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SLOW DANCING ON DINOSAUR BONES: A Novel
The remote town of Pick, Kentucky, is thrust into chaos by the arrival of Tom, a Stanford graduate who encourages the locals to sign coal leases, and cruel-hearted Frank Denton, who is stalking his ex-girlfriend
- GenresFictionContemporary
Hardcover
First published August 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
February 17, 2022
In "Slow Dancing on Dinosaur Bones" Witt tells the tale of a tiny off the radar Kentucky town. One where there are no fast food restaurants and the thought of Mcdonalds coming to town raises mixed feelings. One where there are only 3 streets, 1 blinking traffic light, and everyone knows everyone else. Pick is in a dry county so citizens looking for a drink and a good time generally go to the machine shop to hang out with Gilman--a local legend.
Everything is not innocence and bliss in Pick though. Conroy Coal is systematically leasing up land, virtually destroying it, and giving its owners pocket change in comparison to the profit the company is making. An unbalanced man chases his fleeing lover back to her hometown, and attempts to locate her as she hides out with old friends. Set against this landscape vivid characters play out the drama of life.
Witt takes what could have been merely a good story, and elevates it to 4.5 star quality with her writing. Here's an example..."Tom inches his face toward Gemma's and rubs his nose against hers Eskimo-style. His lips saunter to the right, find her earlobe, and dally with it like puppies with a lemon drop, then sidestepping over to her mouth, they lay a big kiss on it. Gemma feels as if she's been transplanted into a romance novel of the brand that Marcy reads on her lunch breaks, the kind she wraps in brown paper so no one can see the picture on the front. Words like surrender, melt, pulsate, and throb slither across Gemma's mind. It's been twelve years since she's been receptive to a kiss, and she dissipates like cotton candy left out in the rain."
Highly recommended for both those who know and love the rural south, and for those who want an authentic look at the unique people who call it home.
Everything is not innocence and bliss in Pick though. Conroy Coal is systematically leasing up land, virtually destroying it, and giving its owners pocket change in comparison to the profit the company is making. An unbalanced man chases his fleeing lover back to her hometown, and attempts to locate her as she hides out with old friends. Set against this landscape vivid characters play out the drama of life.
Witt takes what could have been merely a good story, and elevates it to 4.5 star quality with her writing. Here's an example..."Tom inches his face toward Gemma's and rubs his nose against hers Eskimo-style. His lips saunter to the right, find her earlobe, and dally with it like puppies with a lemon drop, then sidestepping over to her mouth, they lay a big kiss on it. Gemma feels as if she's been transplanted into a romance novel of the brand that Marcy reads on her lunch breaks, the kind she wraps in brown paper so no one can see the picture on the front. Words like surrender, melt, pulsate, and throb slither across Gemma's mind. It's been twelve years since she's been receptive to a kiss, and she dissipates like cotton candy left out in the rain."
Highly recommended for both those who know and love the rural south, and for those who want an authentic look at the unique people who call it home.
March 21, 2020
I've had this one on my to-read list for a long time. I can't remember where I got the suggestion though. But just the title was intriguing. And I enjoyed the story, for the most part, I just thought some of the plot elements were a little far-fetched.
Tom packed up what little he had in his Toyota and hit the road, determined to get wherever the rest of his money would get him. He ended up in Pick, KY. A small town in the mountains, it hosts a cast of colorful characters, made more colorful by the fact that it's a dry county and only a few places to get alcohol. As he stays in the town he eases into the way of life, and all the intrigue it has to offer.
I know I wrote the description from Tom's eyes, but he's not really the main character. In fact, the book kind of bounces around between characters. It's mostly the locals, but Tom does feature as well. And they're all quirky, as you would expect, because what is a small town without it's eccentricities. There's also a pretty bad dude in this, and he's the one I have a problem with. I don't doubt people like him exist in the real world, but the way it played out was a bit too much for me.
