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Haints
Fiction. The aftermath of the biggest tornado to ever rip through rural Lincoln, Tennessee, leaves a naked body, a missing person, and an escaped convict in its wake.
244 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 5, 2013
Haints by Clint McCown is not what you may expect. Despite the fact that “haint” is an old southern word to describe a ghost, this novel is NOT a ghost story. The author extends the definition to encompass any memories or emotions that haunt his characters. However, haints are occasionally brought up in dialogue.
I’m very tempted to call this novel historical fiction, but that is inaccurate. The novel is based on an event that happened the week of McCown’s birth. On Leap Day 1952, a tornado destroyed his hometown in Tennessee, and within a week, he was born. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Clint McCown through a lecture/reading series on my campus, and he explained how this tragic event haunted him. Eventually he was able to fantasize about this tragic experience to a point where he was ready to write this novel. When he wrote the novel, it threw him some surprises such as changing from one narrator, to two, then three, and in the finished novel, fourteen. Yes, the plot is told from fourteen different voices. The amazing part: It’s in chronological order. Mind blown. These voices include an elderly man with a fake leg, a doctor with declining business and his pregnant daughter. He also asked himself, “What can I do to make this story really complex?” I won’t give it away, but read the Prologue!
I loved the book before meeting Clint (I imagine that I can be on first name basis with him now!) and then my fascination grew. His voice comes through in his writing that seems natural and unique; this makes the novel an enjoyable read. His characters have distinct personalities of their own and that comes across in their individual voices. The setting is carefully described, but what really makes it believable is the southern voice that comes out in dialogue. Clint also has a knack for creating suspense and leaving his readers hanging. I often found myself frustrated and turning pages because I simply had to know.
This book, it may just haunt you.
I’m very tempted to call this novel historical fiction, but that is inaccurate. The novel is based on an event that happened the week of McCown’s birth. On Leap Day 1952, a tornado destroyed his hometown in Tennessee, and within a week, he was born. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Clint McCown through a lecture/reading series on my campus, and he explained how this tragic event haunted him. Eventually he was able to fantasize about this tragic experience to a point where he was ready to write this novel. When he wrote the novel, it threw him some surprises such as changing from one narrator, to two, then three, and in the finished novel, fourteen. Yes, the plot is told from fourteen different voices. The amazing part: It’s in chronological order. Mind blown. These voices include an elderly man with a fake leg, a doctor with declining business and his pregnant daughter. He also asked himself, “What can I do to make this story really complex?” I won’t give it away, but read the Prologue!
I loved the book before meeting Clint (I imagine that I can be on first name basis with him now!) and then my fascination grew. His voice comes through in his writing that seems natural and unique; this makes the novel an enjoyable read. His characters have distinct personalities of their own and that comes across in their individual voices. The setting is carefully described, but what really makes it believable is the southern voice that comes out in dialogue. Clint also has a knack for creating suspense and leaving his readers hanging. I often found myself frustrated and turning pages because I simply had to know.
This book, it may just haunt you.
January 14, 2018
Haints by Clint McCown is a realistic fictional story about a devastating tornado that hits Lincoln, a fictionalized version of the author’s hometown, Fayetteville, Tennessee. The clean up of the tornado leads to the town residents finding a naked man with a wooden foot lodged into him. They question where the foot came from, and who the life-less man is. When the towns people try to identify this man, he mysteriously disappears from where his body was being held. As the town tries to reconstruct itself, the heavyweight boxing world champion comes to town as a fundraiser. However, during this event, a crazed reverend causes some destructive chaos.
I liked reading this book because it is very descriptive, and always led me to wonder what things looked like. This book doesn’t really have a main character because each chapter is from a different character’s point of view. That did not make the book any harder to read for me, and it is very understandable. The only thing I didn’t like about this book was that there wasn’t really a main event or idea that the story focused on. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book, and I hope McCown writes a sequel.
I liked reading this book because it is very descriptive, and always led me to wonder what things looked like. This book doesn’t really have a main character because each chapter is from a different character’s point of view. That did not make the book any harder to read for me, and it is very understandable. The only thing I didn’t like about this book was that there wasn’t really a main event or idea that the story focused on. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book, and I hope McCown writes a sequel.
June 6, 2018
It is a good read and I enjoyed it. The characters were, for the most part, very believable and they stayed with me after I finished.
April 3, 2013
Clint McCown, the only two-time winner of the American Fiction Prize, returns with his eighth book, an atmospheric chronicle of the fictional, tornado-ravaged town of Lincoln, Tennessee. “Haints” takes place on February 29th, 1952, the same date a tornado hit McCown’s hometown of Fayetteville. Each chapter focuses on the personal story of a different character, at times blending realism with supernatural elements (“haint” being a Southern colloquial term for “haunt”).
After a brief prologue, we get the trials of the one-legged ranch hand, Herb Gatlin, working for his former romantic rival Doc McKinney. While Herb is building a house for the latter’s pregnant daughter, Mary Jean, a tornado begins its malevolent descent on the town, scattering civilians and leaving destruction in its wake. In the aftermath, we get to know some of the other colorful residents of Lincoln, such the fanatical Reverend Tyree, who’s determined to save the townspeople from sinfulness; the narcissistic Doc McKinney; and his long-suffering wife, Ellen, whom he successfully wooed away from Herb.
There’s also Andy Yearwood, the incompetent yet well-intentioned newspaper intern who still pines for his high school crush; and his boss, the headline-seeking Tom Parsons, who, despite the tornado, is determined to go to through with a planned boxing exhibition, ultimately proving the resilience of the townspeople and their ability to rejoice in the face of catastrophe.
McCown’s strength within this novel is characterization, as even characters that appear briefly are memorable and fully realized. However, while some sections touch upon race relations and the restrictions placed on women, very little about the setting seems like it takes place in the 50s. Had the prologue not stated the year it took place, the era could easily have been perceived as modern times.
For fans of a good character study, “Haints” is well worth reading. Although it lacks a conclusion to its multiple plotlines, it does justice to the townspeople of Lincoln, their trials and triumphs, strengths and weaknesses, and leaves readers with the sense that their lives will go on after the book is closed.
After a brief prologue, we get the trials of the one-legged ranch hand, Herb Gatlin, working for his former romantic rival Doc McKinney. While Herb is building a house for the latter’s pregnant daughter, Mary Jean, a tornado begins its malevolent descent on the town, scattering civilians and leaving destruction in its wake. In the aftermath, we get to know some of the other colorful residents of Lincoln, such the fanatical Reverend Tyree, who’s determined to save the townspeople from sinfulness; the narcissistic Doc McKinney; and his long-suffering wife, Ellen, whom he successfully wooed away from Herb.
There’s also Andy Yearwood, the incompetent yet well-intentioned newspaper intern who still pines for his high school crush; and his boss, the headline-seeking Tom Parsons, who, despite the tornado, is determined to go to through with a planned boxing exhibition, ultimately proving the resilience of the townspeople and their ability to rejoice in the face of catastrophe.
McCown’s strength within this novel is characterization, as even characters that appear briefly are memorable and fully realized. However, while some sections touch upon race relations and the restrictions placed on women, very little about the setting seems like it takes place in the 50s. Had the prologue not stated the year it took place, the era could easily have been perceived as modern times.
For fans of a good character study, “Haints” is well worth reading. Although it lacks a conclusion to its multiple plotlines, it does justice to the townspeople of Lincoln, their trials and triumphs, strengths and weaknesses, and leaves readers with the sense that their lives will go on after the book is closed.
April 5, 2013
Captivating and Reflective
Lauren Stanislawski
With captivating propose and fresh dialogue that keeps readers turning the pages, Clint McCown’s novel, Haints, is truly a delightful cup of inspiration for any reader. McCown sets the novel in Lincoln, Tennessee, where character relationships and personalities are tested with unexpected natural disasters. The novel tells the stories of multiple characters affected by a devastating tornado and how each character’s story comes to the surface beneath the rubble. Characters struggle to balance their multiple identities, and McCown alludes that perhaps everyone has an inner “ghost” haunting them, but acknowledging the “ghost” becomes everyone’s constant battle for peace.
McCown captures a style like Faulkner as he directs readers through a web of characters. As a writer, I enjoyed reading the style of this novel because I liked uncovering character personalities that slowly unraveled information. This novel is a fast read that molds different “ghostly” reflections on readers as they perhaps consider their own values.
McCown paints different colors of humanity by unfolding the mysteries and motives of his characters. Characters eventually discover and pick up pieces of their lives as well as those around them. Many of the characters are sympathetic as they struggle with additions and loss; however, McCown ends his novel with a sense of peace. At the end of the novel, Herb reflects, “He expected no answers, of course. That was the way of the world...Wars and whirlwinds at every turn. There would always be bodies unaccounted for, identities that never came to the light” (227). Haints offers ideas that there will always be more pieces of life to uncover despite the fact that some pieces are forever lost. While reading, I got lost in McCown’s world of connected characters and found myself relating with many of them. McCown shows readers what it is to live and how to find the humor and peace in a dark situation.
Lauren Stanislawski
With captivating propose and fresh dialogue that keeps readers turning the pages, Clint McCown’s novel, Haints, is truly a delightful cup of inspiration for any reader. McCown sets the novel in Lincoln, Tennessee, where character relationships and personalities are tested with unexpected natural disasters. The novel tells the stories of multiple characters affected by a devastating tornado and how each character’s story comes to the surface beneath the rubble. Characters struggle to balance their multiple identities, and McCown alludes that perhaps everyone has an inner “ghost” haunting them, but acknowledging the “ghost” becomes everyone’s constant battle for peace.
McCown captures a style like Faulkner as he directs readers through a web of characters. As a writer, I enjoyed reading the style of this novel because I liked uncovering character personalities that slowly unraveled information. This novel is a fast read that molds different “ghostly” reflections on readers as they perhaps consider their own values.
McCown paints different colors of humanity by unfolding the mysteries and motives of his characters. Characters eventually discover and pick up pieces of their lives as well as those around them. Many of the characters are sympathetic as they struggle with additions and loss; however, McCown ends his novel with a sense of peace. At the end of the novel, Herb reflects, “He expected no answers, of course. That was the way of the world...Wars and whirlwinds at every turn. There would always be bodies unaccounted for, identities that never came to the light” (227). Haints offers ideas that there will always be more pieces of life to uncover despite the fact that some pieces are forever lost. While reading, I got lost in McCown’s world of connected characters and found myself relating with many of them. McCown shows readers what it is to live and how to find the humor and peace in a dark situation.
April 5, 2013
The story Haints starts off with some background history of the authors history, because in the beginning apparently a tornado hits a town in 1952 the same year a tornado hits the author Clint McCowns small town where he grew up in. This story follows gentlemen named Mr. Gaitlin with only one leg and how he lost his love of his life. He gets to hang out and enjoy seeing his crush, but then a tornado hits and pretty much destroys the town and wipes it clean. Some people believe the gentlemen with the one leg are dead. So it brings sadness throughout the town. Mr. Gatlin’s crush who is the lady he was with is very devastated when she hears the news and apparently she is pregnant and her man is in the Korea war. I get a sense of soap opera act in a way when I read this part in the story. The word Haints comes into the story when a young boy named Jerry Lee finds a man he thinks is Haints. I like how this book is set up into introducing pretty much each important character by having their very own chapter on their lives. But yet it these chapters continue the other people’s stories like a fiction book does. I enjoyed reading fiction books more than any other type of book and this one especially was a great read. In the middle of the chapters when the town was all starting to come together and find who has passed and who is missing.
I felt like each character kind of had its own Haints in a way. Because Mary Jane and her troubles, Ellen Parsons bridge trouble, and Mr. Gaitlin struggles with losing his leg and partly his identity throughout the town. This was a good book overall and I enjoyed reading Haints.
I felt like each character kind of had its own Haints in a way. Because Mary Jane and her troubles, Ellen Parsons bridge trouble, and Mr. Gaitlin struggles with losing his leg and partly his identity throughout the town. This was a good book overall and I enjoyed reading Haints.
April 4, 2013
Haints by Clint McCown is a novel of a small town fictionalized Tennessee which is struck by a tornado. The storm hits early on in the book, and the story continues to show the aftermath through numerous viewpoints. The characters are all tied together in various ways, as people in small towns often are. Each chapter reveals a different perspective. Together, it shows just what can happen when a close-knit community is brought even closer.
The book takes place in the 50's during the Korean War, and many mentions are made about friends and relatives off in the war. One character, Mary Jean, decides to read up on Korean culture since her boyfriend is over there. However, the closest she gets is Chinese, and she memorizes a number of quotes which she rattles off to several people, as if absorbing wisdom is as simple as that. When she discusses these with Herb Gatlin, he tells her a few he knows of his own from Rome. These quotes come back in beautiful ways later in the book although in slightly different interpretations.
The haunting prologue dutifully gives us a sense of the rest of the book. Some characters are able to get a sense of redemption while others purely worsen. Regardless of the results, each character is well-developed and very realistic. The wreckage of the tornado is made very real by several images I know won't leave my head—namely, the rag doll of a man impaled by a prosthetic leg. Scenes that follow which include this same man are also rather haunting. Which is appropriate, for a book titled Haints.
The book takes place in the 50's during the Korean War, and many mentions are made about friends and relatives off in the war. One character, Mary Jean, decides to read up on Korean culture since her boyfriend is over there. However, the closest she gets is Chinese, and she memorizes a number of quotes which she rattles off to several people, as if absorbing wisdom is as simple as that. When she discusses these with Herb Gatlin, he tells her a few he knows of his own from Rome. These quotes come back in beautiful ways later in the book although in slightly different interpretations.
The haunting prologue dutifully gives us a sense of the rest of the book. Some characters are able to get a sense of redemption while others purely worsen. Regardless of the results, each character is well-developed and very realistic. The wreckage of the tornado is made very real by several images I know won't leave my head—namely, the rag doll of a man impaled by a prosthetic leg. Scenes that follow which include this same man are also rather haunting. Which is appropriate, for a book titled Haints.
April 5, 2013
Clint McCown, the only author to win the American Fiction Prize not once, but twice, returns with his new novel “Haints,” which begins in a small town in Tennessee called Lincoln during the year 1952. “Haints” opens with a suicide and a town-demolishing tornado. McCown, instead of following one character throughout the novel, uses a different voice in each chapter to reflect and relate the events that occur after the tornado. Each character is affected by the tornado, and reading the different voices helps to show that each character is related to one another because of the tornado.
With a different voice for every chapter, it becomes evident that McCown is a skilled writer. He is able to make a place in his fictitious community for each one while still maintaining their individual voices. McCown presents readers with at least one character with whom they can relate. His characters and the town description all wrap together nicely to draw a portrait of small town life in the 1950s.
“Haints” contains both tragically sad moments and comical moments. It’s a dark comedy that was never boring to read, largely because it is a refreshingly real story with a range of stories and characters for readers to relate to, and each character has their own haint, or ghost, from their past they have to deal with. Everyone, fictitious and real, has their own demons to deal with.
If you’re looking for a contemporary novel to capture your attention, Clint McCown’s “Haints” is the novel for you.
With a different voice for every chapter, it becomes evident that McCown is a skilled writer. He is able to make a place in his fictitious community for each one while still maintaining their individual voices. McCown presents readers with at least one character with whom they can relate. His characters and the town description all wrap together nicely to draw a portrait of small town life in the 1950s.
“Haints” contains both tragically sad moments and comical moments. It’s a dark comedy that was never boring to read, largely because it is a refreshingly real story with a range of stories and characters for readers to relate to, and each character has their own haint, or ghost, from their past they have to deal with. Everyone, fictitious and real, has their own demons to deal with.
If you’re looking for a contemporary novel to capture your attention, Clint McCown’s “Haints” is the novel for you.
April 4, 2013
The southern colloquial word ‘haint,’ means a ghost or an apparition. This title is quite fitting for Clint McCown’s novel. Haints revolves around the people living in the small town of Lincoln, Tennessee as they brace for a storm and the reasons they all have for being haunted. Sailor Ronald Dawson cannot escape his feelings of self-doubt and regret as he wrestles with the notion that he was responsible for the lives of his crew. And Doc McKinney has an ignoble past. Though each chapter in this book is told from a different perspective each and all of them are interconnected in a way that the reader can appreciate after. All stories in life have more than one dimension—McCown shows this, but also shows that each individual story is part of a larger one.
The book begins with a tornado destroying the small town of Lincoln, Tennessee on leap day in 1952. Each haunting chapter reveals the relationships of the people living in Lincoln, what separates them, and how they come together for individual reasons following the town’s destruction.
Each chapter in this text unravels another element about the preceding character and ties them into the next. This is an effective strategy and readers are sure to flip through the pages in earnest as they piece together connections and reasons for their spiritual hauntings, and personal demons, or metaphorically speaking, their ‘haints.’
The book begins with a tornado destroying the small town of Lincoln, Tennessee on leap day in 1952. Each haunting chapter reveals the relationships of the people living in Lincoln, what separates them, and how they come together for individual reasons following the town’s destruction.
Each chapter in this text unravels another element about the preceding character and ties them into the next. This is an effective strategy and readers are sure to flip through the pages in earnest as they piece together connections and reasons for their spiritual hauntings, and personal demons, or metaphorically speaking, their ‘haints.’
August 13, 2016
This book is a fine example of the novel in stories or story cycle that more resembles Winesburg, Ohio (the granddaddy of the genre) than most. The narrative, told through the eyes of several residents of the fictional town of Lincoln, TN, relates the aftermath of a violent tornado in the 1950s. Lincoln resembles Winesburg in many respects, but the events in this town are even more dramatic.
The book truly is a cycle--it begins with a prologue and ends with an epilogue, and the first and last chapters are about Herb Gatlin, a one-legged man with ties to most of the other characters. Herb, the book's central figure, rescues Mary Jean McKinney during the tornado, risking his own life in the process. In the storm's aftermath, an unidentified naked dead man is found in the town square, impaled on Herb's wooden leg, creating a dual mystery. Who is the dead man? And what happened to Herb?
It's a thoroughly enjoyable, incredible book, with some laugh-out-loud moments. (Some of the characters, such as Reverend Tyree and his wife, are over the top, intentionally so.) But it also handles some serious themes of memory and loss, forgiveness and revenge.
I'd been meaning to read this book for some time, but was finally prompted to do so because I'm moderating a panel at the Virginia Festival of the Book this year that features McCown. I recommend the book.
The book truly is a cycle--it begins with a prologue and ends with an epilogue, and the first and last chapters are about Herb Gatlin, a one-legged man with ties to most of the other characters. Herb, the book's central figure, rescues Mary Jean McKinney during the tornado, risking his own life in the process. In the storm's aftermath, an unidentified naked dead man is found in the town square, impaled on Herb's wooden leg, creating a dual mystery. Who is the dead man? And what happened to Herb?
It's a thoroughly enjoyable, incredible book, with some laugh-out-loud moments. (Some of the characters, such as Reverend Tyree and his wife, are over the top, intentionally so.) But it also handles some serious themes of memory and loss, forgiveness and revenge.
I'd been meaning to read this book for some time, but was finally prompted to do so because I'm moderating a panel at the Virginia Festival of the Book this year that features McCown. I recommend the book.
August 6, 2014
yet again, McCown does what he does best: lets different voices in a community talk through an event, so that what comes up is a story not of an individual but of a community. When the tornado hits the small town of Lincoln, everyone's life is changed, but in the death and chaos that follows (including a crazed minister who believes the End is coming, and a prison break, and a community fundraiser featuring the heavy weight champion), there's redemption and hope.
June 24, 2015
Once I started, I couldn't stop. McCown's characters demanded attention, and received it. Each character was so individually interesting, but McCown seamlessly intertwined their lives so well I was just in love with the fictional 1952 Lincoln town. My favorite character was Jerry Lee Statten :)
August 9, 2022
This is, perhaps, the best book I've read this year. A new favorite! I'm excited to explore more books by author Clint McCown.
Just finished reading Haints for the second time - and I rarely, if ever, read books twice!
Just finished reading Haints for the second time - and I rarely, if ever, read books twice!
September 16, 2013
Harrowing, revealing - a book that is hard to put down.
August 14, 2013
What a gem! Life in small town Tennessee circa 1950....a "what if" meditation with language that just shines.
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