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Salvage This World
In Michael Farris Smith's latest "riveting" epic, a young woman returns home with her child to her ghost-haunted father, while a religious extremist hunts the stormridden territory to find the girl who may be the region's savior. (Laird Hunt, National Book Award-nominated author of Zorrie and Neverhome ) There was no rising from the dead and there was no hand to calm the storms and there was no peace in no valley.
In the hurricane-ravaged bottomlands of South Mississippi, where stores are closing and jobs are few, a fierce zealot has gained a foothold, capitalizing on the vulnerability of a dwindling population and a burning need for hope. As she preaches and promises salvation from the light of the pulpit, in the shadows she sows the seeds of violence.
Elsewhere, Jessie and her toddler, Jace, are on the run across the Mississippi/Louisiana line, in a resentful return to her childhood home and her desolate father. Holt, Jace's father, is missing and hunted by a brutish crowd, and an old man witnesses the wrong thing in the depths of night. In only a matter of days, all of their lives will collide, and be altered, in the maelstrom of the changing world.
At once elegiac and profound, Salvage This World journeys into the heart of a region growing darker and less forgiving, and asks how we keep going—what do we hold onto—in a land where God has fled.
Garden & Gun Top Reads of 2023 • Bibliolifestyle Best Literary Fiction of 2023 • Southern Living Southern Writers to Read Right Now
In the hurricane-ravaged bottomlands of South Mississippi, where stores are closing and jobs are few, a fierce zealot has gained a foothold, capitalizing on the vulnerability of a dwindling population and a burning need for hope. As she preaches and promises salvation from the light of the pulpit, in the shadows she sows the seeds of violence.
Elsewhere, Jessie and her toddler, Jace, are on the run across the Mississippi/Louisiana line, in a resentful return to her childhood home and her desolate father. Holt, Jace's father, is missing and hunted by a brutish crowd, and an old man witnesses the wrong thing in the depths of night. In only a matter of days, all of their lives will collide, and be altered, in the maelstrom of the changing world.
At once elegiac and profound, Salvage This World journeys into the heart of a region growing darker and less forgiving, and asks how we keep going—what do we hold onto—in a land where God has fled.
Garden & Gun Top Reads of 2023 • Bibliolifestyle Best Literary Fiction of 2023 • Southern Living Southern Writers to Read Right Now
272 pages, Hardcover
First published April 25, 2023
60 people are currently reading
5692 people want to read
About the author
Michael Farris Smith
23 books890 followersMichael Farris Smith is an award-winning writer whose novels have appeared on Best of the Year lists with Esquire, NPR, Southern Living, Garden & Gun, Oprah Magazine, Book Riot, and numerous other outlets, and have been named Indie Next, Barnes & Noble Discover, and Amazon Best of the Month selections. He has also written the feature-film adaptations of his novels Desperation Road and The Fighter, titled for the screen as Rumble Through the Dark. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi, with his wife and daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 174 reviews
May 7, 2023
This is how you do it. MFS delivers another solid southern noir thriller.
Right from the get go there is a flurry of activity. People chasing people; a girl; a child.A prophet.
Climate change has brought numerous hurricanes to Mississippi and Louisiana, levelling out towns. People have left. Those who remain are survivor scavengers. It’s a lawless country with evil lurking. A hunt for keys that appear to belong to some ancient tomb.
For grit lit chasers, run no more. I couldn’t put this one down.
4⭐️
Right from the get go there is a flurry of activity. People chasing people; a girl; a child.A prophet.
Climate change has brought numerous hurricanes to Mississippi and Louisiana, levelling out towns. People have left. Those who remain are survivor scavengers. It’s a lawless country with evil lurking. A hunt for keys that appear to belong to some ancient tomb.
For grit lit chasers, run no more. I couldn’t put this one down.
4⭐️
March 11, 2023
No one writes desperation like Michael Farris Smith.
South Mississippi has been ravaged by Hurricanes, crops are failing, people are moving and those that remain cling to hope while desperately trying to survive their day to day lives. It is also where a religious zealot has taken hold. She gives dynamic and bizarre sermons telling of a female child who will save them....
South Mississippi is where Jesse and her young son have returned to her childhood home. Jesse is desperate and in need of help. She has not spoken to her father, Wade since she left with Holt, Jace's father years ago. Wade doesn't know much about Jesse's life since she left, but he knows desperation and need.
