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Southern Revivals
The Night the New Jesus Fell to Earth: And Other Stories from Cliffside, North Carolina
The Night the New Jesus Fell to Earth was originally released in 1994 and was the first published book from acclaimed writer Ron Rash. This twentieth anniversary edition takes us back to where it all began with ten linked short stories, framed like a novel, introducing us to a trio of memorable narrators—Tracy, Randy, and Vincent—making their way against the hardscrabble backdrop of the North Carolina foothills. With a comedic touch that may surprise readers familiar only with Rash's later, darker fiction, these earnest tales reveal the hard lessons of good whiskey, bad marriages, weak foundations, familial legacies, questionable religious observances, and the dubious merits of possum breeding, as well as the hard-won reconciliations with self, others, and home that can be garnered only in good time. The Night the New Jesus Fell to Earth shows us the promising beginnings of a master storyteller honing his craft and contributing from the start to the fine traditions of southern fiction and lore. This Southern Revivals edition includes a new introduction from the author and a contextualizing preface from series editor Robert H. Brinkmeyer, director of the University of South Carolina Institute for Southern Studies.
160 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 1994
15 people are currently reading
406 people want to read
About the author
Ron Rash
69 books2,111 followersRon Rash is the author of the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Finalist and New York Times bestselling novel, Serena, in addition to three other prizewinning novels, One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River, and The World Made Straight; three collections of poems; and four collections of stories, among them Burning Bright, which won the 2010 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, and Chemistry and Other Stories, which was a finalist for the 2007 PEN/Faulkner Award. Twice the recipient of the O.Henry Prize, he teaches at Western Carolina University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
August 21, 2015
Ron Rash is a master with a short story. These are connected short stories but they are each stand alone too. Cock-eyed religion and a good bit of drinking can be found in all.
May 10, 2015
Wonderful book of 10 inter-related short stories narrated by 3 different citizens of a small town in NC. Rash really nails small town life. These stories are humorous and poignant, with a couple of them funny enough to have me snickering all day long. This was his first book, and it's easy to see why he's such a respected author today. This guy could write from the get-go. Highly recommended to any Rash fans out there, or anyone else who needs a good read.
January 8, 2022
As a native born Western North Carolinian, these stories evoked many memories of growing up there.
I laughed a lot reading these short stories.
There was also the awareness of people escaping through education, the legacy of poverty bred by generations of families working in the mills, and the greed of the rich mill owners.
“I’ve known Gerald long enough to know he is, as my granddaddy, a carpenter, used to say, half a bubble off plumb.”
I laughed a lot reading these short stories.
There was also the awareness of people escaping through education, the legacy of poverty bred by generations of families working in the mills, and the greed of the rich mill owners.
“I’ve known Gerald long enough to know he is, as my granddaddy, a carpenter, used to say, half a bubble off plumb.”
February 13, 2008
My grandfather grew up in Cliffside during the Depression. In The Night New Jesus Fell to Earth and Other Stories from Cliffside, North Carolina, Ron Rash shares tales that would have occurred a few decades later, when Grandaddy was working full-time in a mill, raising my mom and uncle with my grandmother in Kings Mountain, less than an hour from the title location.
I was amused and warmed by each story's description of Western North Carolina culture in the middle to latter part of the twentieth century, a culture that largely remains the same. But it was the final piece, My Father's Cadillacs, that struck me most. Our narrator, Vincent, embarrassed by a car that evokes thoughts of funeral homes, presses his father about why he would purchase a Cadillac instead of a more humble--and normal--Pontiac or Mercury.
"Because owning a Cadillac shows exactly how far I've come from that mill village where I grew up."
Vincent's dad must have been about the same age as my grandfather, a man who established three material goals at a young age: 1. to own a brick home, 2. to own a Cadillac, and 3. to have a garage with an automatic door. He achieved those goals, and many immaterial goals as well, creating a loving home in which his children and eventual grandchildren were loved and nurtured.
My grandfather died in December 1995, four months before I would attend my first prom. Just as Vincent's dad let him borrow his big, black Cadillac for his prom, Grandmother generously allowed me to take my girlfriend Kelsey, and our friends Paul and Cheryl, in her immaculate, white 1991 Brougham D'Elegance. I must have been as proud as Vincent was mortified, but you'll have to read My Father's Cadillacs to understand exactly what our college-bound protagonist experienced.