This book deals with some heavy themes at times. There's sex, drinking, murder and violence, and a whole lot of other stuff. Pretty exciting for somewhere in the middle of nowhere. As I mentioned earlier, I found all of the components, and the timeline, a bit extreme. It made for good reading but also made it not seem as realistic. Which is a shame because the character development was on point.
An interesting book, and good if you like small town adventure or quirky characters. I'm glad I finally got around to checking it out.
Review by M. Reynard 2020
Tom packed up what little he had in his Toyota and hit the road, determined to get wherever the rest of his money would get him. He ended up in Pick, KY. A small town in the mountains, it hosts a cast of colorful characters, made more colorful by the fact that it's a dry county and only a few places to get alcohol. As he stays in the town he eases into the way of life, and all the intrigue it has to offer.
I know I wrote the description from Tom's eyes, but he's not really the main character. In fact, the book kind of bounces around between characters. It's mostly the locals, but Tom does feature as well. And they're all quirky, as you would expect, because what is a small town without it's eccentricities. There's also a pretty bad dude in this, and he's the one I have a problem with. I don't doubt people like him exist in the real world, but the way it played out was a bit too much for me.
This book deals with some heavy themes at times. There's sex, drinking, murder and violence, and a whole lot of other stuff. Pretty exciting for somewhere in the middle of nowhere. As I mentioned earlier, I found all of the components, and the timeline, a bit extreme. It made for good reading but also made it not seem as realistic. Which is a shame because the character development was on point.
An interesting book, and good if you like small town adventure or quirky characters. I'm glad I finally got around to checking it out.
Review by M. Reynard 2020
July 2, 2020
This is one of my favorite books. I love the quirky characters and the author does a good job with the coal mining issues in Kentucky
April 12, 2019
Set in Kentucky coal country, the story of the locals being taken advantage of by big coal companies is intertwined with a rich sadistic villain hunting down his former girlfriend who returned to her hometown for protection. The characters are believable and memorable and the plot engaging.
December 17, 2021
this book has the depth and sincerity and frankness that truly captures the complexity and integrity of people. I think about this book and its characters a lot because they felt very real. There is an undercurrent of magic and murk that one finds only out in the trees.
November 12, 2013
This book was like a breath of fresh Appalachian air to me. Quirky is definitely the best word that comes to mind to describe the characters, setting, plot and writing style. It all reminds me of a spontaneous trip I once took in my early 20s from New England to North Carolina in early April. I got snowed in, and got taken in by some incredibly interesting, kind and most definitely quirky local folk. I've absorbed the characters and want to meet them. I long to be at one of Gilman's parties, I want to hear Rosalee's voice and Gemma's banjo. I appreciate how much depth and complexity the characters are given when many so easily write off anyone with a southern accent. I also appreciate the choices the author makes in what to leave in and what to leave out. The initial meeting of Zack is a prime example. And of course, the environmental activist in me loves the idea of standing up to the coal miners. Absolutely fantastic book!
March 31, 2016
What an unusual book! I certainly did not know where this story was going when I started reading it, but it hooked me in and I had to read it quickly to see what happened. The plot deals with the small town of Pick, Kentucky in the time period when big coal companies where buying up all the coal, and not treating the inhabitants or the mountains with respect. But the story is about much more than that: it is about the flawed humans who make up any small town, the strangers that stop by, and the tragedies that can happen throughout it all.
November 6, 2014
Fantastic storytelling here, with characters built of unlikely quirks and winning humanity. The author has a gorgeous talent for description, spinning images with unexpected but moving comparisons and tactile language. It was a delicious taste of Southern Appalachian home while travelling in Asia. I will be looking for more Lana Witt in the future.
December 3, 2014
I loved this book which takes place in eastern Kentucky. Many of the characters were larger than life. I hated for the book to end.
July 20, 2015
I found myself casting a movie in my head as the characters developed. There are many in Eastern Kentucky coal country!
March 28, 2023
Tom Jett, with his freshly minted college degree in philosophy, wanders from California across the country, looking for the right mountain range for ... he's not sure what. When his Toyota breaks down in the little town of Pick in southeast Kentucky, Tom figures this must be it, whatever it is.
Unfortunately, Tom arrives just as a corporation starts buying up local properties for a mining operation. He's put up in an old hillside cabin by local mechanic/blues artist Gilman Lee, who asks Tom to watch for signs the corporation is auguring coal from under his property. In short order Tom spots Gemma Collet, her skin milky white due to a medical condition, bathing naked in a nearby creek. Not long after, former resident Rosalie Wilson, Gilman's lost love, arrives from Florida, on the run from her rich, charming, homicidal lover.
Yes, it's a long book.
It's a little hard to describe the plot of Slow Dancing On Dinosaur Bones--in that way it's something of a literary novel, right up to an ending that's sudden and seems pointless, if inevitable. Gilman Lee is really the main protagonist, and the main fight is against an uncaring coal company that may not own his property, but does own the mineral rights. But things get complicated, quickly, and we're treated to numerous points of view as the characters go about their lives in ways that, often without realizing it, have great effect on others.
You should know that the book came out in 1996, although that doesn't really matter other than the lack of technology that may have made things a bit easier for everyone. Lana Witt has written a sequel of sorts, called The Heart of a Thirsty Woman, which at least in the beginning takes place in Pick. To give you an idea of my thoughts on the first book, I'll be tracking down the second for a read.
My family comes from that area of Kentucky--it was fun to recognize various towns and places mentioned. Lana Witt surely also comes from down there, because she has not only the locations and terrain down, but also the people. Good and bad. She also knows how to pick up the threads of a story and weave them together into a fascinating tale.
My only complaint about Slow Dancing On Dinosaur Bones is my pet peeve: The characters do things that often go against their own best interest, for absolutely no good reason, when a dab of common sense would solve their problems. In other words, the people of Pick are sometimes so much like real people it makes you wince. It's fascinating and a great read, but don't expect escapism.
Unfortunately, Tom arrives just as a corporation starts buying up local properties for a mining operation. He's put up in an old hillside cabin by local mechanic/blues artist Gilman Lee, who asks Tom to watch for signs the corporation is auguring coal from under his property. In short order Tom spots Gemma Collet, her skin milky white due to a medical condition, bathing naked in a nearby creek. Not long after, former resident Rosalie Wilson, Gilman's lost love, arrives from Florida, on the run from her rich, charming, homicidal lover.
Yes, it's a long book.
It's a little hard to describe the plot of Slow Dancing On Dinosaur Bones--in that way it's something of a literary novel, right up to an ending that's sudden and seems pointless, if inevitable. Gilman Lee is really the main protagonist, and the main fight is against an uncaring coal company that may not own his property, but does own the mineral rights. But things get complicated, quickly, and we're treated to numerous points of view as the characters go about their lives in ways that, often without realizing it, have great effect on others.
You should know that the book came out in 1996, although that doesn't really matter other than the lack of technology that may have made things a bit easier for everyone. Lana Witt has written a sequel of sorts, called The Heart of a Thirsty Woman, which at least in the beginning takes place in Pick. To give you an idea of my thoughts on the first book, I'll be tracking down the second for a read.
My family comes from that area of Kentucky--it was fun to recognize various towns and places mentioned. Lana Witt surely also comes from down there, because she has not only the locations and terrain down, but also the people. Good and bad. She also knows how to pick up the threads of a story and weave them together into a fascinating tale.
My only complaint about Slow Dancing On Dinosaur Bones is my pet peeve: The characters do things that often go against their own best interest, for absolutely no good reason, when a dab of common sense would solve their problems. In other words, the people of Pick are sometimes so much like real people it makes you wince. It's fascinating and a great read, but don't expect escapism.
September 1, 2021
I first read this novel around the time it was published in 1996. I remember being smitten by it and recommending it to friends. Reading it twenty-five years later, as if for the first time, I found it slow going at first. What was it that I had so loved about this novel? But as I stayed with it, it came back to me. Reading the reviews below, you could conclude that SLOW DANCING ON DINOSAUR BONES is about life in eastern Kentucky coal country and the conflict between strip miners and those who love the land, or about Tom Jett's search for himself as he leaves California and stops where his car gives out, in the small town of Pick, Kentucky. You might think it's about the eccentrics who make up small-town life, or about Frank Denton, the psychotic who is hunting down the ex-girlfriend hiding from him in her Pick hometown. And you wouldn't be wrong. Ultimately, though, I think this novel is about Gilman Lee, the hard-drinking, blues-picking, bootlegging bantam of a man, who brings along anyone who wants to come with him as he struggles to follow his own, unique moral compass. The other truth seekers in the novel tend to be solitary souls. Tom Jett repairs to a cave where he finds an inscription in a mysterious language, for which he wants no translation. It speaks to him as it is. Gemma, whose skin is whitened by vitiligo, sits naked in a creek trying to find her way. Rosalee, Denton's ex-girlfriend is forced into seclusion as she hides from him. Gilman Lee is the hub holding all these solitary spokes together. Even when he is alone in his off-limits smokehouse, he is not quite alone. If we're searching for the meaning of life ourselves, I think Gilman may have the answer. But even if he doesn't, he is the one who makes reading SLOW DANCING ON DINOSAUR BONES a wonderful experience.
May 8, 2020
Delightful, quirky, charming. A little philosophy, romance, and thriller carried by a cast of off-beat, lovable small town folk. Made me homesick for a place I don’t even know.
July 12, 2023
3.5 stars
April 3, 2011
When wayward Californian Tom Jett rolls his broken-down car into remote Pick, Kentucky, he finds himself in a town among friends, enemies and lovers who are playing out tales as old as the prehistoric soil beneath their feet. Gilman Lee, a blues-strumming mechanic waging a one-man war with the local coal mining company, is Tom's erstwhie host. Beautiful Gemma Collet, a quirky southern cynic who's writtten her own ten commandments, is his reason to say. And if Tom can elude the whispered suspicion and murderous secrets that blanket Pick like an ancient swamp forest, he may have fond a place he can call home... (cover blurb)
An excellent story! Lively, entertaining, and quirky with some of the most unforgettable characters I've ever had the privilege to meet. Who can resist Ten-Fifteen, so called because his arms are permanently affixed in that position? Or Gemma with her unearthly skin tone and determined mindset? Or Gilman with his secret friend?
Although Tom Jett is the focus of the back cover blurb, to me the chief protagonists are the citizens of Pick itself, with all their foibles and eccentricities brought to the fore and examined in loving detail.
An excellent story! Lively, entertaining, and quirky with some of the most unforgettable characters I've ever had the privilege to meet. Who can resist Ten-Fifteen, so called because his arms are permanently affixed in that position? Or Gemma with her unearthly skin tone and determined mindset? Or Gilman with his secret friend?
Although Tom Jett is the focus of the back cover blurb, to me the chief protagonists are the citizens of Pick itself, with all their foibles and eccentricities brought to the fore and examined in loving detail.
June 11, 2008
This one was disappointing. The character development was really good. There were many entertaining characters. But the plot became too predictable eventually.
November 22, 2008
have about 50 pages left, pretty good so far.
August 13, 2009
set in coal mining county of KY, an eclectic group of misfits take on a coal company, a homocidal maniac, and other oddities. a very interesting writing style with a mix of unusual personality
June 27, 2011
I read this several years ago, but I remembered I loved it! That is about all I can remember, but I can recommend it!
November 22, 2011
I enjoyed reading this book. Small town life in eastern KY and the issues with coal mining were the main focus. However, I didn't care for the way the story ended.
February 20, 2024
No clue when I read this, or if I would still consider it a five star book today, but the review I wrote to a friend was: amazing book - outsider in a mountain town in Kentucky l. Great dark humor.
March 13, 2016
I might be a little biased, but it remains one of my favorite novels of all time.
June 14, 2016
a bit slow but decent overall
Currently reading
March 5, 2009great so far
August 19, 2017
great book!
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews