Blood Kin

by Mark Powell

Set in the South Carolina foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the late summer of 1970, Blood Kin tells the story of the Burden family and the community of outcasts that surrounds them. James Burden is the eldest son in the Burden family. A Korean War veteran and former prisoner-of-war, he struggles with inner demons and drug addiction. He has returned home after almost two decades of absence to find his family members consumed with struggles all their own. His former wife is haunted by her thoughts of an unborn child. His brothers, both Vietnam veterans, are troubled by their experiences there. Roy Burden returned a hero, while Enis Burden saw no combat at all. The younger brothers are also dealing with troubles with love and the hopes of starting their own families. James’s father is himself disturbed by his memories of his own father’s dark deeds and death. And James’s mother is plagued by worry for her husband and sons. The Burdens face their struggles within a community of misfits, including a reluctant sheriff, a runaway thief, a forgotten fire-talker, a religious con man and his actress girlfriend, a local apple baron, and a failed prophet. All of them are living on the fringes of a rural South racing toward a middle-class modernity that has little use for any of them. Blood Kin was awarded the 2005 Peter Taylor Prize for the Novel, an award named for one of the South’s most celebrated writers. The annual prize, co-sponsored by the Knoxville Writers’ Guild and the University of Tennessee Press, endeavors to bring to light novels of high literary quality, thereby honoring Peter Taylor’s own practice of assisting writers who care about the craft of fiction.

Genres: Southern

239 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2006

About the author

Mark Powell is the author of six novels. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers’ Conferences, and in 2014 was a Fulbright Fellow to Slovakia. In 2009, he received the Chaffin Award for contributions to Appalachian literature. He holds degrees from Yale Divinity School, the University of South Carolina, and The Citadel. He lives in the mountains of North Carolina, where he teaches at Appalachian State University.

Reviews

[Dave Marsland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Salvation – you either believe in it or you don’t
Written with haunting wisdom, Blood Kin is Appalachian writing at its absolute very best. It's dark and beautiful. Quite how is has so few ratings/reviews is beyond me. But when people like Ron Rash, Charles Dodd White and Silas House tell you that Mark Powell is a superb writer, you should listen. This is brilliant.

[S.W. Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more I learn about writing, the more I learn to appreciate the depths of Powell's ability and his uncompromising commitment to the written word. A stone cast in a tranquil pool will make a small splash followed by ever expanding concentric cirlces. Only an artist with a keen eye and an unfettered imagination can follow these waves and reveal the truths below the surface. I can't wait for his next book and the next and the next...

[Lexy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is hauntingly sad and yet beautiful. I want to remember this last sentence…there is faith enough to turn one’s back on the world, there is faith enough to go on.

[Karen Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Powell's Blood Kin is ALMOST among my top ten favorite books of all time. What made this book difficult reading was its light, thin type and its total lack of chapter breaks. Thank you, University of Tennessee Press! :(

Set in the piedmont of South Carolina, Powell's work takes readers on a journey through the struggles of the Burden family. James, a Korean War veteran, returns to the United States but abandons his wife for twenty years, never overcoming his drug problem. Roy, a jet pilot in the Vietnam War, falls in love with the wrong woman. Their father William suffered dark secrets of his own, only hinted at in memories of his wife Madison.

With a little more editing, this novel could have stood beside the likes of books like One Foot in Eden, by Ron Rash. I look forward to reading more of Powell's work.

[timv · Rating 3 out of 5]

I failed to find a character I could care about in this novel. That’s unfortunate, because the author captures a place and time. I don’t think I’ve ever seen dialogue written quite so well. I started wondering if there was ever going to be a female character in this book. There were, but they are just sketches of a character. It didn’t quite fit together for me, but author shows glimpses of brilliance as a writer. All in all, it kind of read like a first novel to me.

[MaryAnn · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me way too long to read this book. Although I identified with the locations and phrasing the author uses, I couldn't follow the story. Too much switching back and forth among characters and the past/present. I finally finished it last night.