Thank you, Ron, for your truthful, humorous, and gentle exposition of Grandaddy's homeplace.
I was amused and warmed by each story's description of Western North Carolina culture in the middle to latter part of the twentieth century, a culture that largely remains the same. But it was the final piece, My Father's Cadillacs, that struck me most. Our narrator, Vincent, embarrassed by a car that evokes thoughts of funeral homes, presses his father about why he would purchase a Cadillac instead of a more humble--and normal--Pontiac or Mercury.
"Because owning a Cadillac shows exactly how far I've come from that mill village where I grew up."
Vincent's dad must have been about the same age as my grandfather, a man who established three material goals at a young age: 1. to own a brick home, 2. to own a Cadillac, and 3. to have a garage with an automatic door. He achieved those goals, and many immaterial goals as well, creating a loving home in which his children and eventual grandchildren were loved and nurtured.
My grandfather died in December 1995, four months before I would attend my first prom. Just as Vincent's dad let him borrow his big, black Cadillac for his prom, Grandmother generously allowed me to take my girlfriend Kelsey, and our friends Paul and Cheryl, in her immaculate, white 1991 Brougham D'Elegance. I must have been as proud as Vincent was mortified, but you'll have to read My Father's Cadillacs to understand exactly what our college-bound protagonist experienced.
Thank you, Ron, for your truthful, humorous, and gentle exposition of Grandaddy's homeplace.
April 12, 2013
What a delightful set of short stories, almost every one as good as the next (which is rare for collections, I think). His characters and scenarios ring true. These are people I know or knew of. Three narrative voices are used (each getting three or four stories), all members of a small southern Appalachian town: Vincent, who recalls his younger years dealing with his parents, a mill-townie done good as an art professor at a local junior college whose peculiar ways irritate the long-suffering but loving traditionalist mother,and the trials of growing up in this close-knit community; a sarcastic female skilled carpenter making it in a man's world who loves her town and the people in it, nonetheless, whose ex is a filandering scheming dishonest car salesman; and a slightly bitter, middle-age loser dealing with impending divorce and loss of employment. There is a lot of observation of Southern types and much humor. Rash is rapidly becoming on of my favorite short-story authors. I couldn't put the volume down last night.
September 12, 2017
Brilliant
June 13, 2024
Interesting to see how Rash started, but I do prefer his later stories, although these have more humor. This edition includes a forward and an introduction, and Rash also added an opening and closing frame, which wasn't part of the original. Those colored my reading. It's a linked collection with three alternating voices. None of these really jumped out at me. Reading a bit too much like a writer to settle inside the narrative. The way the stories are structured caught my attention. Worth reading again.
April 19, 2020
I don’t read short stories that often but this collection hung together, describing a NC small town and it’s recognizable residents. The three narrators add a fun element too. There’s humor and affection and the foibles of humanity. What more could we ask for?
January 9, 2022
In this book, Rash’s first, you can already sense the keen observation of human behavior and shortcomings that inform his later work. But this book is lighter and funnier than much of his later work and it is fun to see this side of him, which previously came through more in his personal appearances and readings than in his stories. I have yet to find a Ron Rash book that I didn’t like and this book is no exception.
January 8, 2025
4.2/5. Had the itch to read some of Rash’s earlier stuff. It’s good, funny, and the stories are all tied together loosely in a fun way. Some are better than others, but there’s heart and insight about small town living that makes them pretty dang good.
December 25, 2025
I have taken my time with this book, and kept good notes - ones to entertain when I need to be persuaded to re-read. Ron Rash is a brilliant writer.
A beloved meeting place has burned down in Cliffside, and some friends gather to mourn the loss of that significant place in their town. Oh, hell. I'll just post my notes.
The Night the New Jesus Fell to Earth and other stories, by Ron Rash
The Bench Press, 1994, pgs 143
Tracy Rudisell reminisces during a post-fire fire department drink. . .Donnie Splawn, Phil Moore, Carl Blowmeyer and Larry Rudisell (Tracy’s ex), Marvin Greene, Sheriff Hawkins, Vincent Hampton, Randy Ledbetter. . .they tell each other stories
I
Badeye – as Vincent Hampton remembers. . .
Snowcones, snakes and Badeye Carter (Hilarious)
The Night the New Jesus Fell to Earth – as Tracy R. remembers . .
Larry Rudisell (a grown up) gets to be Jesus (in the crucifix tableau) in the Easter pageant – two other buddies the thieves on either side – opining on a wood purchased for the event by his ex- a woman carpenter: “Larry came over to the truck. As soon as he saw the poles in the back of the truck he got all worked up, saying they were too big around, that they looked like telephone poles, that he was supposed to be Jesus, not the Witchita Lineman.” He took over making the crosses for Easter. It didn’t go well and engendered the wry observation of the results to which the title of this book refers. (Hilarious)
Love and Pain pg 44 – as Randy remembers. . .on being served divorce paper by his wife Darlene who impatiently waits for his signature:
“I look out the window and see Carl Blowmeyer in his backyard, barbecuing what looks like a large dog and looking this way. Blowmeyer is one of millions of northern retirees who have moved down here to live cheaper and to educate us southerners about how to drive on snow. The one or two times each year the white stuff falls, Blowmeyer stands on main street with a Mr. Microphone and tells drivers what they’re doing wrong.
Spring and summer mornings he’s out in the yard with his lawnmower, weedeater, and electric hedge clippers. Blowmeyer’s grass is cut shorter than most golf course greens. He crawls around his yard on hands and knees to find wild onions and crabgrass. Now Blowmeyer is stretching his neck to see over the hedge, wanting to watch every minute of the soap opera next door. His shorter, grub-white wife stands in the lawn chair. They love my pain.
He signed.
II
Yard of the Month – pg 53 – Vincent – what it took to get his dad to do yard work.
Raising the Dead – pg 65 – Tracy’s next tale - Mrs. Calhoun & Pappy switching churches – but Pappy is dead, but it was still wanted that he could vote (church deacons wanted a new softball field out of it) – it was decided that Pappy’s vote qualified as an absentee ballot by Mrs. Who Knew What He Would Have Wanted. Hilarious! 3 laws broken and integration at the cemetery.
Between the States – pg 75 – Randy – ‘Ever since high school everything has been a bad idea, or at least turned out to be. Marrying Darlene, selling the farm, buying the monkey. I’m needing an industrial-strength dose of nostalgia.’ pg 83 “It’s almost dark, and you can see the lanterns of the fishermen flickering on up and down the riverbanks. The frogs and crickets are starting to talk to each other. I think about the river for a long time, about how it is between North Carolina and South Carolina, but not really in either one. I think about Miss Prunty, who is stuck somewhere in-between the past and the present. I think about Coach Beak and Lars, how they too are between two states. And that maybe I am too. What I’m thinking is that maybe I’m between the old good time of my life and the new good time of my life, and if I can just hold on for a while that the good time will come round again.”
Notes from Beyond the Pale – pg 85 – Vincent H – a long, looping cautionary tale about brilliant hometown Homer Caldwell who returned from Harvard with a Northern bride, Emily, a harridan with nothing good to say about Cliffside, Homer and chickens. Eventually she goes away and is never seen again.
III
Redfish, Possums, and the new South – page 99 - Randy – reminiscence of Gerald who I’ve known Gerald long enough to know he I, as my granddaddy, a carpenter, used to say, half bubble off plumb. They are talking about ways to make money – and Gerald proposes a possum ranch. “o.k.,” he says. First thing. You remember how during the depression a lot of people ate possum. . . .My grandparents had eaten possum, called them Hoover hogs. They begin to finance their dream with an old insurance policy of Randy’s, and then they go hunting the road shoulders for their hoover hogs.
They catch their first batch, and convert a chicken house into the new possum digs, finding one stubborn creature up on a beam above them both. “It’s just going to take him a little time to get used to this new home,” gerald says. “Get a couple more possums in here and he’ll be fine.” “I give him a name,” he says, looking up at the possum. “The Opossum Paul.”
Randy, by way of guarding their project is roped into living in the possum house, and they are breeding like crazy. Then Thanksgiving strikes, and Opossum Paul is taking the long waddle into history. All it takes to make it big is start a crazy trend, and document it. . . .our plates which have a roll, sweet potato, and grey piece of meat Gerald is calling possum steak. “Do you want to bless it?” Gerald says, “or em?” “I think both of us better,” I say. Frank Moore comes over to our booth with his camera. “Bon appetit,” Frank says as Gerald and I lift a forkful of the grey meat, put it in our mouths, and slowly start chewing.”
Pinkney Boatwright from the Western North Carolina Alliance to Prevent the Imprisonment of Wild Animals cuts a deal to make sure the possum trend fails. Money is paid, split and Randy moves the possums out and brings the chickens back, and is now selling plenty of eggs.
Judgment Day – page 116 – Tracy – a big rain creates such a flood one Sunday that just as the preacher was preaching apocalypsical, the lights go out, the doors blow inwards and the congregation sees coffins floating their way. They all huddle together and confess every large and small sin they felt to share until the sheriff arrives to tell them the weather is moving more toward normal and they aren’t going to be swept away. Embarrassed and shame-faced everyone exercises their awkward social skills to back away from the church and head to their home grounds, some feeling much more relieved than those whose confessions were deeply doven.
My Father’s Cadillacs – page 126 – Vincent – a rambling tale of his father’s predilection for cadillacs from funeral homes, and then sidestories about his family’s other car purchases. This segues into his first few car procurements (a Volkswagen, and then a 1978 Cadillac Coup De Ville. There is a running theme of sitting in these various vehicles and observing life as it goes by in these used, worn out mechanical carriages. One day, riding with his grandmother, this happens:
“My grandmother looked out the window at the dogwoods. “You know,” she said, “there is something about a dogwood in the spring that fills a body with hope. It makes you feel like all your dreams can still come true.”
Vincent further ponders on the irony of how time has brought them (their family) to a place and possession of these vehicles that could carry them far, far away from that old mill town, yet they remain, driving the same roads on which horses trod a century earlier. From great-grandfathers down to himself, they have stayed. Stuck. But maybe not. He sits and continues to take in his surroundings, grandma at his side.
“As I waited to turn left, the dogwoods held my gaze, their blossoms blazing, bright as dreams against the darkness.”
* * * *
Once Vincent ends, it is time for the group that had gathered at the book’s start to take leave of Cliffside’s camaraderie and their fellows and all go their separate ways. Everyone to country tasks: Randy to feed his chickens; Vincent and Tracy head back to town, driving past the burnt down Greene’s Cafe. Vincent settles to stare, looking lost. Tracy has a garage to nail together. Cliffside retreats to the frame of his rearview mirror.
Another great book by Ron Rash. All the stars.
25|52:4f
A beloved meeting place has burned down in Cliffside, and some friends gather to mourn the loss of that significant place in their town. Oh, hell. I'll just post my notes.
The Night the New Jesus Fell to Earth and other stories, by Ron Rash
The Bench Press, 1994, pgs 143
Tracy Rudisell reminisces during a post-fire fire department drink. . .Donnie Splawn, Phil Moore, Carl Blowmeyer and Larry Rudisell (Tracy’s ex), Marvin Greene, Sheriff Hawkins, Vincent Hampton, Randy Ledbetter. . .they tell each other stories
I
Badeye – as Vincent Hampton remembers. . .
Snowcones, snakes and Badeye Carter (Hilarious)
The Night the New Jesus Fell to Earth – as Tracy R. remembers . .
Larry Rudisell (a grown up) gets to be Jesus (in the crucifix tableau) in the Easter pageant – two other buddies the thieves on either side – opining on a wood purchased for the event by his ex- a woman carpenter: “Larry came over to the truck. As soon as he saw the poles in the back of the truck he got all worked up, saying they were too big around, that they looked like telephone poles, that he was supposed to be Jesus, not the Witchita Lineman.” He took over making the crosses for Easter. It didn’t go well and engendered the wry observation of the results to which the title of this book refers. (Hilarious)
Love and Pain pg 44 – as Randy remembers. . .on being served divorce paper by his wife Darlene who impatiently waits for his signature:
“I look out the window and see Carl Blowmeyer in his backyard, barbecuing what looks like a large dog and looking this way. Blowmeyer is one of millions of northern retirees who have moved down here to live cheaper and to educate us southerners about how to drive on snow. The one or two times each year the white stuff falls, Blowmeyer stands on main street with a Mr. Microphone and tells drivers what they’re doing wrong.
Spring and summer mornings he’s out in the yard with his lawnmower, weedeater, and electric hedge clippers. Blowmeyer’s grass is cut shorter than most golf course greens. He crawls around his yard on hands and knees to find wild onions and crabgrass. Now Blowmeyer is stretching his neck to see over the hedge, wanting to watch every minute of the soap opera next door. His shorter, grub-white wife stands in the lawn chair. They love my pain.
He signed.
II
Yard of the Month – pg 53 – Vincent – what it took to get his dad to do yard work.
Raising the Dead – pg 65 – Tracy’s next tale - Mrs. Calhoun & Pappy switching churches – but Pappy is dead, but it was still wanted that he could vote (church deacons wanted a new softball field out of it) – it was decided that Pappy’s vote qualified as an absentee ballot by Mrs. Who Knew What He Would Have Wanted. Hilarious! 3 laws broken and integration at the cemetery.
Between the States – pg 75 – Randy – ‘Ever since high school everything has been a bad idea, or at least turned out to be. Marrying Darlene, selling the farm, buying the monkey. I’m needing an industrial-strength dose of nostalgia.’ pg 83 “It’s almost dark, and you can see the lanterns of the fishermen flickering on up and down the riverbanks. The frogs and crickets are starting to talk to each other. I think about the river for a long time, about how it is between North Carolina and South Carolina, but not really in either one. I think about Miss Prunty, who is stuck somewhere in-between the past and the present. I think about Coach Beak and Lars, how they too are between two states. And that maybe I am too. What I’m thinking is that maybe I’m between the old good time of my life and the new good time of my life, and if I can just hold on for a while that the good time will come round again.”
Notes from Beyond the Pale – pg 85 – Vincent H – a long, looping cautionary tale about brilliant hometown Homer Caldwell who returned from Harvard with a Northern bride, Emily, a harridan with nothing good to say about Cliffside, Homer and chickens. Eventually she goes away and is never seen again.
III
Redfish, Possums, and the new South – page 99 - Randy – reminiscence of Gerald who I’ve known Gerald long enough to know he I, as my granddaddy, a carpenter, used to say, half bubble off plumb. They are talking about ways to make money – and Gerald proposes a possum ranch. “o.k.,” he says. First thing. You remember how during the depression a lot of people ate possum. . . .My grandparents had eaten possum, called them Hoover hogs. They begin to finance their dream with an old insurance policy of Randy’s, and then they go hunting the road shoulders for their hoover hogs.
They catch their first batch, and convert a chicken house into the new possum digs, finding one stubborn creature up on a beam above them both. “It’s just going to take him a little time to get used to this new home,” gerald says. “Get a couple more possums in here and he’ll be fine.” “I give him a name,” he says, looking up at the possum. “The Opossum Paul.”
Randy, by way of guarding their project is roped into living in the possum house, and they are breeding like crazy. Then Thanksgiving strikes, and Opossum Paul is taking the long waddle into history. All it takes to make it big is start a crazy trend, and document it. . . .our plates which have a roll, sweet potato, and grey piece of meat Gerald is calling possum steak. “Do you want to bless it?” Gerald says, “or em?” “I think both of us better,” I say. Frank Moore comes over to our booth with his camera. “Bon appetit,” Frank says as Gerald and I lift a forkful of the grey meat, put it in our mouths, and slowly start chewing.”
Pinkney Boatwright from the Western North Carolina Alliance to Prevent the Imprisonment of Wild Animals cuts a deal to make sure the possum trend fails. Money is paid, split and Randy moves the possums out and brings the chickens back, and is now selling plenty of eggs.
Judgment Day – page 116 – Tracy – a big rain creates such a flood one Sunday that just as the preacher was preaching apocalypsical, the lights go out, the doors blow inwards and the congregation sees coffins floating their way. They all huddle together and confess every large and small sin they felt to share until the sheriff arrives to tell them the weather is moving more toward normal and they aren’t going to be swept away. Embarrassed and shame-faced everyone exercises their awkward social skills to back away from the church and head to their home grounds, some feeling much more relieved than those whose confessions were deeply doven.
My Father’s Cadillacs – page 126 – Vincent – a rambling tale of his father’s predilection for cadillacs from funeral homes, and then sidestories about his family’s other car purchases. This segues into his first few car procurements (a Volkswagen, and then a 1978 Cadillac Coup De Ville. There is a running theme of sitting in these various vehicles and observing life as it goes by in these used, worn out mechanical carriages. One day, riding with his grandmother, this happens:
“My grandmother looked out the window at the dogwoods. “You know,” she said, “there is something about a dogwood in the spring that fills a body with hope. It makes you feel like all your dreams can still come true.”
Vincent further ponders on the irony of how time has brought them (their family) to a place and possession of these vehicles that could carry them far, far away from that old mill town, yet they remain, driving the same roads on which horses trod a century earlier. From great-grandfathers down to himself, they have stayed. Stuck. But maybe not. He sits and continues to take in his surroundings, grandma at his side.
“As I waited to turn left, the dogwoods held my gaze, their blossoms blazing, bright as dreams against the darkness.”
* * * *
Once Vincent ends, it is time for the group that had gathered at the book’s start to take leave of Cliffside’s camaraderie and their fellows and all go their separate ways. Everyone to country tasks: Randy to feed his chickens; Vincent and Tracy head back to town, driving past the burnt down Greene’s Cafe. Vincent settles to stare, looking lost. Tracy has a garage to nail together. Cliffside retreats to the frame of his rearview mirror.
Another great book by Ron Rash. All the stars.
25|52:4f
August 3, 2016
Any Ron Rash fan will love this book. Ordinarily, I'm not interested in short stories; too short. But this was the usual "Ron Rash keep reading" kind of book. I found myself chuckling to myself and feeling sadness with the character throughout the book. It takes place in a small town in NC and in the last story you feel as if you are a neighbor of the characters who tell the story. Read and enjoy.
Read
January 27, 2012This was written by an English professor from my college :-), though I was not in his class. I listened in at a lecture regarding this book, and found him to be an amazing speaker. He read excerpts from this book and had the whole audience drawn in. Very good book and I look forward to reading it again.
December 28, 2013
A friend of mine, from North Carolina, recommended this author, and this book in particular. Living in Lebanon, I had no idea who Ron Rash was. Since I love being introduced to new authors, I immediately jumped on this opportunity. Although the characters live in a setting that is completely foreign to me, I was nonetheless quite attached to them, and found myself wanting to know more.
June 14, 2011
Ron Rash is one of my favorite authors and his short stories are so well-written. I am very picky when it comes to this form of writing and would recommend his stories (and novels) wholeheartedly. Gems!
April 12, 2016
A delightful set of inter-connected short stories narrated by three different people. The stories are humorous and yet realistic to small town life in that time. My favorite quote was in the last story about dogwoods in spring. " It makes you feel like all your dreams can still come true".
July 16, 2007
I read this to my "Granny" when she lived with me. It was required reading for Engl. 101, and I still think of it as one of my favorite books.
September 2, 2009
What a great collection of stories. Laugh out loud funny, great characters and great writing.
July 24, 2012
Very enjoyable and humorus. Loved it.
March 22, 2015
One of my favorite Ron Rash books- short stories with a sly humor, told by 3 narrators, all set in small town Appalachia
December 5, 2015
Great reading.
December 17, 2015
Excellent. I was living in the area the book was set in and it really is the way the author described.
November 3, 2021
In recent years, I've coupled visits to western North Carolina with reading books by some of the local authors. A couple of friends recommended I try reading Ron Rash and I eyed several of his books on a recent stop at Malaprops in Asheville. I chose this book based on some comments that it was less dark than several of his later books. The book is a set of interconnected stories with some common characters. The common thread is that they are all set in the fictitious small town of Cliffside, North Carolina.
In general, I liked the book. The stories are all told in the first person, with three different narrators: Vincent, Randy and Tracy. The title story is told by Tracy, who has a matter of fact style and a sense of humor. Her ex-husband, Larry, came up with the idea to replay the crucifixion on the lawn of the local Baptist church and the new preacher in town decided to support it. As a member of the church, Tracy was willing to donate her skills as a carpenter, but Larry didn't like her proposed design and worked with a few of his buddies to build three crosses. The story goes on and we're suspecting it wouldn't go well since Larry is bigger on talk than execution. By the ending, Preacher Thompson has learned a few lessons about his congregation.
The people telling the stories all know each other and collectively, it's got elements of coming of age stories for many of the characters, though they are often constrained by the limits of their small town as they learn some hard lessons about life. In another story, "Between the States," Randy tells a tale of making lots of mistakes in his life after high school, including getting married to his girlfriend Darlene, but in later stories, he's starting to find that better life he'd hoped for.
The third narrator, Vincent, also finds challenges. In the story "My Father's Cadillacs," he's perplexed when his father, a college professor, trades in his Plymouth for an old Cadillac. He's quick to listen when a friend tells him it looks like an undertaker's car. Later, he has a heart to heart talk and his father talks about why he'd bought the Cadillac. Soon, his Dad gets a different Cadillac, a little better, but still a source of embarrassment for his son. Still, when it comes time for him to learn how to drive, the second Caddy is what he learns in. The story continues to evolve and Vincent eventually takes his girl friend to the prom in one of the Caddys with less than stellar results. Vincent eventually leaves town and moves to South Carolina, but the story about the Cadillacs remains part of his connection to Cliffside. This is an example of what I liked about these stories, which is how the town itself not only the physical setting, but also the backdrop to lots of stories about how these young people learned how to cope with growing up.
By the end of the book, we have a sense of Cliffside and why these characters have retained an affection for the area and people of the town. Rash tells these loosely connected stories and makes us feel what it's like to grow up in this particular town, and as readers, we root for the young people who have shared these experiences with us.
In general, I liked the book. The stories are all told in the first person, with three different narrators: Vincent, Randy and Tracy. The title story is told by Tracy, who has a matter of fact style and a sense of humor. Her ex-husband, Larry, came up with the idea to replay the crucifixion on the lawn of the local Baptist church and the new preacher in town decided to support it. As a member of the church, Tracy was willing to donate her skills as a carpenter, but Larry didn't like her proposed design and worked with a few of his buddies to build three crosses. The story goes on and we're suspecting it wouldn't go well since Larry is bigger on talk than execution. By the ending, Preacher Thompson has learned a few lessons about his congregation.
The people telling the stories all know each other and collectively, it's got elements of coming of age stories for many of the characters, though they are often constrained by the limits of their small town as they learn some hard lessons about life. In another story, "Between the States," Randy tells a tale of making lots of mistakes in his life after high school, including getting married to his girlfriend Darlene, but in later stories, he's starting to find that better life he'd hoped for.
The third narrator, Vincent, also finds challenges. In the story "My Father's Cadillacs," he's perplexed when his father, a college professor, trades in his Plymouth for an old Cadillac. He's quick to listen when a friend tells him it looks like an undertaker's car. Later, he has a heart to heart talk and his father talks about why he'd bought the Cadillac. Soon, his Dad gets a different Cadillac, a little better, but still a source of embarrassment for his son. Still, when it comes time for him to learn how to drive, the second Caddy is what he learns in. The story continues to evolve and Vincent eventually takes his girl friend to the prom in one of the Caddys with less than stellar results. Vincent eventually leaves town and moves to South Carolina, but the story about the Cadillacs remains part of his connection to Cliffside. This is an example of what I liked about these stories, which is how the town itself not only the physical setting, but also the backdrop to lots of stories about how these young people learned how to cope with growing up.
By the end of the book, we have a sense of Cliffside and why these characters have retained an affection for the area and people of the town. Rash tells these loosely connected stories and makes us feel what it's like to grow up in this particular town, and as readers, we root for the young people who have shared these experiences with us.
September 25, 2018
The Night the New Jesus Fell to Earth and Other Stories From Cliffside, North Carolina by Ron Rash (The Bench Press 1994) (Fiction – Short Story). These are ten early short stories from one of my favorite authors. This is his first book; it was published almost a quarter-century ago. It mainly serves to demonstrate the improvement that even a master wordsmith can garner when he continues to polish and practice his craft year in and year out. These are not bad stories, but they lack the impact that Rash's later work delivers in spades. My rating: 7/10, finished 9/25/18. I purchased my PB copy in very good condition from Amazon; it is a copy inscribed by the author. PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
March 6, 2018
This collection of stories are among the first Ron Rash ever published. Although his writing style has matured over the years these stories contain dry humor not found a lot in his more recent works- the basic bones of an amazing writer clearly come through.
November 15, 2020
I'm a sucker for short fiction, and Rash captures the intricacies of small-town life in the South with a winsome humor, without sugar-coating life's travails. The best short collection I've read since Stephen King's "Shawshank Redemption" and "Stand By Me." Terrific.
February 11, 2024
4.5 rounded up for the laugh-out-loud moments in these stories. Read for my author deep-dive, looking forward to more short stories. Characters in Cliffside are recognizable and believable, in all of their desires and flaws.
March 18, 2019
This book was insightful and often hilarious, making me laugh out loud several times. Ron Rash knows the South intimately, and his characters feel real and multi-dimensional.
December 21, 2019
From Notes from Beyond the Pale, on the Civil War: “... perhaps at no time history had better men fought for a worse cause.”
August 1, 2023
An excellent collection of short stories. Very enjoyable.
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