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Visible Spirits
A heart-stopping story—by an award-winning novelist—located at the dead center of Southern mythology and our most intransigent national trauma.
The Mississippi Delta, fabled “South of the South,” is replete with plantations carved from the wilderness, rich soil and King Cotton, with field chants and blues laments, violence and tragedy. In this austerely beautiful landscape,
by 1902, Reconstruction is being encroached upon by Jim Crow. And in the town of Loring, the tenure of a black postmistress is compromised when the prodigal son of a once mighty planting family returns home. A gambler run
out of luck and a great many venues, he finds his diminished prospects as unappealing as the political moderation of his brother, now both mayor and editor of the newspaper. Their fraternal tension quickly spreads through the countryside—some citizens striving for the better world ostensibly promised, others for the vestigial antebellum order. Caught squarely in the center of this tortured dynamic is the postmistress herself, her fate further complicated when President Roosevelt, on federal grounds, intervenes personally.
And so this local, even familial dispute inevitably erupts, fueled by all the dark, brutal memories of slavery, civil war and emancipation. In this crucible of race relations and mythology, people black and white alike are tested relentlessly by history and human nature, by passions at once ambivalent and fierce. And with this masterful novel, Steve Yarbrough confronts character with morality, love with hatred, reason with blood—and with great authority and compassion he extends a rich tradition of our national literature.
The Mississippi Delta, fabled “South of the South,” is replete with plantations carved from the wilderness, rich soil and King Cotton, with field chants and blues laments, violence and tragedy. In this austerely beautiful landscape,
by 1902, Reconstruction is being encroached upon by Jim Crow. And in the town of Loring, the tenure of a black postmistress is compromised when the prodigal son of a once mighty planting family returns home. A gambler run
out of luck and a great many venues, he finds his diminished prospects as unappealing as the political moderation of his brother, now both mayor and editor of the newspaper. Their fraternal tension quickly spreads through the countryside—some citizens striving for the better world ostensibly promised, others for the vestigial antebellum order. Caught squarely in the center of this tortured dynamic is the postmistress herself, her fate further complicated when President Roosevelt, on federal grounds, intervenes personally.
And so this local, even familial dispute inevitably erupts, fueled by all the dark, brutal memories of slavery, civil war and emancipation. In this crucible of race relations and mythology, people black and white alike are tested relentlessly by history and human nature, by passions at once ambivalent and fierce. And with this masterful novel, Steve Yarbrough confronts character with morality, love with hatred, reason with blood—and with great authority and compassion he extends a rich tradition of our national literature.
- GenresFiction
288 pages, Hardcover
First published May 8, 2001
4 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
About the author
Steve Yarbrough
36 books95 followersBorn in Indianola, Mississippi, he received his B.A. and M.A. in English from the University of Mississippi and his M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Arkansas. Writing largely within the Southern tradition, he draws his themes and characters from Southern history and mores in ways that have been compared to Flannery O'Connor, William Faulkner, and Willie Morris.
Yarbrough's major works include the novels The End of California (2006), Prisoners of War (2004), Visible Spirits (2001) and The Oxygen Man (1999), as well as short story collections such as Family Men (1990), Mississippi History (1994) and Veneer (1998). His latest novel, Safe from the Neighbors, was published by Knopf in 2010.
His honors include the Mississippi Authors Award, the California Book Award, and an award from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters. His novel, Prisoners of War, was a finalist for the 2005 PEN/Faulkner award. His work has been translated into Dutch, Japanese and Polish and published in the United Kingdom.
A professor of creative writing for many years at California State University, Fresno, Yarbrough recently joined the faculty in the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing at Emerson College in Boston.
He is married to the Polish literary translator Ewa Hryniewicz-Yarbrough and they have two daughters, Tosha and Lena. He lives in Stoneham, Massachusetts.
Yarbrough's major works include the novels The End of California (2006), Prisoners of War (2004), Visible Spirits (2001) and The Oxygen Man (1999), as well as short story collections such as Family Men (1990), Mississippi History (1994) and Veneer (1998). His latest novel, Safe from the Neighbors, was published by Knopf in 2010.
His honors include the Mississippi Authors Award, the California Book Award, and an award from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters. His novel, Prisoners of War, was a finalist for the 2005 PEN/Faulkner award. His work has been translated into Dutch, Japanese and Polish and published in the United Kingdom.
A professor of creative writing for many years at California State University, Fresno, Yarbrough recently joined the faculty in the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing at Emerson College in Boston.
He is married to the Polish literary translator Ewa Hryniewicz-Yarbrough and they have two daughters, Tosha and Lena. He lives in Stoneham, Massachusetts.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 29, 2012
I loved this turn-of-the-century story about Mississippi. It is a disturbing story about the relations between blacks and whites after the reconstruction, when some blacks had achieved enough education, wealth, and political standing to threaten the middling whites. I loved Yarborough's characters, especially the Jewish merchant who has flashbacks of pograms in Europe when he sees how quickly white on black violence flares. If you liked The Help you'll love Visible Spirits. It has all of the tension of the old South with more realism and less of a sticky-sweet ending.
June 18, 2020
A beautiful and terrible book. An insight into the persistent and awful racism in the American South in the early 1900s. A compromised hero in the Mayor Leighton Payne. An evil brother - Tandy Payne - almost a caricature. The steadfast heroine Loda Jackson, trying in every way not to give offence whilst occupying the role of post-mistress in their tiny town. Always doomed to failure thanks to the colour of her skin.
A worthwhile read and a poignant read with a link to the past in our now troubled times.
A worthwhile read and a poignant read with a link to the past in our now troubled times.
February 6, 2019
A tale of the post reconstruction South where the characters who populate it struggle to overcome their inability to deal with social and economic change and two brothers compete for the loyalty of the community.
August 24, 2020
This was a hard read, if you’re a progressive in the south, but it is based on a true story. Times were hard for non-white people back then. It’s a good story, though. It shows that not all folks were bad.
October 26, 2022
Steve Yarbrough, a writer whose roots are in the Mississippi Delta (Indianola) has drawn from quite a well of history and lore in writing "Visible Spirits". I can almost revisit the spirits and swamp from which the town and fields were derived....
March 7, 2018
It is possible to find this entertaining, provided the reader is prepared to suspend all disbelief and be satisfied with a story populated entirely by stereotypes and caricatures, and lacking a single credible character.
January 16, 2013
ISBN 0375725776 - My reason for choosing to read this book turned out not to be the reason that I ended up liking it. I generally enjoy historical fiction and - it being Black History Month - this seemed like a good time for this tale. The fact that the book is, quite obviously, based on / inspired by the true story of Minnie M. Cox turned out to be more interesting.
1902: Tandy Payne has returned home, having gambled away everything. He finds that his brother, Leighton, has added mayor to newspaperman as his current job and Tandy hopes to use this to his advantage. Tandy needs an income, although he's not particularly interested in working, and when he discovers that a Negress works as postmistress, he sets his sights on her job. Better, from his perspective, the woman happens to be someone he's known all of his life, someone who witnessed some of his personal and family shames. While re-igniting racism in the town isn't hard for Tandy, it's all very hard on his brother. Leighton is opposed to everything Tandy is doing and his fall from relative power as mayor comes as Tandy and racism rise. Eventually, the eyes of the nation, and the president, are on the small town of Loring, but only Leighton seems to recognize Loring's shame.
The true story of Minnie M. Cox (who, as of this writing, doesn't have a wikipedia page, sadly) is clearly woven into the fictional Visible Spirits, and the fact that the author and Cox share a hometown only makes me wish he'd taken it on as a historical tale rather than an embellished historical fiction.
Author Steve Yarbrough does a somewhat uneven job with his storytelling, perhaps as a tool to keep the reader reading. Vague allusions to things that characters know, that the reader doesn't, sometimes works. It worked in establishing the relationship between Leighton, Tandy and Loda, for example. Yarbrough uses the same device to refer, repeatedly, to the terrible events that happened on the Deadening (the property once owned by the Payne family). Unfortunately, in this case, it doesn't work as well and becomes more annoying than intriguing. Some authors seem to write from a place that assumes that the reader knows everything the author knows; Yarbrough seems to have done that here. It isn't true, of course, and it leaves much unsaid based on the assumption that the reader already knows.
The ending is poor, for the same reason. The author apparently assumes that he's set the stage for the reader, but making the connection between Miss Bessie's lucid and rational conversation and Loda's somewhat irrational rambling isn't entirely intuitive. Portions of the story are horrific and are well-told; readers will find themselves properly shocked by tales that are most horrifying for their accuracy. Those with an aversion to bad language, graphic sex and/or the use of the word nigger, will want to avoid this one. Not fantastic, but worth reading, and well worth some follow up research on Cox's story.
- AnnaLovesBooks
1902: Tandy Payne has returned home, having gambled away everything. He finds that his brother, Leighton, has added mayor to newspaperman as his current job and Tandy hopes to use this to his advantage. Tandy needs an income, although he's not particularly interested in working, and when he discovers that a Negress works as postmistress, he sets his sights on her job. Better, from his perspective, the woman happens to be someone he's known all of his life, someone who witnessed some of his personal and family shames. While re-igniting racism in the town isn't hard for Tandy, it's all very hard on his brother. Leighton is opposed to everything Tandy is doing and his fall from relative power as mayor comes as Tandy and racism rise. Eventually, the eyes of the nation, and the president, are on the small town of Loring, but only Leighton seems to recognize Loring's shame.
The true story of Minnie M. Cox (who, as of this writing, doesn't have a wikipedia page, sadly) is clearly woven into the fictional Visible Spirits, and the fact that the author and Cox share a hometown only makes me wish he'd taken it on as a historical tale rather than an embellished historical fiction.
Author Steve Yarbrough does a somewhat uneven job with his storytelling, perhaps as a tool to keep the reader reading. Vague allusions to things that characters know, that the reader doesn't, sometimes works. It worked in establishing the relationship between Leighton, Tandy and Loda, for example. Yarbrough uses the same device to refer, repeatedly, to the terrible events that happened on the Deadening (the property once owned by the Payne family). Unfortunately, in this case, it doesn't work as well and becomes more annoying than intriguing. Some authors seem to write from a place that assumes that the reader knows everything the author knows; Yarbrough seems to have done that here. It isn't true, of course, and it leaves much unsaid based on the assumption that the reader already knows.
The ending is poor, for the same reason. The author apparently assumes that he's set the stage for the reader, but making the connection between Miss Bessie's lucid and rational conversation and Loda's somewhat irrational rambling isn't entirely intuitive. Portions of the story are horrific and are well-told; readers will find themselves properly shocked by tales that are most horrifying for their accuracy. Those with an aversion to bad language, graphic sex and/or the use of the word nigger, will want to avoid this one. Not fantastic, but worth reading, and well worth some follow up research on Cox's story.
- AnnaLovesBooks
June 3, 2013
Two brothers oppose each other over the black postmistress of their Southern town in 1902. Leighton, the mayor and newspaper publisher, wants to live and let live, acting as a force for moderation. Tandy is a wandering ne'er-do-well who has returned after a checkered career as a gambler. He invents a crisis concerning the postmistress, stirring up the fear and race hatred that has always simmered just under the surface.
Steve Yarbrough depicts a South that is terribly scarred by the specter of racism. The whites have given up their humanity in order to keep the blacks down, and the blacks have lost their dignity within this oppressive society. As Yarbrough reveals more of the brothers' past, the tangle of hypocrisy that connects the lives of blacks and whites is powerfully depicted. These are the most affecting parts of the novel. However, Yarbrough does not make the mistake of presenting the plight of black Americans as merely a backdrop for a drama about white guilt. He writes convincingly from the perspective of several black characters and presents them as fully rounded individuals. I felt that the end was anti-climactic; events built to a head but the explosive climax I expected was rather truncated, followed by a brief coda in which the fates of several characters were summarized rather than dramatized. Nevertheless, this was a deeply affecting novel that provides a window into the history of race relations in the South.
Steve Yarbrough depicts a South that is terribly scarred by the specter of racism. The whites have given up their humanity in order to keep the blacks down, and the blacks have lost their dignity within this oppressive society. As Yarbrough reveals more of the brothers' past, the tangle of hypocrisy that connects the lives of blacks and whites is powerfully depicted. These are the most affecting parts of the novel. However, Yarbrough does not make the mistake of presenting the plight of black Americans as merely a backdrop for a drama about white guilt. He writes convincingly from the perspective of several black characters and presents them as fully rounded individuals. I felt that the end was anti-climactic; events built to a head but the explosive climax I expected was rather truncated, followed by a brief coda in which the fates of several characters were summarized rather than dramatized. Nevertheless, this was a deeply affecting novel that provides a window into the history of race relations in the South.
November 29, 2013
Two brothers oppose each other over the black postmistress of their Southern town in 1902. Leighton, the mayor and newspaper publisher, wants to live and let live, acting as a force for moderation. Tandy is a wandering ne'er-do-well who has returned after a checkered career as a gambler. He invents a crisis concerning the postmistress, stirring up the fear and race hatred that has always simmered just under the surface.
Steve Yarbrough depicts a South that is terribly scarred by the specter of racism. The whites have given up their humanity in order to keep the blacks down, and the blacks have lost their dignity within this oppressive society. As Yarbrough reveals more of the brothers' past, the tangle of hypocrisy that connects the lives of blacks and whites is powerfully depicted. These are the most affecting parts of the novel. However, Yarbrough does not make the mistake of presenting the plight of black Americans as merely a backdrop for a drama about white guilt. He writes convincingly from the perspective of several black characters and presents them as fully rounded individuals. I felt that the end was anti-climactic; events built to a head but the explosive climax I expected was rather truncated, followed by a brief coda in which the fates of several characters were summarized rather than dramatized. Nevertheless, this was a deeply affecting novel that provides a window into the history of race relations in the South.
Steve Yarbrough depicts a South that is terribly scarred by the specter of racism. The whites have given up their humanity in order to keep the blacks down, and the blacks have lost their dignity within this oppressive society. As Yarbrough reveals more of the brothers' past, the tangle of hypocrisy that connects the lives of blacks and whites is powerfully depicted. These are the most affecting parts of the novel. However, Yarbrough does not make the mistake of presenting the plight of black Americans as merely a backdrop for a drama about white guilt. He writes convincingly from the perspective of several black characters and presents them as fully rounded individuals. I felt that the end was anti-climactic; events built to a head but the explosive climax I expected was rather truncated, followed by a brief coda in which the fates of several characters were summarized rather than dramatized. Nevertheless, this was a deeply affecting novel that provides a window into the history of race relations in the South.
January 19, 2009
'Visible Spirits' is about an event in a small Mississippi town that implacted the lives of those living there. While Steve Yarbrough's prose was enjoyable, the two major events the book is based upon are never really delved into that deeply. The event that happens during the main characters' childhood is described up to the moment it takes place, but stops cold, no additional details or follow-up. The event that happens when the main characters are adults is only hinted at and hazily revealed; it left me wanting to read a firsthand telling of what took place to the lively characters I had grown to care about as I turned the pages.
There were parts of the book that so suddenly skipped from one viewpoint to the next, it was hard to decipher whose head I was supposed to be in at the time.
I would like to read some future works of Yarbrough's, because I feel he will develop into a storyteller of merit. This novel kept me turning the pages, but I finished feeling like I was still in the dark about the major issues on which the book was based.
There were parts of the book that so suddenly skipped from one viewpoint to the next, it was hard to decipher whose head I was supposed to be in at the time.
I would like to read some future works of Yarbrough's, because I feel he will develop into a storyteller of merit. This novel kept me turning the pages, but I finished feeling like I was still in the dark about the major issues on which the book was based.
March 12, 2010
Faulknerian.
April 9, 2017
It's always difficult to read about our own history when it's so blemished by the stains of slavery, legal or in practice. The time frame of this novel makes it especially interesting, in that it's post-Civil War but pre-reformation of the KKK in the 20's.
In Mississippi, this meant that officially slavery was over, that blacks could own land, but all was not easy in the land of cotton. Some of the citizens were not beside themselves with the prospect of change, while others were more than happy to beat up, flay, humiliate and worse when given the opportunity of acting on an imaginary grievance.
A college educated black woman has become the postmistress under Teddy Roosevelt's new deal. Every minute of her waking day is spent doing her job perfectly while at the same time being on guard lest something take a bad turn. It comes when an errant brother of the current mayor returns home as a last resort. He's a miserable excuse for a human being but wants to claim what he figures is his birthright. And what's a colored lady doing running a post office for the guv'mint anyway?
Somewhere in the middle is one Jewish shopkeeper who pays fair wage and more than willing to hire a black worker. Otherwise, everyone knows their place--their very precarious place.
The novel flips back and forth across the tracks, which is a literal divide. It's a bit jumpy in its dips into plot and background, but generally interesting in that painful scabby way when you know bad things will happen and happen again, as though that's the natural order of things.
In Mississippi, this meant that officially slavery was over, that blacks could own land, but all was not easy in the land of cotton. Some of the citizens were not beside themselves with the prospect of change, while others were more than happy to beat up, flay, humiliate and worse when given the opportunity of acting on an imaginary grievance.
A college educated black woman has become the postmistress under Teddy Roosevelt's new deal. Every minute of her waking day is spent doing her job perfectly while at the same time being on guard lest something take a bad turn. It comes when an errant brother of the current mayor returns home as a last resort. He's a miserable excuse for a human being but wants to claim what he figures is his birthright. And what's a colored lady doing running a post office for the guv'mint anyway?
Somewhere in the middle is one Jewish shopkeeper who pays fair wage and more than willing to hire a black worker. Otherwise, everyone knows their place--their very precarious place.
The novel flips back and forth across the tracks, which is a literal divide. It's a bit jumpy in its dips into plot and background, but generally interesting in that painful scabby way when you know bad things will happen and happen again, as though that's the natural order of things.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews