Grey Pine

by T Lloyd Winetsky

On May 18, 1980, the eruption of Mount Saint Helens captured the attention of America. The communities east of the Cascade Mountains were woefully unprepared for the devastation and disruption that followed, transforming for many a bright spring day into a murky, twenty-hour night. Grey Pine is the story of Phillip Stark, a bright and innovative young science teacher who attempts to treat the ash fall as an opportunity for experiment and wonder, but who is constantly thwarted by the resulting havoc in the community, and his own personal demons. As his health declines, his relationships suffer. The chaotic and often dangerous situations with his alcoholic father, irksome neighbor, unreliable girlfriend, and strained friendships derail any attempt to regain control of his life. All the while the omnipresent ash from the volcanic eruption acts as a symbolic reminder of his oppression and inability to break through. Grey Pine is a gritty account of post-Vietnam America that chronicles social ills that are not unfamiliar to us in the present youth suicide, clinical depression, racial tension, alcoholism, and the malaise from an unpopular war. Phillip must find a way to maintain his sanity and strength to move past the obstacles created by the forces of nature—both those from without and within.

324 pages, Paperback

Published October 8, 2015

Reviews

[Courtney Chappell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn't at all what I thought it would be. I stared reading this expecting to read all about Mt St Helens and the explosion. Instead, I found myself reading about dealing with death and depression.
The way the book was written took me a while to get into. There are sentences of his inner thoughts that are interrupting to the story.
This really wasn't my kind of book at all. I wanted more of a disaster story and less of a drama.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Possible spoiler only at the end.

This book grew on me. I bought the book because it it set during and immediately after the Mt St Helens eruption in 1980 in Washington, and also because the author is local. I bought it from him at a local holiday fair. The book is set in Washington, near where I now live. I was born a couple weeks after the eruption, but not near Washington, so I hadn't heard personal accounts of the ash fall until I moved here.
The book is fiction, perhaps semi-autobiographical, but set against the backdrop of real events.
When I said I wanted to buy the book, the author warned me that it had some hard subjects. I think he thought I might not be expecting conflict or swearing. I'm not sure what someone reads who would be bothered by the language, but there it is.

When I started reading, I was annoyed by the way the internal dialogue is written. I found the style jarring and strange. However, I am glad I stuck with it because I think I realized, by the end, that the jarring style was intentional and an important element of the story of the main character. If I had stopped early I would have been disappointed with the book.

I still had a one quibble with the book. I read it because of the local connection, expecting to hear about Yakima and Tieton and Cle Elum, or wherever. The author fictionalized the city names and perhaps even the names of places his characters went hiking. I felt like I was almost able to figure out where things were happening, but not quite and that was disorienting and a little disappointing.
I suppose he did this because he combined or fictionalized the ash at different locations.

Spoiler, ahead, maybe?
Honestly, I don't know if I would have selected this book if not for the local aspect and the volcano, but in the end it maybe did a better job of illustrating depression than the effects of the volcano. Which is to say it was a powerful (and not painful) depiction of depression. The depiction of depression snuck up on me so that I didn't even realize that's what I was reading about. It's there on the back cover, but sneaky-like, which is why I say it might be a spoiler.