A wilderness of vines

by Hal Bennett

This rare and vintage book is a perfect addition to any bibliophile's collection

Genres: Fiction

345 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

George Harold "Hal" Bennett (1936 – 2004),[1][2] was an author known for a variety of books. His 1974 novel Lord of Dark Places was described as "a satirical and all but scatological attack on the phallic myth",[3] and was reprinted in 1997. He was Playboy's most promising writer of the year [1]. He has also written under the pen names Harriet Janeway and John D. Revere (the Assassin series). His books are sometimes compared to Mark Twain's style of satire, but contain a much stronger sexual tone.

Reviews

[Ryan Grinas · Rating 5 out of 5]

The synopsis of A Wilderness of Vines is pretty vague (as is some of Hal Bennett’s other novels) and not really fitting of the true brilliance of his novels.

This is a novel about a caste-ridden town of African Americans of different shades of colour, but it is so much more.
I think Bennett uses this caste system of prejudice to highlight the insanity of black people judging other black people by the shade of their skin in order to show that it is no different to the insanity of racism as a whole.

A Wilderness of Vines focuses mainly on a mother and her son (Neva and Gene Manning), making you believe this will be a tale of family. It isn’t long before themes of incest and pedophilia casually make their way into the story and you begin to feel truly uneasy.

I don’t think this novel, or some of Bennett’s other novels, fit the genres they seem to be associated with. They’re horror novels, and Hal Bennett is a literary genius.
Bennett has an incredible ability to make you care about the characters in Wilderness, only to slowly to reveal to you their ugliness, cowardice, racism, cruelty and insanity. This makes you feel less connected to them and more unsure of the events in the novel. The feeling of anxiety and unease permeates Wilderness and makes it a fantastic and bizarre experience.

Neva and Gene are the focal point of the story, but the true horror of this novel creeps into you when you realize the characters you are reading about (except for maybe one) are not likeable and all suffer from varying degrees of pure insanity.

I cannot speak highly of Hal Bennett’s work enough. The man is a master of his craft and needs more recognition for his work.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

“He would preach that the American dream is a dream of a dream, it is three paces removed from truth. Man is the real dream of God, he thought, and we have many colors and textures-some dark, some light; broad, narrow, diversified. Our differences make us human beings, he thought. . . . The American dream can be realized, he thought. But only if we wake up.

Then again, he considered, perhaps this is not true.”

[Joe Grantham · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It was the motto of the orphans, that souls were in adoptable, only bodies.”

“The enemy is lies and confusion … Our differences make us human beings.”

[KHLOARIS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Randy romance novel with an in-your-face snapshot of county living for southern Blacks. The story traces the life of orphan Neva Stapleton, beginning with her more-than-awkward teenage marriage in 1920 on through the next 20 years. This was Hal Bennett’s first book and its very clear he likes to spin a good yarn while showing his readers what a deep & colorful world we live in. Hal Bennett has so much to say he's often blunt about it. There are moments of tender family wisdom, heaps of meaty sex, and all the key characters have so much personality they're easy to like. Running throughout we get Hal Bennett’s signature brand of social criticism of race politics in USA.