTO DEGLI SCOMPARSI
La contea di Oconee è al confine dello stato della Carolina del sud con lo stato gemello, la Carolina del nord. E così pure esistono le piccole località nominate da Rash: Seneca, Clemson, Pendleton, il lago artificiale Jocasee che svolge funzione quanto mai importante in questa narrazione.
Rash sceglie quindi un territorio vero: non si inventa una Holt come ha fatto Kent Haruf, ma preferisce muoversi su una geografia esistente. Che tra l’altro è proprio quella dove lui vive tuttora, vita alquanto ritirata, lontana da riflettori.
Eppure credo che il parallelo con Haruf si ripresenterà.
La storia inizia che la minaccia è nell’aria. Diciotto anni dopo ecco quello che succede a quei luoghi.
Per esempio, nella sensazione che si è ripetuta: così come leggendo Plainsong – Canto della pianura, per me il primo letto e rimasto sempre il più bello di tutti, ho avuto l’impressione di scoprire un tesoro: mondo nuovo, letterario certo, ma raffigurato così bene – tra l’altro con tale economia di parole – da regalarmi l’illusione che andasse oltre la pagina, travalicasse il confine letterario, altrettanto m’è successo aprendo il mio primo romanzo di Rash (e debutto anche per lui, nel 2002, quasi cinquantenne). Oggi, come allora, quella scoppiettante sorprendente magia, e la voglia di usare parole grosse, per esempio “capolavoro”. Perché questo, come quello, è un libro bellissimo, profondo, duro e commovente, pieno di dolore e del sentimento di perdita.
Pur avendo sapore e note di un classico – per tutta la lettura una vocina mi ha sussurrato “Ethan Frome” – Rash struttura il racconto in modo che classico proprio non è: si tratta di cinque voci diverse, una per ciascun capitolo (lo sceriffo, la moglie, il marito, il figlio, il vice), cinque narratori in prima persona, che compongono il quadro generale. Una polifonia, dove ciascuna voce ha il suo particolare timbro e tono e registro. A ognuno di loro spetta aggiungere un elemento, un dettaglio, un diverso punto di vista sulla vicenda, che però è sempre la stessa, anche se ripresa in momenti diversi. L’episodio clou è presente in tutti e cinque i racconti.
Non come in Rashomon, con ciascuno che contraddice l’altro, e la verità chissà qual è. No, qui nessuno contraddice nessuno, ciascuno dice quello che sa, che ha vissuto, che può testimoniare. E anche quando il quadro è composto, la verità stabilita, i pezzi coincidono e si incastrano a dovere…: nulla importa. Perché qualcosa di più grande, e vasto, e grande, e forse perfino sacro, avvolge tutto. Quella storia, quei particolari si perdono nel magma del tutto. Che è la Vita. Il Mondo. La nostra esistenza.
Anche se io nella contea di Oconee non ci sono mai stato. E neppure mai andrò.
Ambientato in una zona rurale – di quelle dove il tempo scorre più lento – sembra svolgersi in una geografia minuscola, due poderi confinanti, una separazione sancita da una quercia bianca e una siepe inesistente. Eppure qui è possibile incontrare il mondo intero, pochi metri e poche persone, eppure la sensazione è di avere tra le mani l'intero globo e l’intera umanità.
La natura – non così ostile come nei libri di Cormac McCarthy, neppure così dura come in quelli di Kent Haruf – è l’unico personaggio al quale Rash non da voce specifica: ma ciò nonostante sa farla esprimere da protagonista qual è.
Più duro, e più ingiust, è l'animo umano nel momento in cui interviene sulla natura vegetale e minerale per piegarla alle sue esigenze, che sono quasi sempre quelle del profitto: la compagnia elettrica espropria via via tutti gli appezzamenti di terreno, manda a spasso e altrove coltivatori contadini mezzadri. Nel giro di una breve vita, quella di Isaac, il figlio, durante i suoi diciotto anni la diga viene costruita e la valle finirà sommersa.
Perfino i morti dovranno andarsene e una delle scene più potenti e dolenti di tutto il libro è quella in cui vengono espiantate le tombe dal vecchio cimitero per essere trasferite altrove prima che il lago artificiale sommerga tutto e che le ossa tornino in superficie come tappi di sughero. E quindi, che i morti seppelliscano i morti. In queste acque chete, in queste acque fonde.
Le rughe dei volti sono come i solchi della terra, la dolcezza e la durezza vanno a braccetto, il volo degli uccelli è un segnale da interpretare, la bara migliore è fatta di legno di cedro perché resiste più a lungo.
Un dramma privato – un omicidio, con tanto di indagine, perquisizione, fiume dragato – si immerge nel dramma collettivo, la perdita della terra, la trasformazione brutale della campagna, una valle diventa un lago artificiale, le case e le tombe e le strade e gli alberi sommersi.
Ma più dei fatti in sé, Rash segue i motivi, le cause, e le conseguenze: perché queste, più dei fatti, implicano la natura umana, il coinvolgimento dei suoi personaggi (e accanto ai cinque “parlanti”, alcune altre figure spettacolari: il morto, sua madre, la vedova definita strega…).
Come nella migliore tradizione non ci sono buoni e cattivi, ma una tavolozza di sfumature a dipingere un’umanità che contiene tutto, il bene e il male.
Oconee County, South Carolina.
Oconee County, South Carolina.
La contea di Oconee è al confine dello stato della Carolina del sud con lo stato gemello, la Carolina del nord. E così pure esistono le piccole località nominate da Rash: Seneca, Clemson, Pendleton, il lago artificiale Jocasee che svolge funzione quanto mai importante in questa narrazione.
Rash sceglie quindi un territorio vero: non si inventa una Holt come ha fatto Kent Haruf, ma preferisce muoversi su una geografia esistente. Che tra l’altro è proprio quella dove lui vive tuttora, vita alquanto ritirata, lontana da riflettori.
Eppure credo che il parallelo con Haruf si ripresenterà.
La storia inizia che la minaccia è nell’aria. Diciotto anni dopo ecco quello che succede a quei luoghi.
Per esempio, nella sensazione che si è ripetuta: così come leggendo Plainsong – Canto della pianura, per me il primo letto e rimasto sempre il più bello di tutti, ho avuto l’impressione di scoprire un tesoro: mondo nuovo, letterario certo, ma raffigurato così bene – tra l’altro con tale economia di parole – da regalarmi l’illusione che andasse oltre la pagina, travalicasse il confine letterario, altrettanto m’è successo aprendo il mio primo romanzo di Rash (e debutto anche per lui, nel 2002, quasi cinquantenne). Oggi, come allora, quella scoppiettante sorprendente magia, e la voglia di usare parole grosse, per esempio “capolavoro”. Perché questo, come quello, è un libro bellissimo, profondo, duro e commovente, pieno di dolore e del sentimento di perdita.
Pur avendo sapore e note di un classico – per tutta la lettura una vocina mi ha sussurrato “Ethan Frome” – Rash struttura il racconto in modo che classico proprio non è: si tratta di cinque voci diverse, una per ciascun capitolo (lo sceriffo, la moglie, il marito, il figlio, il vice), cinque narratori in prima persona, che compongono il quadro generale. Una polifonia, dove ciascuna voce ha il suo particolare timbro e tono e registro. A ognuno di loro spetta aggiungere un elemento, un dettaglio, un diverso punto di vista sulla vicenda, che però è sempre la stessa, anche se ripresa in momenti diversi. L’episodio clou è presente in tutti e cinque i racconti.
Non come in Rashomon, con ciascuno che contraddice l’altro, e la verità chissà qual è. No, qui nessuno contraddice nessuno, ciascuno dice quello che sa, che ha vissuto, che può testimoniare. E anche quando il quadro è composto, la verità stabilita, i pezzi coincidono e si incastrano a dovere…: nulla importa. Perché qualcosa di più grande, e vasto, e grande, e forse perfino sacro, avvolge tutto. Quella storia, quei particolari si perdono nel magma del tutto. Che è la Vita. Il Mondo. La nostra esistenza.
Anche se io nella contea di Oconee non ci sono mai stato. E neppure mai andrò.
Ambientato in una zona rurale – di quelle dove il tempo scorre più lento – sembra svolgersi in una geografia minuscola, due poderi confinanti, una separazione sancita da una quercia bianca e una siepe inesistente. Eppure qui è possibile incontrare il mondo intero, pochi metri e poche persone, eppure la sensazione è di avere tra le mani l'intero globo e l’intera umanità.
La natura – non così ostile come nei libri di Cormac McCarthy, neppure così dura come in quelli di Kent Haruf – è l’unico personaggio al quale Rash non da voce specifica: ma ciò nonostante sa farla esprimere da protagonista qual è.
Più duro, e più ingiust, è l'animo umano nel momento in cui interviene sulla natura vegetale e minerale per piegarla alle sue esigenze, che sono quasi sempre quelle del profitto: la compagnia elettrica espropria via via tutti gli appezzamenti di terreno, manda a spasso e altrove coltivatori contadini mezzadri. Nel giro di una breve vita, quella di Isaac, il figlio, durante i suoi diciotto anni la diga viene costruita e la valle finirà sommersa.
Perfino i morti dovranno andarsene e una delle scene più potenti e dolenti di tutto il libro è quella in cui vengono espiantate le tombe dal vecchio cimitero per essere trasferite altrove prima che il lago artificiale sommerga tutto e che le ossa tornino in superficie come tappi di sughero. E quindi, che i morti seppelliscano i morti. In queste acque chete, in queste acque fonde.
Le rughe dei volti sono come i solchi della terra, la dolcezza e la durezza vanno a braccetto, il volo degli uccelli è un segnale da interpretare, la bara migliore è fatta di legno di cedro perché resiste più a lungo.
Un dramma privato – un omicidio, con tanto di indagine, perquisizione, fiume dragato – si immerge nel dramma collettivo, la perdita della terra, la trasformazione brutale della campagna, una valle diventa un lago artificiale, le case e le tombe e le strade e gli alberi sommersi.
Ma più dei fatti in sé, Rash segue i motivi, le cause, e le conseguenze: perché queste, più dei fatti, implicano la natura umana, il coinvolgimento dei suoi personaggi (e accanto ai cinque “parlanti”, alcune altre figure spettacolari: il morto, sua madre, la vedova definita strega…).
Come nella migliore tradizione non ci sono buoni e cattivi, ma una tavolozza di sfumature a dipingere un’umanità che contiene tutto, il bene e il male.
Oconee County, South Carolina.
Oconee County, South Carolina.
September 11, 2017
This was my first Ron Rash novel and I have to say I am very impressed. It’s a murder mystery, but a bit out of the ordinary as there is no body – just an accusation by an elderly mother who claims her son has been killed. Mrs. Winchester is utterly convinced that she knows the identity of the perpetrator. The problem is, despite the fact Holland Winchester just returned from the Korean War with a Gold Star, he’s a known troublemaker in town and more than likely only momma would be sorry to see him gone from the face of the earth. Sheriff Will Alexander is responsible for finding the missing body and seeing that justice is served.
Set in a rural Appalachian valley of South Carolina, One Foot in Eden delivers an authentic tale of passion, jealousy, the yearning for a child, and the blurring of the line between good and evil. It has a suspenseful southern gothic feel, complete with superstitions and a solitary, eccentric woman labeled as a ‘witch’. The prose is striking and poetic at times.
"When the deep summer comes and the Dog Star raises with the morning sun, the land can scab up and a man watch his spring crop wrinkle brown like something on fire. It’s the season snakes go blind. Their eyeballs coat over like pearls and they get mean. A rattlesnake allows no warning and a milk snake that would have cut the dust to the tall grass in June quiles up and strikes at anything that steps its way. It’s a time when foxes and dogs go mad. They’ll come shackling toward you, their lips snarly and chins white with slobber. You’ll raise your gun and they’ll come on like they just want to get it done with."
The story is narrated alternately by Sheriff Alexander, Amy Holcombe, Billy Holcombe, Isaac Holcombe, and the deputy. I thought this was a very effective way of telling the story. We learn the background and motivations of each character. Each person holds a little piece of the puzzle and so the bigger picture is slowly revealed to the reader. Rash manages to develop each character skillfully despite the relatively short length of the novel. When the Carolina Power Company follows through on a threat to overtake the valley, secrets will be exposed and moral boundaries once more questioned.
I can’t say how this book compares with Rash’s other novels yet, but I will certainly plan to read whatever gems he has available for my literary pleasure. I’d like to thank Goodread’s friend Brina for choosing this book for me as part of a group book swap and for giving me the push to finally sample the work of such a masterful storyteller! I highly recommend this quick, compelling read for fans of southern fiction. This one rates 4 gratifying stars from me.
"But nothing is solid and permanent. Our lives are raised on the shakiest foundations. You don’t need to read history books to know that. You only have to know the history of your own life."
Set in a rural Appalachian valley of South Carolina, One Foot in Eden delivers an authentic tale of passion, jealousy, the yearning for a child, and the blurring of the line between good and evil. It has a suspenseful southern gothic feel, complete with superstitions and a solitary, eccentric woman labeled as a ‘witch’. The prose is striking and poetic at times.
"When the deep summer comes and the Dog Star raises with the morning sun, the land can scab up and a man watch his spring crop wrinkle brown like something on fire. It’s the season snakes go blind. Their eyeballs coat over like pearls and they get mean. A rattlesnake allows no warning and a milk snake that would have cut the dust to the tall grass in June quiles up and strikes at anything that steps its way. It’s a time when foxes and dogs go mad. They’ll come shackling toward you, their lips snarly and chins white with slobber. You’ll raise your gun and they’ll come on like they just want to get it done with."
The story is narrated alternately by Sheriff Alexander, Amy Holcombe, Billy Holcombe, Isaac Holcombe, and the deputy. I thought this was a very effective way of telling the story. We learn the background and motivations of each character. Each person holds a little piece of the puzzle and so the bigger picture is slowly revealed to the reader. Rash manages to develop each character skillfully despite the relatively short length of the novel. When the Carolina Power Company follows through on a threat to overtake the valley, secrets will be exposed and moral boundaries once more questioned.
I can’t say how this book compares with Rash’s other novels yet, but I will certainly plan to read whatever gems he has available for my literary pleasure. I’d like to thank Goodread’s friend Brina for choosing this book for me as part of a group book swap and for giving me the push to finally sample the work of such a masterful storyteller! I highly recommend this quick, compelling read for fans of southern fiction. This one rates 4 gratifying stars from me.
"But nothing is solid and permanent. Our lives are raised on the shakiest foundations. You don’t need to read history books to know that. You only have to know the history of your own life."
September 5, 2017
One Foot in Eden a novel by Ron Rash is a wonderful and hauntingly beautiful novel. A classic tale of passion and tragedy but so well written that it delivers on every sentence. This is the type of book I love, a book that can bring its story, characters and setting to life.
Will Alexander is the sheriff in a small town in southern Appalachia, and he knows all that the local thug Holland Winchester has been murdered. The only thing is the Sherriff can find neither the body nor someone to attest to the killing.
The chapters are written in five different perspectives and narrators. The opening narration belongs to Sherriff Will and then the following chapters are narrated by The Wife(Amy) and The Husband (Billy) The son (Isaac) and the Deputy. The narration shifts are clear and never confusing which makes for an excellent read. Through each prospective the author shows the murder mystery and the characters in a different light.
Ron Rash is an extremely masterful and yet simplistic storyteller and a writer of beautiful prose. The plot is gripping and the characters are extremely well drawn and at times you almost feel you are there listening to the characters tell their stories.
I have read Serena
also by Ron Rash and really enjoyed the writing but found that this novel delivered on plot, characters and prose and I just fell in love with this novel.
I love when a book just draws you in and when you finish the story you feel so satisfied and that is what One Foot in Eden did for me.
A great novel with beautiful writing and memorable characters and for me the perfect little story.
Will Alexander is the sheriff in a small town in southern Appalachia, and he knows all that the local thug Holland Winchester has been murdered. The only thing is the Sherriff can find neither the body nor someone to attest to the killing.
The chapters are written in five different perspectives and narrators. The opening narration belongs to Sherriff Will and then the following chapters are narrated by The Wife(Amy) and The Husband (Billy) The son (Isaac) and the Deputy. The narration shifts are clear and never confusing which makes for an excellent read. Through each prospective the author shows the murder mystery and the characters in a different light.
Ron Rash is an extremely masterful and yet simplistic storyteller and a writer of beautiful prose. The plot is gripping and the characters are extremely well drawn and at times you almost feel you are there listening to the characters tell their stories.
I have read Serena
I love when a book just draws you in and when you finish the story you feel so satisfied and that is what One Foot in Eden did for me.
A great novel with beautiful writing and memorable characters and for me the perfect little story.
January 17, 2015
One Foot in Eden: A Child May Ask
One Foot in Eden by Ron Rash was chosen by members of On the Southern Literary Trail as a group read for January, 2015. Special thanks to Diane Barnes, Co-Moderator "Miss Scarlett", On the Southern Literary Trail.
January 16, 2015
I originally posted an abbreviated review of this novel on January 14, 2014. Fourteen of my friends liked it. And I appreciate that. However, I got to thinking about it, this novel and the man who wrote it. I initially rated One Foot in Eden Three Stars. Why? Because I had read Rash's novel Serena before this one. Bottom line, I penalized Mr. Rash because he had become a better writer since he had written this book. Then that quote from Steinbeck kind of rolled over me, as it has many times. Mr. Rash, you did well. Those three stars are now four. And my good friend, Diane, is sighing, thinking, "This is going to be a long one." Well, not too long.
When I was a child I asked that question, "What is the world's story about?" We all do. Haven't you? Through the years I have lived I have come to believe Steinbeck was right. "A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well -- or ill?" That's hard truth.
It comes down to making a lot of choices, right or wrong, well or ill. Then there are those times when you just don't have a choice. Nothing's in your control. Like who you are, what you look like, where you were born. Your mother and your father made you, put you here. Somebody raises you. Maybe your mother and your father, maybe not. You do what you do with what you've got, where you are.
I think Rash read East of Eden. More than once. Because this is a novel about people caught in a web of good and evil. It's about the choices they make, the things that haunt them, and the questions a child grows to ask.
It is August, 1952. Oconee County, South Carolina. Oconee comes from the Cherokee word "Ae-quo-nee" meaning "land beside the water." Soon the land around Jocassee will be under water, flooded by South Carolina Power to generate hydroelectric energy. Every mother's son and daughter will be driven off the land their families have held since the 1700s. Even their dead will be dug up and moved above the flood plane. It will become a place lost forever. The people who live there have no choice.
Botanist Andre Michaux discovers the very rare Oconee Bell Flowers in 1788 at Jocassee at the head of the Keowee River. Today, it's at the head of Jocassee Gorge at Devil's Inn State Park, SC.
Holland Winchester will not live to see his home flooded. He will be murdered. Or, is it murder? Is it a maelstrom of uncontrollable emotions that explode into violence leaving a child to be born who will someday grow to ask "Where is my father?"
Or, is it sometimes better to let the dead bury the dead? Jocassee after the waters rose.
Is there the possibility of forgiveness? Ron Rash will have you thinking about it. For a long time.
Here's what I had previously said. I don't always get it right the first time.
January 14, 2015
Review to Follow: Very, very briefly: I actually picked up my reading at page fifty of One Foot in Eden a few minutes after midnight this morning. The pages whipped by in a swirl of carefully constructed multiple narrators. This is the first novel by Ron Rash. In a rare situation for me, I had read later works by Rash. Generally, I read an author from their initial novel and watch their writing develop. Had I begun my reading of Rash's novels with this intriguing read, I would have been incredibly impressed. However, having read Serena, a novel produced by Rash at the peak of his power as a writer with even more promise to come with yet a forthcoming novel, One Foot in Eden emerges as a bit rough around the edges. Rash fills out this compelling read with the elements of a crime novel, what has come to be known as Grit Lit, and the eerie nature of supernatural presence, a classic Southern Gothic ingredient. As Salieri blithely dismissed Mozart's music being comprised of "too many notes," Rash may have combined too many ingredients in a compelling read that is uneven in spots, trying to fit into all possible subgenres of contemporary Southern fiction. That three stars surprises me. To be fair, let's kick it up a notch to 3.5.
A more detailed review should follow. For Rash admirers, this is a must read. The sense of place is incredibly done. Rash knows the hills of South Carolina, its people, and strikes to the heart of the destruction of community and environment by the creation of damned reservoirs, covering once living residences of whole communities and leaving areas filled with tradition and heritage lost forever. This is one that lingers in the mind. And will leave the reader haunted on multiple levels.
January 16, 2015
There, now. I'm sorry, Mr. Rash. Some of those hastily scripted notes ring a little hollow to me now. Thank you Mr. Steinbeck.
One Foot in Eden by Ron Rash was chosen by members of On the Southern Literary Trail as a group read for January, 2015. Special thanks to Diane Barnes, Co-Moderator "Miss Scarlett", On the Southern Literary Trail.
January 16, 2015
A child may ask, 'What is the world's story about?' And a grown man or woman may wonder, 'What way will the world go? How does it end and, while we're at it, what's the story about?'
I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one, that has frightened and inspired us, so that we live in a Pearl White serial of continuing thought and wonder. Humans are caught in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too -- in a net of good and evil. I think this is the only story we have and that it occurs on all levels of feeling and intelligence. Virtue and vice were warp and woof of our first consciousness, and they will be the fabric of our last, and this despite changes we might impose on field and river and mountain, on economy and manners. There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well -- or ill?
John Steinbeck, Chapter 34, East of Eden, 1952
I originally posted an abbreviated review of this novel on January 14, 2014. Fourteen of my friends liked it. And I appreciate that. However, I got to thinking about it, this novel and the man who wrote it. I initially rated One Foot in Eden Three Stars. Why? Because I had read Rash's novel Serena before this one. Bottom line, I penalized Mr. Rash because he had become a better writer since he had written this book. Then that quote from Steinbeck kind of rolled over me, as it has many times. Mr. Rash, you did well. Those three stars are now four. And my good friend, Diane, is sighing, thinking, "This is going to be a long one." Well, not too long.
When I was a child I asked that question, "What is the world's story about?" We all do. Haven't you? Through the years I have lived I have come to believe Steinbeck was right. "A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well -- or ill?" That's hard truth.
It comes down to making a lot of choices, right or wrong, well or ill. Then there are those times when you just don't have a choice. Nothing's in your control. Like who you are, what you look like, where you were born. Your mother and your father made you, put you here. Somebody raises you. Maybe your mother and your father, maybe not. You do what you do with what you've got, where you are.
I think Rash read East of Eden. More than once. Because this is a novel about people caught in a web of good and evil. It's about the choices they make, the things that haunt them, and the questions a child grows to ask.
It is August, 1952. Oconee County, South Carolina. Oconee comes from the Cherokee word "Ae-quo-nee" meaning "land beside the water." Soon the land around Jocassee will be under water, flooded by South Carolina Power to generate hydroelectric energy. Every mother's son and daughter will be driven off the land their families have held since the 1700s. Even their dead will be dug up and moved above the flood plane. It will become a place lost forever. The people who live there have no choice.
Botanist Andre Michaux discovers the very rare Oconee Bell Flowers in 1788 at Jocassee at the head of the Keowee River. Today, it's at the head of Jocassee Gorge at Devil's Inn State Park, SC.
Holland Winchester will not live to see his home flooded. He will be murdered. Or, is it murder? Is it a maelstrom of uncontrollable emotions that explode into violence leaving a child to be born who will someday grow to ask "Where is my father?"
Or, is it sometimes better to let the dead bury the dead? Jocassee after the waters rose.
Is there the possibility of forgiveness? Ron Rash will have you thinking about it. For a long time.
Here's what I had previously said. I don't always get it right the first time.
January 14, 2015
Review to Follow: Very, very briefly: I actually picked up my reading at page fifty of One Foot in Eden a few minutes after midnight this morning. The pages whipped by in a swirl of carefully constructed multiple narrators. This is the first novel by Ron Rash. In a rare situation for me, I had read later works by Rash. Generally, I read an author from their initial novel and watch their writing develop. Had I begun my reading of Rash's novels with this intriguing read, I would have been incredibly impressed. However, having read Serena, a novel produced by Rash at the peak of his power as a writer with even more promise to come with yet a forthcoming novel, One Foot in Eden emerges as a bit rough around the edges. Rash fills out this compelling read with the elements of a crime novel, what has come to be known as Grit Lit, and the eerie nature of supernatural presence, a classic Southern Gothic ingredient. As Salieri blithely dismissed Mozart's music being comprised of "too many notes," Rash may have combined too many ingredients in a compelling read that is uneven in spots, trying to fit into all possible subgenres of contemporary Southern fiction. That three stars surprises me. To be fair, let's kick it up a notch to 3.5.
A more detailed review should follow. For Rash admirers, this is a must read. The sense of place is incredibly done. Rash knows the hills of South Carolina, its people, and strikes to the heart of the destruction of community and environment by the creation of damned reservoirs, covering once living residences of whole communities and leaving areas filled with tradition and heritage lost forever. This is one that lingers in the mind. And will leave the reader haunted on multiple levels.
January 16, 2015
There, now. I'm sorry, Mr. Rash. Some of those hastily scripted notes ring a little hollow to me now. Thank you Mr. Steinbeck.
April 12, 2018
March, 2018...about to read this for the third time.
For me, Ron Rash's work is better than Faulkner's, and Im saying that not for his massive collected works of poetry, short stories, and novels but just for this first debut novel of his. To me, he is that good.
The setting is a small town in an Appalachian valley and mostly takes place during the time period before it was to be flooded for an electric dam project. Family farms and businesses are about to be taken by the government, and the citizens are gradually forced to evacuate. It is a time of desperation.
When a local troublemaker goes missing, his aging mother demands that the town sheriff find him. She believes he has been murdered by the young man who lives in an adjacent farm with his new bride.
The sheriff is a good man, and although he is glad to see this lawbreaking bully gone, he does his investigative work thoroughly. But no body can be found and no motive shows itself. Tensions between the old lady and the devoted young couple remain high for many years. When the floods finally come, what will she do to their only child before her home and the memory of her lost son are washed away?
That Rash is an award-winning poet comes through time and again throughout the novel. Listen to him describe the blistering month of August:
".. When deep summer comes and the dog star raises with the morning sun, the land can scab up and a man watch his spring crop wrinkle brown like something on fire. It's the season snakes go blind. Their eyeballs coat over like pearls and they get mean. A rattlesnake allows no warning and a milk snake that would have cut the dust to the tall grass in June quiles up and strikes at anything that steps its way. It's a time when foxes and dogs go mad. They'll come shackling toward you, their lips snarly and chins white with slobber. You'll raise your gun and they'll come on like they just want to get it done with."
I recently read this debut novel a second time, and knowinh what was coming around each bend made me able to slow down and deeply enjoy the beauty along the way. This book and his "Serena" are, for me, perfection - deeply authentic, poetic with gorgeous imagery, frightening, and deeply moving.
If you have ever loved and ever lost, you will cheer for the families wrapped in his words. 5 stars and on my favorites shelf.
For me, Ron Rash's work is better than Faulkner's, and Im saying that not for his massive collected works of poetry, short stories, and novels but just for this first debut novel of his. To me, he is that good.
The setting is a small town in an Appalachian valley and mostly takes place during the time period before it was to be flooded for an electric dam project. Family farms and businesses are about to be taken by the government, and the citizens are gradually forced to evacuate. It is a time of desperation.
When a local troublemaker goes missing, his aging mother demands that the town sheriff find him. She believes he has been murdered by the young man who lives in an adjacent farm with his new bride.
The sheriff is a good man, and although he is glad to see this lawbreaking bully gone, he does his investigative work thoroughly. But no body can be found and no motive shows itself. Tensions between the old lady and the devoted young couple remain high for many years. When the floods finally come, what will she do to their only child before her home and the memory of her lost son are washed away?
That Rash is an award-winning poet comes through time and again throughout the novel. Listen to him describe the blistering month of August:
".. When deep summer comes and the dog star raises with the morning sun, the land can scab up and a man watch his spring crop wrinkle brown like something on fire. It's the season snakes go blind. Their eyeballs coat over like pearls and they get mean. A rattlesnake allows no warning and a milk snake that would have cut the dust to the tall grass in June quiles up and strikes at anything that steps its way. It's a time when foxes and dogs go mad. They'll come shackling toward you, their lips snarly and chins white with slobber. You'll raise your gun and they'll come on like they just want to get it done with."
I recently read this debut novel a second time, and knowinh what was coming around each bend made me able to slow down and deeply enjoy the beauty along the way. This book and his "Serena" are, for me, perfection - deeply authentic, poetic with gorgeous imagery, frightening, and deeply moving.
If you have ever loved and ever lost, you will cheer for the families wrapped in his words. 5 stars and on my favorites shelf.
December 30, 2014
Ron Rash's debut novel was so engaging that I could not put it down, and read it in one evening. Although it involves a murder in 1950s Appalachian South Carolina, it is not a typical crime story. A few bad decisions by basically good people have a domino effect leading to a series of tragic events.
Holland Winchester's mother told Sheriff Will Alexander that her son has disappeared. She heard gunshots and she was sure that Billy Holcombe murdered her son, but no body was found. The book is narrated in five voices--the sheriff, Amy Holcombe, Billy Holcombe, Isaac Holcombe, and the deputy. Each narrator gives us more pieces of the puzzle, the backgrounds of the characters, and the motives for their actions. Meanwhile, Carolina Power is buying up property and constructing a large dam across the river that runs through the Jocassee valley.
There is a Southern Gothic atmosphere where superstitions are strong. The book also has Biblical overtones from the Old Testament, especially the Garden of Eden, the great flood, and eventual punishment for sinners. This was a beautifully written book with a wonderful sense of place, interesting characters, and a riveting story.
Holland Winchester's mother told Sheriff Will Alexander that her son has disappeared. She heard gunshots and she was sure that Billy Holcombe murdered her son, but no body was found. The book is narrated in five voices--the sheriff, Amy Holcombe, Billy Holcombe, Isaac Holcombe, and the deputy. Each narrator gives us more pieces of the puzzle, the backgrounds of the characters, and the motives for their actions. Meanwhile, Carolina Power is buying up property and constructing a large dam across the river that runs through the Jocassee valley.
There is a Southern Gothic atmosphere where superstitions are strong. The book also has Biblical overtones from the Old Testament, especially the Garden of Eden, the great flood, and eventual punishment for sinners. This was a beautifully written book with a wonderful sense of place, interesting characters, and a riveting story.
December 21, 2017
4+★
The Sheriff, the wife, the husband, the son, the deputy will all have their say so.
Holland Winchester the local bad boy is missing. Carolina Power’s dam is about to drown Jocassee County where bodies will surface, some disappear, and at least one is waiting to be discovered.
This is Ron Rash’s first novel. I had to buy a copy because it is not in our library system. I cannot figure that. Any fan of the author or genre should not miss it. For some, this short novel may be a slow start, though it wasn’t for me. I only put it down briefly a couple of times. It played out like a cherished mountain folk-song with the author’s signature exquisite prose and I keep humming the melody over and over. One of my favorites to be sure.
The Sheriff, the wife, the husband, the son, the deputy will all have their say so.
Holland Winchester the local bad boy is missing. Carolina Power’s dam is about to drown Jocassee County where bodies will surface, some disappear, and at least one is waiting to be discovered.
This is Ron Rash’s first novel. I had to buy a copy because it is not in our library system. I cannot figure that. Any fan of the author or genre should not miss it. For some, this short novel may be a slow start, though it wasn’t for me. I only put it down briefly a couple of times. It played out like a cherished mountain folk-song with the author’s signature exquisite prose and I keep humming the melody over and over. One of my favorites to be sure.
September 1, 2021
at first, i was afraid i wouldn't like this book - the first few pages were flawed - flawed i say!! it made me sad because i loved serena so much, and i was scared that this one wouldn't live up to that standard. but then it got much better, although i have to get out of this region, because the last few books i have read have taken place in the same general area, and they are blurring a little in my mind. i will definitely read more from him, after i cleanse the palate of my brain.
come to my blog!
July 29, 2024
My man Ron did not disappoint with his spin on a Southern Gothic murder mystery. This book was short, sweet, and to the point. I can't say enough good things about it. The writing was magnificent, the characters were deep, the plot lines were clean and crisp, and everything wrapped up in a muddy mess lol.
Our hero, Sheriff Alexander, is trying to solve the murder of small-town troublemaker, Holland Winchester. He quickly puts together the facts of the case but without a body none of that matters.
The reading adventure Mr. Rash takes us on is split between 5 points of view, the sheriff of course, the whore wife of the sheriff's cousin, the sheriffs blank shooting cousin and husband to the whore, the bastard son of the whore, and the sheriff's superstitious deputy. I absolutely loved this style. You witness the same apex event from everyone involved. Each character adds new layers and crucial details.
Ron has put together an amazing work of fiction here and I am excited to read more by him, well done sir.
Our hero, Sheriff Alexander, is trying to solve the murder of small-town troublemaker, Holland Winchester. He quickly puts together the facts of the case but without a body none of that matters.
The reading adventure Mr. Rash takes us on is split between 5 points of view, the sheriff of course, the whore wife of the sheriff's cousin, the sheriffs blank shooting cousin and husband to the whore, the bastard son of the whore, and the sheriff's superstitious deputy. I absolutely loved this style. You witness the same apex event from everyone involved. Each character adds new layers and crucial details.
Ron has put together an amazing work of fiction here and I am excited to read more by him, well done sir.
June 8, 2017
A missing man, marital infidelity, the suspicion of a murder… set in rural South Carolina in the mid-20th century, this story is told through 5 characters. What I loved about this book was the use of dialect, rich colloquialisms created a vibrant sense of place. The story gets 3 stars, the language gets 5 stars.
June 18, 2016
This beautifully written story is essentially about good and evil and as the cover states, passion and tragedy . Voiced in 5 parts : the high sheriff , the wife( Amy) , the husband ( Billy) , the son( Issac ), and the sheriff's deputy , the passion and tragedy were easily placed , but it leaves one wondering where exactly to assign the the good and the evil. The winner of The Appalachain Book Of The Year in 2002, this is my first read by Ron Rash , which I've been told is not his finest work, hard to imagine it gets much better than this ! A thought provoking and haunting read !! 5 stars
February 23, 2022
An excellent story with a good denouement. It is told with feeling. The author provides the perspective of four individuals whose lives are all intertwined. It is not a perspective of each giving their own version of events but rather a chronological history of their lives, with each sharing and being affected by a culminating incident.
I found the characters credible and their stories well woven. Perhaps the first story is overly stark with a forlorn negativity. This is masterful writing by Ron Rash. The four stories give off an eeriness of the austere rural settings. There is a foreboding tone throughout.
I found the characters credible and their stories well woven. Perhaps the first story is overly stark with a forlorn negativity. This is masterful writing by Ron Rash. The four stories give off an eeriness of the austere rural settings. There is a foreboding tone throughout.
January 8, 2015
Well, besides being able to create beautiful prose in a very authentic language spoken by country people, Ron Rash also knows how to tell a story. I could have been one of those reviewers who read the book in one night, if my eyes and body had cooperated with me. Alas, it took me longer, but I did finish in a marathon read this afternoon. Suspense, character development, old words recognized and appreciated by this reader, multiple narrators; all went to make this an incredible read. This was Rash's first book, my first Rash was "Serena", both just fantastic stories set in my part of the country. (North and South Carolina). Put me down as a fan, I'll read anything he writes.
January 11, 2015
Quick read, read it in one evening. I kept feeling like I had read it before, but I can't figure out if I have (although I've been tracking my reading since before it was published) or if it is similar in theme and structure to a novel I read by Wiley Cash last year (Appalachian farming, multiple narrators, an important river). It feels familiar, anyway. Maybe part of that is the setting, just a few counties over in Oconee County, in an area that was covered up by the creation of Lake Jocassee.
I liked the very local feeling of this novel. That's one of the things I read Southern writers for, and in the first few pages I had to keep stopping to look up places that were mentioned. Ron Rash is very good at establishing a story in a place, even if that place no longer exists due to Carolina Power (this novel) or the building of the Blue Ridge Parkway (Serena).
I felt like after reading some of his later works, you could tell this was a first novel. Still, quite a few of the things I like about him are present here - the storylines setting up a conflict between people in a greater conflict setting of corporate-funded environmental/landscape change, the use of local words and specific locations, and characters that you like no matter if they are "good" or "bad."
Some of the locations mentioned in the book can be seen in a silly blog I came across, Slobot Around Town.
I liked the very local feeling of this novel. That's one of the things I read Southern writers for, and in the first few pages I had to keep stopping to look up places that were mentioned. Ron Rash is very good at establishing a story in a place, even if that place no longer exists due to Carolina Power (this novel) or the building of the Blue Ridge Parkway (Serena).
I felt like after reading some of his later works, you could tell this was a first novel. Still, quite a few of the things I like about him are present here - the storylines setting up a conflict between people in a greater conflict setting of corporate-funded environmental/landscape change, the use of local words and specific locations, and characters that you like no matter if they are "good" or "bad."
Some of the locations mentioned in the book can be seen in a silly blog I came across, Slobot Around Town.
January 4, 2015
A sad, but very good crime novel set in 1950's rural North Carolina. The 1st 'crime' instigated by an old wise woman (witch?) leads to the 2nd 'crime' told through the voices of five characters in this short 200 page novel.
Great book! Looking forward to reading Ron Rash's Serena.
November 26, 2014
My third Rash novel (though his debut), I'm starting to see a real pattern in Rash's storytelling. In addition to falling in the Southern Gothic genre with all that represents, nature is also a common theme in his books, to the point that it almost becomes another character.
Told in multiple first person points of view, "One Foot in Eden" is a murder mystery of sorts that's not so much a who-done-it as a how-done-it and why-done-it. With each new point of view a different layer of the story is revealed.
As usual, the prose are top notch and the characters are complicated and well-drawn. The story is solid and the subplots are seamlessly interwoven into the main plot. Had it not been for the next to last section, the son's point of view which felt a tad bit contrived, I would have felt good about giving this 5 stars rather than 4.
All in all, an enjoyable read consistent with Rash's other works.
Told in multiple first person points of view, "One Foot in Eden" is a murder mystery of sorts that's not so much a who-done-it as a how-done-it and why-done-it. With each new point of view a different layer of the story is revealed.
As usual, the prose are top notch and the characters are complicated and well-drawn. The story is solid and the subplots are seamlessly interwoven into the main plot. Had it not been for the next to last section, the son's point of view which felt a tad bit contrived, I would have felt good about giving this 5 stars rather than 4.
All in all, an enjoyable read consistent with Rash's other works.
February 25, 2022
Structured around a dying farming community in South Carolina in 1951 this is what on the face of it appears to be a simple murder mystery, but actually turns out to be a much more complex story.
This is southern American writing of the highest quality and bears the traits of the genre, vivid descriptions of damaged characters, and simple figuartive language in powerful dialogue..
and
A Korean war hero is dead. When his mother speaks to the Sheriff she names his murderer, and the motive. The Sheriff himself is a damaged man, locked in a marriage bound by a still birth. Though the Sheriff investigates he can find nothing.
Rash uses 5 narrators in turn for each section of the book, coming from various perspectives to the incident. There is urgency also, as the power company will soon dam and flood the valley.
Its a hugely compelling plot, but the real strength but is the precision and heartbreak in the prose that demands the reader's attention. The tough grind and toil in the farming community, and its past generations, is about to be lost forever, but before that there will be a final reckoning.
Rash's debut novel may well be his best.
This is southern American writing of the highest quality and bears the traits of the genre, vivid descriptions of damaged characters, and simple figuartive language in powerful dialogue..
No light shone from the few farmhouse windows, not even a hangnail moon. Darkness presses against the car windows, deep and silent.
and
When deep summer comes and the dog star raises with the morning sun, the land can scab up and a man watch his spring crop wrinkle brown like something on fire. It's the season snakes go blind. Their eyeballs coat over like pearls and they get mean. A rattlesnake allows no warning and a milk snake that would have cut the dust to the tall grass in June quiles up and strikes at anything that steps its way.
A Korean war hero is dead. When his mother speaks to the Sheriff she names his murderer, and the motive. The Sheriff himself is a damaged man, locked in a marriage bound by a still birth. Though the Sheriff investigates he can find nothing.
Rash uses 5 narrators in turn for each section of the book, coming from various perspectives to the incident. There is urgency also, as the power company will soon dam and flood the valley.
Its a hugely compelling plot, but the real strength but is the precision and heartbreak in the prose that demands the reader's attention. The tough grind and toil in the farming community, and its past generations, is about to be lost forever, but before that there will be a final reckoning.
Rash's debut novel may well be his best.
January 4, 2015
A murderous tale rendered beautifully. Multiple points of view and the author's slow unveiling of details really add to the suspense.-- I seldom even think of the books I am reading when I am at my job, it generally takes all of my focus and attention. This book however had me not just thinking of it, but in fact I was so intrigued to learn the rest of the story that I found myself plotting plausible reasons to leave work midafternoon to be back home reading again. Outstanding storytelling by Rash, I will definitely be searching out his other books!
February 24, 2020
There’s a column in our local Sunday newspaper where you can submit five titles of books you’ve recently read, and based on that, you’re provided with the title of something they think would be the perfect fit for your next read. One Foot In Eden was that book. It was nothing I would have otherwise known about or picked up on my own, but as they predicted, it was a spot on moody read that I really got into.
The story takes place in small town Appalachia, where the residents of the local hollows will soon be forced off their land with the construction of a new dam by the local power company. In the midst of this coming upheaval, a mother reports the murder of her trouble-maker son to the local sheriff, who has his suspicions about who committed the crime, but despite the police department’s best efforts, and more importantly the absence of a body, the case is closed. But years later, the wrong word whispered in the right ear brings it all back to the surface, and the truth is revealed. Given the circumstances, should it be?
The story of the murder and everything that surrounds it is teased out in five sections, from the point of view of the high sheriff, a neighboring family that includes the wife, the husband and the son, and finally, the deputy, who brings closure to the story. It’s difficult to say too much about the storyline without giving away its intricacies, as it’s written to draw you down the delicate rabbit hole of love, family, loyalty, spitefulness, revenge, and retribution. The character that ultimately fingers the guilty party and digs up the remains of the murdered man is heartbreaking. And the final image of the possible whereabouts of those guilty parties is completely bone chilling.
Loved this book, and would highly recommend it!
The story takes place in small town Appalachia, where the residents of the local hollows will soon be forced off their land with the construction of a new dam by the local power company. In the midst of this coming upheaval, a mother reports the murder of her trouble-maker son to the local sheriff, who has his suspicions about who committed the crime, but despite the police department’s best efforts, and more importantly the absence of a body, the case is closed. But years later, the wrong word whispered in the right ear brings it all back to the surface, and the truth is revealed. Given the circumstances, should it be?
The story of the murder and everything that surrounds it is teased out in five sections, from the point of view of the high sheriff, a neighboring family that includes the wife, the husband and the son, and finally, the deputy, who brings closure to the story. It’s difficult to say too much about the storyline without giving away its intricacies, as it’s written to draw you down the delicate rabbit hole of love, family, loyalty, spitefulness, revenge, and retribution. The character that ultimately fingers the guilty party and digs up the remains of the murdered man is heartbreaking. And the final image of the possible whereabouts of those guilty parties is completely bone chilling.
Loved this book, and would highly recommend it!
October 4, 2018
What a wonderful book. Excellent. This a crime novel dressed up and pretending to be a southern literary work of art.
Its told in five points of view, four really the deputy's point of view is only a few pages long. Each point view tells a different side of the same story. I don't want to say more for fear of ruining someone else's read.
I found this book by reading a review from the last book I read and really loved Savage Country by Olmstead. This book is every bit as good and better. The prose is wonderful, evocative, poetic. I will be thinking about some passages and the symbolism for a long time.
I'm surprised it took so long for me to happen onto this book. It's scary actually, just how many more of these gems are out there waiting for me to read.
Highly recommend
David Putnam Author of The Bruno Johnson series
Its told in five points of view, four really the deputy's point of view is only a few pages long. Each point view tells a different side of the same story. I don't want to say more for fear of ruining someone else's read.
I found this book by reading a review from the last book I read and really loved Savage Country by Olmstead. This book is every bit as good and better. The prose is wonderful, evocative, poetic. I will be thinking about some passages and the symbolism for a long time.
I'm surprised it took so long for me to happen onto this book. It's scary actually, just how many more of these gems are out there waiting for me to read.
Highly recommend
David Putnam Author of The Bruno Johnson series
January 11, 2022
Non potevo iniziare l'anno con libro più stupefacente, di una bellezza così dolente e luminosa da lasciarmi emozioni contrastanti ma bellissime.
Ho trovato perfetto il meccanismo della narrazione; ogni parola e ogni voce (le voci narranti sono cinque) che Rash ci lascia sulla carta è illuminata da una luce potente, che sprigiona ad ogni pagina e ci guida con maestria attraverso cinque esistenze e un paesaggio che è personaggio esso stesso.
C'è la vita ma soprattutto la morte, la lotta per l'esistenza quotidiana, il dolore, le maschere che ognuno di noi è costretto a indossare di fronte agli altri e soprattutto di fronte a se stesso.
Mi auguro che altri libri di Rash vengano presto tradotti in Italia perché sono anche molto curiosa di leggere i suoi racconti.
Fatevi un bellissimo regalo. Leggete questo romanzo.
Ho trovato perfetto il meccanismo della narrazione; ogni parola e ogni voce (le voci narranti sono cinque) che Rash ci lascia sulla carta è illuminata da una luce potente, che sprigiona ad ogni pagina e ci guida con maestria attraverso cinque esistenze e un paesaggio che è personaggio esso stesso.
C'è la vita ma soprattutto la morte, la lotta per l'esistenza quotidiana, il dolore, le maschere che ognuno di noi è costretto a indossare di fronte agli altri e soprattutto di fronte a se stesso.
Mi auguro che altri libri di Rash vengano presto tradotti in Italia perché sono anche molto curiosa di leggere i suoi racconti.
Fatevi un bellissimo regalo. Leggete questo romanzo.
September 20, 2017
What a terrific debut novel! 4.5 stars. I will definitely get into more Ron Rash in the not too distant future. A murder mystery that poses an interesting question, can you get away with killing someone (and raising his child, all the time pretending that you are the father)? I enjoyed the way the story unfolded and was told from the perspective of many different people involved and I thought the character development was really strong and authentic. The book transports us back to the 1950s and 1960s in the Appalachian Mountains in such a genuine manner it was just like being there and being part of it. My only slight reservations were I didn’t like the way in which Amy got pregnant and that perhaps it didn’t really need the very last character.
September 16, 2007
One of the most well-crafted books I've read in ages. Gripping plot, well-drawn characters, lyrical prose. When a poet starts writing fiction, you just have to stand back and watch.
June 26, 2024
"Ho visto cose che erano destinate a passare e cose che un giorno saranno. Ho visto un tempo in cui i morti resusciteranno dalle tombe, un tempo in cui il fiume sommergerà questa valle."
Anni Cinquanta, Carolina del Sud nella, subito dopo la guerra di Corea.
Gli abitanti della valle di Jocasse, (per i Cherokee vuol dire “vallata degli scomparsi”) si preparano a lasciare le loro case alla compagnia elettrica Carolina Power, che vuole costruire una diga trasformando la zona un lago artificiale (una storia vera).
Quella di Jocasse è una terra sottratta due volte, la prima ai Cherokee dall’uomo bianco, la seconda ai residenti dal progresso
“Non era un posto per chi aveva una casa, quello.
Era un posto per gli scomparsi.”
Ma non sarà solo la terra a sparire
Holland Winchester è tornato dalla Corea come un eroe.
Ma Holland è anche un piantagrane incline alle risse, malvisto dalla comunità
Quando scompare nessuno si preoccupa di sapere cosa gli sia successo, lo cerca solo la madre che allerta lo sceriffo Will Alexander
Una mattina lei ha sentito uno sparo provenire dalla vicina fattoria degli Holcombe
Possibile che nessuno abbia sentito?
Pesa anche l’ombra di un tradimento
Per lo sceriffo il caso è un grattacapo perché il corpo del giovane non si trova, non ci sono prove o indizi
Tutta la forza del romanzo sta nella sua narrazione a 5 voci che si alternano in momenti diversi: ognuno ha il suo tempo, la sua singolarità, le sue ferite, la sua disillusione.
Con una scrittura forte e controllata e partendo da un fatto vero (l’esproprio della terra) Ron Rash intreccia gli ingranaggi di questo dramma inesorabile dalle mille sfaccettature dove tutto è sfumato, terribilmente umano
Rash ci offre un'istantanea di cosa vuol dire essere dimenticati dal mondo, del desiderio e le sue conseguenze, della passione e delle azioni che risuonano attraverso i decenni.
Ambientata in un paesaggio pieno di giorni canicola, siccità, dolore e incertezza, la prosa, tra dolcezza e durezza si snoda proprio come le strade di campagna che l’autore descrive
Un Piede in Paradiso ha tutto ciò che un buon romanzo del Sud dovrebbe contenere: amore e connessione con la terra, simbolismo e superstizione , un feroce individualismo, un mondo contadino austero e laborioso fatto di persone poco loquaci che sanno nascondere bene i loro segreti e che difficilmente perdonano.
Anni Cinquanta, Carolina del Sud nella, subito dopo la guerra di Corea.
Gli abitanti della valle di Jocasse, (per i Cherokee vuol dire “vallata degli scomparsi”) si preparano a lasciare le loro case alla compagnia elettrica Carolina Power, che vuole costruire una diga trasformando la zona un lago artificiale (una storia vera).
Quella di Jocasse è una terra sottratta due volte, la prima ai Cherokee dall’uomo bianco, la seconda ai residenti dal progresso
“Non era un posto per chi aveva una casa, quello.
Era un posto per gli scomparsi.”
Ma non sarà solo la terra a sparire
Holland Winchester è tornato dalla Corea come un eroe.
Ma Holland è anche un piantagrane incline alle risse, malvisto dalla comunità
Quando scompare nessuno si preoccupa di sapere cosa gli sia successo, lo cerca solo la madre che allerta lo sceriffo Will Alexander
Una mattina lei ha sentito uno sparo provenire dalla vicina fattoria degli Holcombe
Possibile che nessuno abbia sentito?
Pesa anche l’ombra di un tradimento
Per lo sceriffo il caso è un grattacapo perché il corpo del giovane non si trova, non ci sono prove o indizi
Tutta la forza del romanzo sta nella sua narrazione a 5 voci che si alternano in momenti diversi: ognuno ha il suo tempo, la sua singolarità, le sue ferite, la sua disillusione.
Con una scrittura forte e controllata e partendo da un fatto vero (l’esproprio della terra) Ron Rash intreccia gli ingranaggi di questo dramma inesorabile dalle mille sfaccettature dove tutto è sfumato, terribilmente umano
Rash ci offre un'istantanea di cosa vuol dire essere dimenticati dal mondo, del desiderio e le sue conseguenze, della passione e delle azioni che risuonano attraverso i decenni.
Ambientata in un paesaggio pieno di giorni canicola, siccità, dolore e incertezza, la prosa, tra dolcezza e durezza si snoda proprio come le strade di campagna che l’autore descrive
Un Piede in Paradiso ha tutto ciò che un buon romanzo del Sud dovrebbe contenere: amore e connessione con la terra, simbolismo e superstizione , un feroce individualismo, un mondo contadino austero e laborioso fatto di persone poco loquaci che sanno nascondere bene i loro segreti e che difficilmente perdonano.
May 12, 2020
"Nothing is solid and permanent. Our lives are raised in the shakiest foundations. You don't need to read history books to know that. You only have to know the history of your own life."
It's been a few years since I read Ron Rash.
I started with "Serena" and then on to "The Cove" fairly quickly and really loved his writing style. Other authors became apart of my life and unfortunately, Rash got pushed to the attic of my mind.
As a member of On the Southern Literary Trail, I noticed they had selected one of his books for the month of May as a read-along and it jogged my memory; One Foot in Eden was always something I wanted to check out as it was his first novel and I'm glad I did.
The stage for the book is a small area of Appalachia called Jocassee. With names such as that along with Sassafras Mountain & Licklog Mountain, it really puts you in the mindset of the area. It's the early 1950's - the atrocities of World War II is still strong in the minds of some, while the Korean War is fresh on others. As the power company comes to take the land of those who inhabit the valley, the lives of a local Sheriff and two families are about to be completely changed forever. Two secrets form the basis of how these people will live until what can no longer be a secret becomes known.
My latest experience with Rash's prose makes me remember how much I enjoyed his writing and I'll come back for more. This book is depressing and sad, yet realistic. I think one sentence from the book captures what I think Rash is truly trying to express:
"...This was a place for the lost."
It's been a few years since I read Ron Rash.
I started with "Serena" and then on to "The Cove" fairly quickly and really loved his writing style. Other authors became apart of my life and unfortunately, Rash got pushed to the attic of my mind.
As a member of On the Southern Literary Trail, I noticed they had selected one of his books for the month of May as a read-along and it jogged my memory; One Foot in Eden was always something I wanted to check out as it was his first novel and I'm glad I did.
The stage for the book is a small area of Appalachia called Jocassee. With names such as that along with Sassafras Mountain & Licklog Mountain, it really puts you in the mindset of the area. It's the early 1950's - the atrocities of World War II is still strong in the minds of some, while the Korean War is fresh on others. As the power company comes to take the land of those who inhabit the valley, the lives of a local Sheriff and two families are about to be completely changed forever. Two secrets form the basis of how these people will live until what can no longer be a secret becomes known.
My latest experience with Rash's prose makes me remember how much I enjoyed his writing and I'll come back for more. This book is depressing and sad, yet realistic. I think one sentence from the book captures what I think Rash is truly trying to express:
"...This was a place for the lost."
April 3, 2018
This book and I did not get off on the right foot in the first chapter. I kept thinking "Serena was better *sigh* Serena was SO much better." Then I hit the chapter called 'The Wife' and wham, I was hooked. Next, the chapter called 'The Husband,' which kept me up until 2am. Then at 7am, groggy-eyed and coffee in hand, I met 'The Son' and knew my to-do list for the day was out the window. Ron Rash knows how to suck you down into the quagmire of Southern Goth, and he keeps you pinned in there until he's wrung you dry.
3.5 stars because parts of this book were implausible to me, but rounded up to 4 stars for images like these:
"I stepped past men sitting on Cheerwine and Double Cola crates. With their bald heads and wrinkled necks they looked like mud turtles sunning on stumps."
~ Chapter One, 'The High Sheriff'
"Bad luck followed his people like some mangy hound they couldn't run off." ~ Chapter Two, 'The Wife'
"The sun had been slaunchways over Sassafras Mountain so when Amy raised from the wash tub the water streamed off her like melting gold. There's no angel in heaven more lovely than this, I told myself." ~ Chapter Three, 'The Husband'
"Skin flaked off her like charred paper. A smell stronger than kerosene made me gag."
~ Chapter Four, 'The Son'
"I couldn't put no face on him because the rain flailed down so hard it was like looking through a waterfall. That water he came plodding through was shallow, so shallow he looked to be walking on it, like he was a haint rising from the river." ~ Chapter Five, 'The Deputy'
I liked 'Serena' better, but this is dadgum good stuff.
3.5 stars because parts of this book were implausible to me, but rounded up to 4 stars for images like these:
"I stepped past men sitting on Cheerwine and Double Cola crates. With their bald heads and wrinkled necks they looked like mud turtles sunning on stumps."
~ Chapter One, 'The High Sheriff'
"Bad luck followed his people like some mangy hound they couldn't run off." ~ Chapter Two, 'The Wife'
"The sun had been slaunchways over Sassafras Mountain so when Amy raised from the wash tub the water streamed off her like melting gold. There's no angel in heaven more lovely than this, I told myself." ~ Chapter Three, 'The Husband'
"Skin flaked off her like charred paper. A smell stronger than kerosene made me gag."
~ Chapter Four, 'The Son'
"I couldn't put no face on him because the rain flailed down so hard it was like looking through a waterfall. That water he came plodding through was shallow, so shallow he looked to be walking on it, like he was a haint rising from the river." ~ Chapter Five, 'The Deputy'
I liked 'Serena' better, but this is dadgum good stuff.
December 1, 2009
I read this book in one sitting, over 5 hours, cover to cover. It was so amazing. I'm now a full-on Ron Rash fan. His language, his sense of place, his ability to paint a complete picture in relatively few words of a town, its people, its time, are absolutely wonderful. I had no idea what I was missing. A beautiful Southern writer with a pared down, clear voice.
The book alternates from 5 points of view around a murder in a small South Carolina town in the 50s: the sheriff, the wife of a happily married farmer, the farmer, their son, and the deputy. The book opens up with the sheriff investigating the murder (but no body is found) of a Korean War veteran who was rumored to be having an affair with the farmer's wife. If he was murdered, where is the body? What's the story? What secrets are the married couple keeping? The key to a story like this is not to dumb down the characters or mock them for their lack of formal education, and Rash doesn't. He understands who they are and where they come from, and he empathizes with them for all the difficult decisions they have to make. It's just an amazing book.
The book alternates from 5 points of view around a murder in a small South Carolina town in the 50s: the sheriff, the wife of a happily married farmer, the farmer, their son, and the deputy. The book opens up with the sheriff investigating the murder (but no body is found) of a Korean War veteran who was rumored to be having an affair with the farmer's wife. If he was murdered, where is the body? What's the story? What secrets are the married couple keeping? The key to a story like this is not to dumb down the characters or mock them for their lack of formal education, and Rash doesn't. He understands who they are and where they come from, and he empathizes with them for all the difficult decisions they have to make. It's just an amazing book.
February 14, 2009
For the last 50 pages alone, this book should probably get 5 stars. The middle narrative, still strong, just didn't resonate as much as the rest of the novel.
Great book. Like the jacket will tell you, equal parts vintage crime novel with southern gothic fiction thrown in for good measure. I wanted to think Ron Rash as Cormac McCarthy-lite, but that would be inaccurate. His writing is more pensive, plaintive. His writing is thoughtful, clear as can be, like a natural oral story teller.
Recommended Soundtrack:
Because the narrative is divided into four different parts its a bit tricky, but worth it if you time it right. Here we go...
-First part-Traditional country twang, can't be more specific because any will do.
-Middle narrative-Allison Krauss or Lucinda Williams
-Latter Half-Dark Country/Gothic Americana ala 16 Horsepower or The Handsome Family.
--Also traditional Appalachian Balladry would do well throughout.
Happy reading *slash* listening.
Great book. Like the jacket will tell you, equal parts vintage crime novel with southern gothic fiction thrown in for good measure. I wanted to think Ron Rash as Cormac McCarthy-lite, but that would be inaccurate. His writing is more pensive, plaintive. His writing is thoughtful, clear as can be, like a natural oral story teller.
Recommended Soundtrack:
Because the narrative is divided into four different parts its a bit tricky, but worth it if you time it right. Here we go...
-First part-Traditional country twang, can't be more specific because any will do.
-Middle narrative-Allison Krauss or Lucinda Williams
-Latter Half-Dark Country/Gothic Americana ala 16 Horsepower or The Handsome Family.
--Also traditional Appalachian Balladry would do well throughout.
Happy reading *slash* listening.
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