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Farewell, I'm Bound to Leave You
Farewell, I'm Bound to Leave You is rich with the music of the Southern mountains and the stories of their people. Jess Kirkman's grandmother is dying, and Jess remembers the tales she and his mother have passed down to him--a chorus of women's voices that sing and share and celebrate the common song of life.
228 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
11 people are currently reading
435 people want to read
About the author
Fred Chappell
106 books121 followersFred Davis Chappell retired after 40 years as an English professor at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He was the Poet Laureate of North Carolina from 1997-2002. He attended Duke University.
His 1968 novel Dagon, which was named the Best Foreign Book of the Year by the Academie Française, is a recasting of a Cthulhu Mythos horror story as a psychologically realistic Southern Gothic.
His literary awards include the Prix de Meilleur des Livres Etrangers, the Bollingen Prize, and the T. S. Eliot Prize.
His 1968 novel Dagon, which was named the Best Foreign Book of the Year by the Academie Française, is a recasting of a Cthulhu Mythos horror story as a psychologically realistic Southern Gothic.
His literary awards include the Prix de Meilleur des Livres Etrangers, the Bollingen Prize, and the T. S. Eliot Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
May 4, 2025
We will listen to the wind whisper and weep and tell you again those stories of women that your mother and grandmother needed for you to hear.
Jess Kirkman is remembering the stories that were passed down to him as his mother sits with his grandmother on her final day of life. This book of interconnected short stories about remarkable women is framed by several pages of lyrical passages as the clocks count down the hours.
The book is set in the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina, and the stories impart wisdom from the first half of the 20th Century. There are some quirky characters and lots of humor in these lyrical tales. The amusing interactions between cranky old Mr Worley and teenage tomboy, Earlene, in "The Fisherwoman" as he taught her fly fishing for trout made it one of my favorites. Other stories are about weary women who have hard lives with unrelenting labor, and the author writes, ". . . there's more women been scrubbed threadbare on the washboard than ever we count."
I'll probably be humming "Oh Shenandoah" for days after reading a tragic story,"The Madwoman." The title of the book comes from the last verse of the song:
And so farewell, I'm bound to leave you,
All away, you rolling river. . .
Another tale filled with music is "The Remembering Women" which featured a square dance:
It was as if their dancing, the female slide and shuffle, the masculine drum and thunder, propelled the house behind them; it had become a merry-go-round, turning steadily and stately as the music went just a little bit faster, just a little more, and he could tell there were furies in it, whirlwinds and cyclones and hurricanes that Quigley's fiddle barely held in check, that his calling could barely control.
Highly recommended! I read this story with the "On the Southern Literary Trail" group.
Jess Kirkman is remembering the stories that were passed down to him as his mother sits with his grandmother on her final day of life. This book of interconnected short stories about remarkable women is framed by several pages of lyrical passages as the clocks count down the hours.
The book is set in the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina, and the stories impart wisdom from the first half of the 20th Century. There are some quirky characters and lots of humor in these lyrical tales. The amusing interactions between cranky old Mr Worley and teenage tomboy, Earlene, in "The Fisherwoman" as he taught her fly fishing for trout made it one of my favorites. Other stories are about weary women who have hard lives with unrelenting labor, and the author writes, ". . . there's more women been scrubbed threadbare on the washboard than ever we count."
I'll probably be humming "Oh Shenandoah" for days after reading a tragic story,"The Madwoman." The title of the book comes from the last verse of the song:
And so farewell, I'm bound to leave you,
All away, you rolling river. . .
Another tale filled with music is "The Remembering Women" which featured a square dance:
It was as if their dancing, the female slide and shuffle, the masculine drum and thunder, propelled the house behind them; it had become a merry-go-round, turning steadily and stately as the music went just a little bit faster, just a little more, and he could tell there were furies in it, whirlwinds and cyclones and hurricanes that Quigley's fiddle barely held in check, that his calling could barely control.
Highly recommended! I read this story with the "On the Southern Literary Trail" group.
April 23, 2012
I had to work hard to find my way into this book, but it was well worth the initial effort. Once I got through the first couple of sections, I was fully immersed in this book's world. The voices are lovely and authentic, and the language is so gorgeous that I underlined like crazy before finally giving up and deciding to just reread the whole thing. If you love language and appreciate vivid description and attention to detail, give this book a try. It isn't a "page-turner," but a rich, sweet thing to be savored.
July 14, 2017
Keep in mind that I've read several Appalachian-influenced texts in the past two months and this is the last on my list (I like to go from longest to shortest); consequently, after reading some pretty tedious books, me finding this one sub-par could be because I'm finished with this odyssey tired and in serious need of the ability to read multiple genres of my choosing when I feel like it.
Anyway, I thought I'd like this one the best because if focused on strong women and involved oral storytelling in text. Unfortunately, a significant amount of storytelling relies on the storyteller, and I just couldn't appreciate the mother and grandmother. You know when you're talking to an older person (I think men are guilty of this too, but it is most likely a woman) (colleague, mother, someone in a position of authority who apparently has no one to talk to at home) and whatever your question in could be answered in three sentences or less, but you get a monologue and wish you never asked it? That's how I felt reading this book. Yes, I wanted to know about strong Appalachian women, but each story was so cookie cutter: Jess encourages the story, the speaker gives some background of the family, describes the girl in vivid detail, chastises Jess or men for something, refuses to give her "own" opinion, then concludes. Sure, a few of these could be ok (especially while intoxicated), but the repetitive nature was obnoxious. Yes, older people can be especially repetitive. No, I don't want a whole book with them narrating the story.
I did like how women could out-wit the men, were educated, and could manifest their own destinies (like the ghost girl coming back as pretty and blonde), but I wish it had been delivered better. Plus, since the narrators were all so removed and refused to give their judgments in the stories, I found them impossible to connect with as a woman. I think the reader is supposed to connect to how the matriarchs in the family have such strengths and carry the memories, but those concepts were foreign to my upbringing. Plus, if I were Jess, I would just get annoyed of them relentlessly teasing me over my crush and go away. Maybe Jess is dead and his hell is to listen to the stories all day, or maybe it's just purgatory since he asks for them, but I want to view it as a horrific tale of a boy who desperately needed a TV (sounds like a great Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode to me).
Anyway, I thought I'd like this one the best because if focused on strong women and involved oral storytelling in text. Unfortunately, a significant amount of storytelling relies on the storyteller, and I just couldn't appreciate the mother and grandmother. You know when you're talking to an older person (I think men are guilty of this too, but it is most likely a woman) (colleague, mother, someone in a position of authority who apparently has no one to talk to at home) and whatever your question in could be answered in three sentences or less, but you get a monologue and wish you never asked it? That's how I felt reading this book. Yes, I wanted to know about strong Appalachian women, but each story was so cookie cutter: Jess encourages the story, the speaker gives some background of the family, describes the girl in vivid detail, chastises Jess or men for something, refuses to give her "own" opinion, then concludes. Sure, a few of these could be ok (especially while intoxicated), but the repetitive nature was obnoxious. Yes, older people can be especially repetitive. No, I don't want a whole book with them narrating the story.
I did like how women could out-wit the men, were educated, and could manifest their own destinies (like the ghost girl coming back as pretty and blonde), but I wish it had been delivered better. Plus, since the narrators were all so removed and refused to give their judgments in the stories, I found them impossible to connect with as a woman. I think the reader is supposed to connect to how the matriarchs in the family have such strengths and carry the memories, but those concepts were foreign to my upbringing. Plus, if I were Jess, I would just get annoyed of them relentlessly teasing me over my crush and go away. Maybe Jess is dead and his hell is to listen to the stories all day, or maybe it's just purgatory since he asks for them, but I want to view it as a horrific tale of a boy who desperately needed a TV (sounds like a great Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode to me).
October 8, 2012
I think my favorite book I've ever read - and Fred Chappell has leapt over Alice Munro and William Trevor as my favorite authors. Maybe 4 or 5 times in my life have I read a book that I just felt plain lucky to have read, this is one of those books. I now have checked out every Fred Chappell novel/short story collection available in the state of Massachusetts and they are scattered about my house. Please, please, please read this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 7, 2015
This book is a gem. A mother and grandmother tell a young boy stories about various women in their small mountain community. Full of humor and of the flavorful speech I grew up with and seldom hear nowadays ("a shirttail youngun," "she's so mischievious she'll stir up the ashes just to see the sparks fly"). But it also contains, on every page, so much love and such rich feelings.
Highly recommended. this is one that will NOT go to the book sale.
Highly recommended. this is one that will NOT go to the book sale.
June 8, 2025
I’m not much of a short story collection reader so that may be part of my reaction to this book, although they were all inter-related. Loved how the beginning and ending was bookended by the current day reality of the grandmother’s last days and her saying farewell. The short stories in between held my interest at varying levels, but were all touching stories of the “old life” and characters in the Appalachian Mountains.
July 7, 2017
More women's voices, written by a man. I liked these women, and I liked the magic that is a part of their day and world. Growing up in a rural area, I recognized so many of these "types" - and there is an interesting frame of waiting for death.
February 4, 2011
This is a book so beautifully written you want to read it out loud - preferably to someone.
If you have favorite books that you read and read again throughout your lifetime, this is a likely candidate, especially if you value southern writers and characters.
This book along with Chappell's Look Back All the Green Valley, I Am One of You Forever,and Brighten the Corner Where You Are, is a book I read and re-read.
If you have favorite books that you read and read again throughout your lifetime, this is a likely candidate, especially if you value southern writers and characters.
This book along with Chappell's Look Back All the Green Valley, I Am One of You Forever,and Brighten the Corner Where You Are, is a book I read and re-read.
October 30, 2011
I loved the writing style of the author. Very inspiring use of words to describe various settings and feelings.
The stories, as told to a boy entering adolescence, by his mother, were about people and places that she remembered from her youth. I enjoyed the reading for the first half or so of the book, but started to lose interest by the time I was hit the last few chapters.
I will keep this book as a solid reference for good writing that flows beautifully :)
The stories, as told to a boy entering adolescence, by his mother, were about people and places that she remembered from her youth. I enjoyed the reading for the first half or so of the book, but started to lose interest by the time I was hit the last few chapters.
I will keep this book as a solid reference for good writing that flows beautifully :)
February 25, 2011
Magical collection of stories a mother and grandmother tell to a boy and he remembers as the grandmother is dying. Southern story telling at its best with the phrasing of a poet.
"Scarlet as beets ons white dinner plate."
"The smell of apples rose about us like the strains of ancient music. "
"Scarlet as beets ons white dinner plate."
"The smell of apples rose about us like the strains of ancient music. "
June 27, 2013
TCL Call Number: F Chappell
Mary's rating: 4 stars
This character-driven novel takes place in the early 20th century in Appalachia. It has an interesting perspective twist, with a young man's take on local women's stories he learns through the gossip of his mother and grandmother. Each chapter represents a different kind of woman based on their skillsets or attributes.
Mary's rating: 4 stars
This character-driven novel takes place in the early 20th century in Appalachia. It has an interesting perspective twist, with a young man's take on local women's stories he learns through the gossip of his mother and grandmother. Each chapter represents a different kind of woman based on their skillsets or attributes.
February 11, 2009
At first I thought this book was too simplistic, but I started to enjoy the colloquial speech and the interesting characters. I also liked the moral theme of how families are important and doing good is important.
October 2, 2010
I really enjoyed this book. Each chapter is like it's own short story all related by place and time and narration by one of the two main characters. Chappell uses poetic language beautifully and the characters and setting really came alive for me.
February 3, 2013
This novel is actually a series of short stories tied together by a grandmother's death and a grandson's and daughter's memories. The stories are about simple people who are much more complex than they seem. This is an enjoyable read, one that brought back fond memories for me.
July 22, 2024
It’s exciting when you find a writer you love that not a lot of people know about, and that’s exactly what’s happened with me concerning Fred Chappell. I initially discovered him years ago in a Smoky Mountain News article. In that article, I learned he was a Haywood County native, which is where I lived at the time, so I decided to pick up one of his books and give him a try. What I discovered is that Chappell is truly one of the most underappreciated American authors of our time, perhaps all time, a true bard of Appalachia, one of the few writers I’ve read who can be funny and serious and poignant and silly and cosmic all while capturing the beating heart of a specific place in the world. Reading Chappell, I”m transported back to the holler we lived in for two years, that dank, dark, magical, beautiful place where the sun fell behind the mountain at 4 p.m. in the winter and fog drifted through the contours on early summer mornings. We still live in Appalachia, of course, but not right in the guts of it like we did in Haywood County. The mountains swallow you down there. They whisper secrets to you, secrets that Chappell has listened to and relays to his readers. They fill you with awe and reverence and eeriness and a sense of ancientness. Chappell captures all of these feelings perfectly in all three of his books that I’ve read, but nowhere is he more on top of his game than in “Farewell.” Each chapter is about a specific woman who made an impact on the holler they lived in, and each story is told in a tall-taleish, distinctly Appalachian way, like you’re sitting around a small kitchen table in a stone house along the Pigeon River in Cruso and listening to an old woman recount stories about people she used to know. I can’t put my finger on what makes Chappell so good at chronicling life in Haywood County, but I think it has to do with the fact that, having grown up there, he understands the cadence of speech unique to that part of the world, and perhaps more importantly, the way being surrounded by those old mountains feels, how each community is made insular by the isolating geography, how back in the day stories were passed down orally and by no other means. This leads to the exaggerated tall-taleish qualities of stories endemic to that region. What I like about “Farewell” specifically is its celebration of remarkable local women (progressive in its time), the way it stretches these women into caricatures while still making them feel real. Also, the way Chappell uses surrealism so sparingly that it catches you by surprise every time he does it, an approach that mimics the experience of living in Haywood County. On even the most ho-hum, unremarkable days, I’d randomly find myself overcome with a sense of magic regarding the beauty of this place. Stay in the mountains long enough and they will fill your bones with wonder. Chappell expresses this sentiment better than any writer I know.
July 1, 2025
As part of reading a variety of southern authors, this is the third Fred Chappell book I’ve read thanks to an OLLI course here in Asheville. I liked the first book. I really liked the characters and storytelling of the second. Reading the third was an experience that just made me happy that I am alive so that I could what Chappell created.
I’m not a reader that laughs out loud when reading but I find myself smiling many times as I read this author. I wasn’t raised in the south but so many of the characters and what those characters do, feel like cousins and friends of mine from Illinois going about life on the farm. And the writing - so many wonderful ideas, sentences, and phrases….
When I started reading his books, he reminded me of Clyde Edgerton. I haven’t read anything by him in 30+ years. I want to reread some to compare.
“She began brushing the peels off the table into her aproned lap.”
“She told me a lot and then I put myself in her place so I could tell the story to you. That’s what storytellers do. “
“These things he would put into books so that all the world could read and know us the way we lived in the coves and on the sides of the hazy hills. They would learn from his books that we were people like other people, wise and foolish, brave and frightened, saintly and unholy and ordinary.”
“The room we sat in my grandmother had always referred to as the front room.”
“…the rock chimney leaned three ways at once…”
“Anywhere she went, she was as welcome as August rain.”
“Jess, they don’t poke your eyes out when you recite the wedding vows .” (Mom explaining that her mom had a crush on a guy even though she was married.)
I’m not a reader that laughs out loud when reading but I find myself smiling many times as I read this author. I wasn’t raised in the south but so many of the characters and what those characters do, feel like cousins and friends of mine from Illinois going about life on the farm. And the writing - so many wonderful ideas, sentences, and phrases….
When I started reading his books, he reminded me of Clyde Edgerton. I haven’t read anything by him in 30+ years. I want to reread some to compare.
“She began brushing the peels off the table into her aproned lap.”
“She told me a lot and then I put myself in her place so I could tell the story to you. That’s what storytellers do. “
“These things he would put into books so that all the world could read and know us the way we lived in the coves and on the sides of the hazy hills. They would learn from his books that we were people like other people, wise and foolish, brave and frightened, saintly and unholy and ordinary.”
“The room we sat in my grandmother had always referred to as the front room.”
“…the rock chimney leaned three ways at once…”
“Anywhere she went, she was as welcome as August rain.”
“Jess, they don’t poke your eyes out when you recite the wedding vows .” (Mom explaining that her mom had a crush on a guy even though she was married.)
December 22, 2016
Hm. Fred Chappell is a good storyteller. I liked some of the stories. I think they could have stood alone in a short story collection. I'm not sure that much was gained by bookending them with a death scene meant to link them all. That part felt contrived, ever though I also liked the more lyrical writing it used.
I didn't hear a difference between the characters' voices as they narrated. A mother told half the stories and her daughter the rest. But they all were one voice. And odd that a man would write a whole book purporting to tell women's ways. I guess that's why he used the construction of having women tell these stories to their son.
Lastly, some of the stories were a TOO folksy. I didn't like the one about how the narrator's mother supposedly won the heart of her husband. It was too cliched.
Still, overall this was a fast and easy read. Many of the stories were gentle page-turners that made for the perfect book to read on the bus.
I didn't hear a difference between the characters' voices as they narrated. A mother told half the stories and her daughter the rest. But they all were one voice. And odd that a man would write a whole book purporting to tell women's ways. I guess that's why he used the construction of having women tell these stories to their son.
Lastly, some of the stories were a TOO folksy. I didn't like the one about how the narrator's mother supposedly won the heart of her husband. It was too cliched.
Still, overall this was a fast and easy read. Many of the stories were gentle page-turners that made for the perfect book to read on the bus.
February 16, 2021
Fred Chappell's charming book is all about Jess's attempt to understand his father's past and help him to understand his own past. His father, Joe Robert, was an interesting person with many interesting ideas and interests. Jess discovers them when he is called home to help his sister sort out some family problems, the most pressing being where to bury his parents since their family plot can only hold one body and his mother wants to be buried with her husband. Jess's search for his father's past and his reconciling of his own propels the story forward. The ending is an interesting and a very charming one. It does justice to his fictional father's legacy so I will not tell more than that. I enjoyed this book a lot. Fred Chappell is one of North Carolina's true gems and his works are definitely worth reading.
April 20, 2021
This is an amazing book of Southern characters as described only by the best Southern writers. Each of these folks that could live down the road from you is rich and alive. The chapters are stories that could stand independently, but all have commonalities. Some of the stories are old-fashioned tall tales like I haven't read in many years. Some are touching (most, really). All are rich with detail and humanity. It is one of the best books I've read in quite some time. Please don't let this one pass you by.
August 5, 2018
It started out enjoyable and the author had a very unique voice, but by the time I was halfway through, the stories were so redundant and I couldn't handle another manufactured Southernism that was meant to be witty but just fell flat because it isn't something anyone actually says.
Final verdict: not horrible, but I just didn't feel like finishing it.
Final verdict: not horrible, but I just didn't feel like finishing it.
October 29, 2020
Basically a collection of southern short stories that touches on the wisdom and culture of eastern mountain folk. It has the warm feel of old-fashioned storytelling; I can easily imagine Chappell sitting in front of a fire, spooling out stories about family and neighbors long gone but not forgotten. I enjoyed the writing and tales, almost all of them.
June 25, 2023
If you're looking for a conventional novel, this isn't it. This actually more of a collection of stories, each centering around a particular woman. Chappell was probably best known for his poetry, and his language here sparkles and glistens like a brook in mountain spring. There's humor and lyricism, and this is a must for anyone interested in Appalachian fiction.
May 9, 2025
These stories brought back so many memories of my paternal grandmother, her own stories, her life! As well as the passing of my mother in 2016. I need to write down my thoughts on both of them to pass on to my grandchildren & future great-grandchildren. Their stories need to be told & remembered!
May 31, 2025
A series of tales from mountains of North Carolina. Quality of the tales varies, but the quality of the language doesn't . . . it's wonderful, a glimpse into how words and phrases can evolve and grow rich in a small community that is cut off from mainstream culture. I listened on Audible and hearing the phrases added to the pleasure.
July 12, 2025
Great story telling and beautiful language that brings you into early 20th century Appalachia. It was the perfect book for me at this moment in life. Sometimes I got lost in the pretty language but the plot made up for it. One of Patrick’s favorite books that I’ve been promising I’d read for years.
July 13, 2020
10 stars for me - a beautiful and magical weaving of mountain women, stories and songs.
June 21, 2023
I enjoyed the stories but need to read again to savour the beautiful writing.
April 16, 2024
What a storyteller! Wish I’d discovered Chappell years ago. On to the fourth & final book in the series.
April 30, 2024
(no 27 of 2024)
May 23, 2025
im still not sure if im the one leaving or being left behind omg 10/10 emotional ambiquity. u really had me there
Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews