Grants Ferry

by David Chase

Following a thirty year absence, Kenneth Forbes is summoned back to his home town, Grants Ferry, Vermont, to settle his recently deceased Aunt Fanny's estate. Still furious at his escape all those years ago, Fanny takes elaborate revenge through her will. Kenneth inherits her considerable holdings but with strict criteria and a challenge that risks everything if he fails. The alternative to failure or simply walking away, at least in Kenneth's mind, is even worse. Add the people Kenneth left behind when he ran away, the steady decay of the town itself, and what Kenneth views as provincial simplicity of the generation now in charge, and Kenneth finds himself soundly ensnared in Fanny's trap. But Grants Ferry survives. Its history is long and peppered with local characters, often a touch eccentric, who create a pleasant mix of humor, cruelty, tenderness, and violence.

David Chase, a native Vermonter himself, brings a fresh and entertaining perspective of northern New England customs and traditions.

Genres: Fiction

365 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Sarah Dupeyron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Populated with characters that seemed plucked right out of my own small New England town, Grants Ferry was one of the best books I’ve read this year. The clear, concise prose gives a perfect image of the people and places being discussed, and the realistic dialogs help advance the story as well as bring great characterization. Excellent writing, great story, and really damn funny! I would definitely recommend this book!

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best new book, and best read of the genre since Baldacci's Wish You Well. Having lived in Dummerston Vermont, I can attest to the absolute accuracy and character portrayal in this wonderful story. Hats off also to whomever edited and proofread the copy because reading a well crafted novel is always a joy.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The characters in Grants Ferry are people I swear I grew up with. Not specifically, of course, this is after all fiction, but the humor, the language, and the images as some of them bumble or sail through their interesting lives. Pretty much a conversation about the changing nature of rural Vermont. And a current one, too.

I laughed out loud a number of times, and choked up at others. I wonder just what happened to ___ and ___ after the novel ended. Perhaps Mr. Chase will grace us all with another of his Vermonter tales.

He certainly does nail the people, the land and the psychology. A must read - really!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I live in the area where this story is set, and it's always fun to be able to add that to the reading experience. I can visualize the roads, the businesses, the energy of that time and place.
But, this is much more than just a setting. A collection of vivid characters are engaging and just real enough that you care what happens to them. The story proceeds comfortably, but not predcitably. By the end, there's a lot of sorrow, a good bit of joy, and redemption that I thought could only be hoped for.

[Monti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Completely enjoyed. Grants Ferry took me to a part of the US that I have never visited, but now cannot wait to make plans to go. I loved seeing what 20+ years did to each character and found myself wondering what the next 20 years would hold for them.

[Dilys Myhill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A charming story about a New England community. Some exceptional chaeacters, brilliant quirky humour, a first class read , an added bonus for me was I WON THIS ON GOODREADS GIVE-AWAY.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good

[Jean Kostick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not finish it. Tried several times. The writing bordered on tedious. In my opinion, the author could have used an editor who was not afraid to chop and delete. Some of the details were downright suffocating. I kept thinking, ok, ok, we got it. The plot (which was clever enough) never grabs the reader because of the plodding pace. And still, in the face of all this superfluous explaining and describing, the characters remain mostly one-dimensional. I got through three-quarters of the book without meeting a character I really cared about. I kept hoping for the revelation of some big secret or trick or misunderstood life event to explain why the aunt was such a miserable, contentious, uncaring person; to explain how she could become guardian of this child (for monetary/security gains) without ever once finding something to like in him or about him, without ever forming any kind of attachment to him; to explain how these characters could end up with such mismatched mates (highly implausible) all the way around. I wanted to find something praiseworthy about this book. It was written by a local author. He had a good idea, I think, or at least the main premise could have been a good starting point, but the execution did not allow the story to live up to its potential.

[A.R. Bredenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

In "Grant's Ferry," David Chase has written a compelling and true-to-life tale of life in a small Vermont town -- a town that is destined to change.

I've known David Chase for many years. He used to write a wonderful weekly column for the Brattleboro Reformer about Vermont and local life. He once wrote some unflattering prose about me, but I forgive him for that. Good for David for at last embedding much of his intimate knowledge of Vermont life into a novel.

"Grant's Ferry" gets a cleanness rating of three out of five stars for inclusion of profanity and sensuality. Hope David can forgive me for that! (See "Should a Novelist Write Characters Who Use Profanity?")

ARK -- 12 September 2014

[LearningMum · Rating 5 out of 5]

BRILLIANT & EPIC
Precisely imagined, excruciatingly hilarious, gut-wrenchingly painful, cockle-warming, spitfire-provoking, gorgeously woven story – Grants Ferry has it all! Feel all the feelings and examine life’s persistent problems plus one colossal brain-tickling conundrum, through the eyes of the damned-if-you-don’t-know-these-people, colorful cast of characters. I recommend this to anyone who appreciates a Great Story, regardless of their geographic ties (or lack of) to the eastern Vermont/western New Hampshire region. It saddens me to know this is fiction – would so love to go visit Grants Ferry, yet I realize there are bits of “these people” in all of us. So, Mr. Chase, when is the sequel coming out?