In a few days, everything has changed and with a Hurricane looming, things are going to get dark, dangerous, and deadly.
Wowza! Michael Farris Smith has delivered yet again. I love his writing and description. He has his finger on the pulse of people who have their backs against the wall, who have nothing left to lose and have nothing left to give. He writes human emotion beautifully. His writing it elegant and beautiful. I also enjoy how he uses the elements and landscape to also depict the desperation and bleakness in which his characters live. Life is tough, they will need to be tougher.
I love how I am absorbed into the world Michael Farris Smith creates and being taken on the journey along with his characters. This is southern noir/grit/gothic at its best. This isn't an easy tale, but it is beautifully told.
4.5 stars
#SalvageThisWorld #NetGalley #MichaelFarrisSmith
Thank you to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
South Mississippi has been ravaged by Hurricanes, crops are failing, people are moving and those that remain cling to hope while desperately trying to survive their day to day lives. It is also where a religious zealot has taken hold. She gives dynamic and bizarre sermons telling of a female child who will save them....
South Mississippi is where Jesse and her young son have returned to her childhood home. Jesse is desperate and in need of help. She has not spoken to her father, Wade since she left with Holt, Jace's father years ago. Wade doesn't know much about Jesse's life since she left, but he knows desperation and need.
In a few days, everything has changed and with a Hurricane looming, things are going to get dark, dangerous, and deadly.
Wowza! Michael Farris Smith has delivered yet again. I love his writing and description. He has his finger on the pulse of people who have their backs against the wall, who have nothing left to lose and have nothing left to give. He writes human emotion beautifully. His writing it elegant and beautiful. I also enjoy how he uses the elements and landscape to also depict the desperation and bleakness in which his characters live. Life is tough, they will need to be tougher.
I love how I am absorbed into the world Michael Farris Smith creates and being taken on the journey along with his characters. This is southern noir/grit/gothic at its best. This isn't an easy tale, but it is beautifully told.
4.5 stars
#SalvageThisWorld #NetGalley #MichaelFarrisSmith
Thank you to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
May 16, 2023
Hurricane season has become something even more frightening than it has always been. As soon as one hurricane does its business, another one is one the way. The Louisiana/Mississippi region is a sodden mess, with businesses shut down, and residents moving out. There is little reason to return between hurricanes, farming is out of the question now. The few folks who remain are die-hard folks who can't or won't leave. Beware a religious nutter who is traversing the area and spewing her steaming venom. A man with a scarred soul, a frightened young woman with her toddler, and shadows that seem to have a life of their own. If you like plenty of grit mixed in with your novels, you will not come up short with this one.
Come on down if you dare. The kudzu is creeping, and it is thriving.
Come on down if you dare. The kudzu is creeping, and it is thriving.
March 24, 2023
“She wished that leaving home could have been as simple as being mad at her father. She wished the story was as old is that”.
The beginning….
“She stood bathed in twilight, the dust in her hair and a kid on her hip, and she stared at the approaching storm, as if trying to figure
how to wrangle the thunder head and steer them to a distant and parched land where desperate souls would pay whatever ransom she demanded”.
Jessie knew people were looking for her husband. She knew that there was a
damn good reason that he never returned home. She also knew that she and her child, Jace, could never go back to the house. She knew she would have to keep running.
Jessie and her little boy Jace were shivering cold during the night…running through the woods. And hungry. There were sounds of owls, nightbirds, and other creatures. It was also pitch dark…..but Jessie tried to comfort her son (still in diapers) - telling him things would be all right as she waited for the morning light. Jessie had a pistol with her (for more protection) that she had grabbed from her secret hiding place at home just before she ran out of the house.
“She picked up a rock and threw it, and then another and another, finally crying out in disgust with not just today and yesterday, but crying out against the years that had led her to now. All the steps she had taken to arrive on this empty road in the middle of nowhere with her small son asleep, and a stolen car and a dead thing wrapped in a garbage bag in the hatch and she screamed out into the void, and when she had screamed herself out of breath, she turned and saw Jace’s face in the window. Awakened by his mother. His nose and palms pressed against the glass”.
“Home” …. the toddler said.
I found it so sad to hear little Jace say (repeat) “Home” to his mom.
Jessie was thinking….
“I don’t know where that is, she thought. I don’t know which direction. I don’t know what to do. And then he said it again, and pressed her cheeks harder with his little hands”.
“Home”.
“She squeezed him. Walked down the road, holding him, singing bits and pieces of songs. Fragments of lullabies and a half a verse of Amazing Grace, and ending with both of them quacking like ducks. They sang and walked and she kept looking back at the hatchback, as if hoping it had sunk into the earth, or maybe never existed at all”.
Wade was lying on the couch.
He was watching television and listening to his mother and smaller sister, laughing in the other room. It was one of the last days they would all be together before his mother took his sister and ran away, leaving Wade with his father…..
…..”for reasons he both understood and never would”.
Forty years had passed. Wade “imagined the voice of God saying I created you and I can destroy you and don’t you ever forget it”.
It was raining….
cracks of lightning and thunderclaps lessening in volume…. clouds and streaks of sunshine — and a rich blue sky were a-coming soon…
Wade was just hanging on the couch — wanting a cigarette. The phone rang… a surprise… as it seldom did.
“Daddy?”….
Jessie, his daughter was on the phone.
“I need to come home”.
I’m saying no more….
[being a good girl for a change]…..
Other than to say ….
….the setting takes place in Mississippi—crossed from Louisiana—(with MFS-signature
atmospheric experiences of the elements)….
And gripping page turning storytelling with characters to root for: Jessie, Jace, and Wade.
As for Holt, (father of Jace)….shhhh > lets not say his name again.
….I’ve read six of Michael Farris Smith’s ‘other’ books —
…Nick
…Blackwood
…The Fighter
…Desperation Road
…Rivers
…The Hands of Stranger
….yes, I’m a big time fan of his work!!!!
And….
…*Savage This World*
is one of his best in the stack!
….the underline - but always felt tenderness was warmth in my heart — in ways cracks of violence from lightning striking - and other violent wasn’t.
To miss reading Michael Farris Smith (MFS) would be like never seeing the ocean, or never having walked through the enchanting forests….
Kudos Michael — another great novel!!!!
Really a GEM!!! Very engrossing!!!
The beginning….
“She stood bathed in twilight, the dust in her hair and a kid on her hip, and she stared at the approaching storm, as if trying to figure
how to wrangle the thunder head and steer them to a distant and parched land where desperate souls would pay whatever ransom she demanded”.
Jessie knew people were looking for her husband. She knew that there was a
damn good reason that he never returned home. She also knew that she and her child, Jace, could never go back to the house. She knew she would have to keep running.
Jessie and her little boy Jace were shivering cold during the night…running through the woods. And hungry. There were sounds of owls, nightbirds, and other creatures. It was also pitch dark…..but Jessie tried to comfort her son (still in diapers) - telling him things would be all right as she waited for the morning light. Jessie had a pistol with her (for more protection) that she had grabbed from her secret hiding place at home just before she ran out of the house.
“She picked up a rock and threw it, and then another and another, finally crying out in disgust with not just today and yesterday, but crying out against the years that had led her to now. All the steps she had taken to arrive on this empty road in the middle of nowhere with her small son asleep, and a stolen car and a dead thing wrapped in a garbage bag in the hatch and she screamed out into the void, and when she had screamed herself out of breath, she turned and saw Jace’s face in the window. Awakened by his mother. His nose and palms pressed against the glass”.
“Home” …. the toddler said.
I found it so sad to hear little Jace say (repeat) “Home” to his mom.
Jessie was thinking….
“I don’t know where that is, she thought. I don’t know which direction. I don’t know what to do. And then he said it again, and pressed her cheeks harder with his little hands”.
“Home”.
“She squeezed him. Walked down the road, holding him, singing bits and pieces of songs. Fragments of lullabies and a half a verse of Amazing Grace, and ending with both of them quacking like ducks. They sang and walked and she kept looking back at the hatchback, as if hoping it had sunk into the earth, or maybe never existed at all”.
Wade was lying on the couch.
He was watching television and listening to his mother and smaller sister, laughing in the other room. It was one of the last days they would all be together before his mother took his sister and ran away, leaving Wade with his father…..
…..”for reasons he both understood and never would”.
Forty years had passed. Wade “imagined the voice of God saying I created you and I can destroy you and don’t you ever forget it”.
It was raining….
cracks of lightning and thunderclaps lessening in volume…. clouds and streaks of sunshine — and a rich blue sky were a-coming soon…
Wade was just hanging on the couch — wanting a cigarette. The phone rang… a surprise… as it seldom did.
“Daddy?”….
Jessie, his daughter was on the phone.
“I need to come home”.
I’m saying no more….
[being a good girl for a change]…..
Other than to say ….
….the setting takes place in Mississippi—crossed from Louisiana—(with MFS-signature
atmospheric experiences of the elements)….
And gripping page turning storytelling with characters to root for: Jessie, Jace, and Wade.
As for Holt, (father of Jace)….shhhh > lets not say his name again.
….I’ve read six of Michael Farris Smith’s ‘other’ books —
…Nick
…Blackwood
…The Fighter
…Desperation Road
…Rivers
…The Hands of Stranger
….yes, I’m a big time fan of his work!!!!
And….
…*Savage This World*
is one of his best in the stack!
….the underline - but always felt tenderness was warmth in my heart — in ways cracks of violence from lightning striking - and other violent wasn’t.
To miss reading Michael Farris Smith (MFS) would be like never seeing the ocean, or never having walked through the enchanting forests….
Kudos Michael — another great novel!!!!
Really a GEM!!! Very engrossing!!!
April 29, 2023
Michael Farris Smith has written another riveting novel.. full of grit and set in the hurricane ravaged area of Mississippi. What a ride!
This is my 6th novel that I’ve read by him.. looking forward to anything he writes.. he’s an amazing writer, a favorite!
By the way… his novels Desperation Road and The Fighter are both being made into movies right now… I could see all of his books going to film!
https://deadline.com/2023/02/desperat...
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt10950320/
This is my 6th novel that I’ve read by him.. looking forward to anything he writes.. he’s an amazing writer, a favorite!
By the way… his novels Desperation Road and The Fighter are both being made into movies right now… I could see all of his books going to film!
https://deadline.com/2023/02/desperat...
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt10950320/
May 9, 2023
Between talking about God and guns they manage to mention the weather every now and then.
Michael Farris Smith can be counted on to deliver a good story. This is the third book I’ve read by him. Although this book and ‘Rivers,’ published in 2013 have weather and a demented evangelist in common, the characters are different and the story was different enough to satisfy me. If anything, he’s ratcheted up the pacing. I was carried along at a fast clip, from chapter to chapter, curious to find out what happened next. Honestly, the action and pacing are so fluid they left little time to savor Smith’s prose. Writing this review helped me go back and do that.
Wade and his daughter, Jessie are estranged. When she was eighteen she ran off with Holt, a man twelve years her senior. Wade and Jessie’s relationship had not been all that great to begin with; he worked offshore on oil rigs and left her to the care of relatives and friends for long periods. He refuses to answer her questions about her mother. He’s taciturn with a far-off gaze but has grown to realize his shortcomings as a father. Now Jessie’s in trouble, Holt has left, and she has a toddler boy to consider. Her father is the only person she can call.
Smith locates his readers in the dismal gray of what Louisiana and Mississippi have become under the hammer of frequent hurricanes and tornadoes. Crops can’t grow in the soggy land. FEMA trailers, houses, strip malls, lumber yards, mills, and other industries stand like ghostly sentinels of a bygone era. Wade has stayed, resorting to a salvaging business, which he thinks Jessie might call just plain stealing.
In the wake of all these people leaving, elements of violence and opportunity have gained more than just a foothold. People are looking for food, a way to make money, an easy mark. Holt’s backstory includes some time with Evangelist Elser. After a dead drunk night, he wakes up to a revival tent. They take him in as they have many others. There’s quite an entourage of stake drivers, tent raisers, and basket holders for the offerings. Elser drives a hearse. She is intuitive, charismatic, and has a feel for how to manipulate people through fear and threads of hope. Smith’s description of Elser and her occupation drips with disdain. I’m not sure if it’s the author’s or Holt’s. Perhaps both. Considering that Smith grew up in Mississippi in a deeply religious family, his father was a Southern Baptist minister, I can’t help thinking he’s mining his own story here.
The sermons that Elser delivered under the tent of the Temple of Pain and Glory were filled with hellfire and damnation. A doctrine that camouflaged a more pure theology of greed and dread and lust… The tent revival and its aggressive and chainsmoking leader doled out salvation to dilapidated, barely governed communities across Louisiana and Mississippi, places where the population seemed to dwindle each day, but the revival arrived anyway and offered up sizzling hallelujahs and praise-the-lords from a castiron skillet of fear and loathing.
As the story progresses, and Elser and her minions try to take back what Holt stole from them, I am reminded of Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness.’ It’s dark and scary, a place of evil. I felt the weight of it. There’s hope, the boy Jace is brimming with the goodwill and the innocence of babyhood…and there are things that can be salvaged, even when it looks like everything’s going down the tube. Redemption is possible, but at what cost?
Michael Farris Smith can be counted on to deliver a good story. This is the third book I’ve read by him. Although this book and ‘Rivers,’ published in 2013 have weather and a demented evangelist in common, the characters are different and the story was different enough to satisfy me. If anything, he’s ratcheted up the pacing. I was carried along at a fast clip, from chapter to chapter, curious to find out what happened next. Honestly, the action and pacing are so fluid they left little time to savor Smith’s prose. Writing this review helped me go back and do that.
Wade and his daughter, Jessie are estranged. When she was eighteen she ran off with Holt, a man twelve years her senior. Wade and Jessie’s relationship had not been all that great to begin with; he worked offshore on oil rigs and left her to the care of relatives and friends for long periods. He refuses to answer her questions about her mother. He’s taciturn with a far-off gaze but has grown to realize his shortcomings as a father. Now Jessie’s in trouble, Holt has left, and she has a toddler boy to consider. Her father is the only person she can call.
Smith locates his readers in the dismal gray of what Louisiana and Mississippi have become under the hammer of frequent hurricanes and tornadoes. Crops can’t grow in the soggy land. FEMA trailers, houses, strip malls, lumber yards, mills, and other industries stand like ghostly sentinels of a bygone era. Wade has stayed, resorting to a salvaging business, which he thinks Jessie might call just plain stealing.
In the wake of all these people leaving, elements of violence and opportunity have gained more than just a foothold. People are looking for food, a way to make money, an easy mark. Holt’s backstory includes some time with Evangelist Elser. After a dead drunk night, he wakes up to a revival tent. They take him in as they have many others. There’s quite an entourage of stake drivers, tent raisers, and basket holders for the offerings. Elser drives a hearse. She is intuitive, charismatic, and has a feel for how to manipulate people through fear and threads of hope. Smith’s description of Elser and her occupation drips with disdain. I’m not sure if it’s the author’s or Holt’s. Perhaps both. Considering that Smith grew up in Mississippi in a deeply religious family, his father was a Southern Baptist minister, I can’t help thinking he’s mining his own story here.
The sermons that Elser delivered under the tent of the Temple of Pain and Glory were filled with hellfire and damnation. A doctrine that camouflaged a more pure theology of greed and dread and lust… The tent revival and its aggressive and chainsmoking leader doled out salvation to dilapidated, barely governed communities across Louisiana and Mississippi, places where the population seemed to dwindle each day, but the revival arrived anyway and offered up sizzling hallelujahs and praise-the-lords from a castiron skillet of fear and loathing.
As the story progresses, and Elser and her minions try to take back what Holt stole from them, I am reminded of Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness.’ It’s dark and scary, a place of evil. I felt the weight of it. There’s hope, the boy Jace is brimming with the goodwill and the innocence of babyhood…and there are things that can be salvaged, even when it looks like everything’s going down the tube. Redemption is possible, but at what cost?
April 13, 2023
Michael Farris Smith knows how to write Southern-gothic stories set in a dystopian future where climate change has ravaged the Gulf Coast. He delves into the harsh and unforgiving landscape that has shaped the characters and has a way of creating a vivid sense of place by painting a stark and bleak picture. He sets a quiet tone to the story with his beautiful and brutal writing that drew me into the desolate world while capturing the raw emotions and harsh realities of a world that has fallen apart.
Michael Farris Smith raises thought-provoking questions about humanity, morality, and the consequences of our actions while exploring themes of survival and redemption.
What is going on between the pages
Jessie and her son, Jace, are on the run across the Mississippi/Louisiana line, returning to her childhood home and her desolate father, Wade. Jace's father, Holt, is missing and hunted by a dangerous group after taking something he shouldn't have.
My two cents
Jessie and Wade's complex and deeply flawed relationship are at the story's heart while exploring the complex human condition in the face of desperation and fear. They say little to each other, with so much unsaid between them. I could feel their love, and I found myself shouting at them to talk to each other.
There is plenty of human drama, along with the harshness of a crumbling world, but written in a well-paced quiet tone that creates tension and action that had me holding my breath to the last page. While I loved everything about Michael Farris Smith' writing, I didn't get that rewarding ending I wanted as I didn't quite understand what happened. I am probably overthinking it was meant to symbolize something, and maybe that is something left for us to decide and ponder.
I received a copy from the publisher on NetGalley
Michael Farris Smith raises thought-provoking questions about humanity, morality, and the consequences of our actions while exploring themes of survival and redemption.
What is going on between the pages
Jessie and her son, Jace, are on the run across the Mississippi/Louisiana line, returning to her childhood home and her desolate father, Wade. Jace's father, Holt, is missing and hunted by a dangerous group after taking something he shouldn't have.
My two cents
Jessie and Wade's complex and deeply flawed relationship are at the story's heart while exploring the complex human condition in the face of desperation and fear. They say little to each other, with so much unsaid between them. I could feel their love, and I found myself shouting at them to talk to each other.
There is plenty of human drama, along with the harshness of a crumbling world, but written in a well-paced quiet tone that creates tension and action that had me holding my breath to the last page. While I loved everything about Michael Farris Smith' writing, I didn't get that rewarding ending I wanted as I didn't quite understand what happened. I am probably overthinking it was meant to symbolize something, and maybe that is something left for us to decide and ponder.
I received a copy from the publisher on NetGalley
June 10, 2023
Usually I love the quiet, meandering way Michael Farris Smith writes, but this novel was too slow.
Or, it could be my mood as I'm struggling to read at the moment. There are so many things to do outside that I find myself distracted and unable to immerse myself in a book. That's not a bad thing, because it's wonderful to have other enjoyments besides reading.
However, I cannot say if this is a case of "it's not you, it's me," or the opposite. I enjoyed the first part but then it became a chore to finish.
Or, it could be my mood as I'm struggling to read at the moment. There are so many things to do outside that I find myself distracted and unable to immerse myself in a book. That's not a bad thing, because it's wonderful to have other enjoyments besides reading.
However, I cannot say if this is a case of "it's not you, it's me," or the opposite. I enjoyed the first part but then it became a chore to finish.
May 28, 2023
I love this author. His books contain characters who are usually running from danger, violence and often themselves. Scarred individuals living in a challenged world. Climate change, family and religion clash with force in this one. Yet, I felt I needed more information, it felt incomplete to me, too much I didn't understand. There was a lot of violence but I didn't understand exactly what they thought they would find. Or did find behind that locked door. The southern noir grittiness was there, but except for Jace I really felt no strong emotions for the other characters. Could be me. Probably me but on to the next.
June 17, 2023
Set in the hurricane-ravaged, economically deprived Mississippi-Louisiana border region on the Gulf Coast, this darkly atmospheric novel begins promisingly but ultimately fails to deliver. Three years before the main action, Jessie, a young motherless woman—barely eighteen, ran off with a man a dozen years her senior. Now she has a young son and is in imminent danger. Before he met Jessie, her partner Holt travelled for a while with a sinister revivalist female preacher named Elser. In one derelict southern town after another, Holt’s job was to collect the offerings of the poor who gathered for sermons under the tent. Elser travelled in a black hearse, increasingly in the company of a tall, gray-suited, bespectacled man—a malevolent presence who seemingly appeared out of nowhere. It’s not clear why Holt felt moved to steal the large ring of medieval-looking keys that were given to Elser by her shadowy accomplice, but ever since the theft, he’s been a wanted man. As the novel opens, Holt has been gone for eleven days. Sensing that Elser’s minions are now coming for her, Jessie has no choice but to flee from a remote Louisiana farm (where she’s been hiding with Holt and her child) and return to Wade, the father she ran from a few years before. The story unfolds as a massive hurricane muscles in from the south.
The first half of Smith’s novel is strong and controlled. The author expertly creates tension and a sense of menace. His haunted characters engage the reader and even intrigue. He sets up an interesting problem but proves in the second half of the book that he is not up to the task of cleanly resolving it. This latter section, which largely focuses on Wade’s efforts to help the daughter he loves but feels he failed in the past, reads as though it were written by a different author. The prose becomes careless: the grammar is sloppy; the sentences rambling; the diction imprecise— all of it bloated with excess detail. Holt’s reasons for stealing the keys at all as well as their actual significance are never clarified. The door that the keys unlock could surely have been breached by other means. Even more problematic, however, are the actual nature and purpose of Elser and the gray man’s sinister operations at a site deep in the Mississippi wilds. The novel’s conclusion has some formulaic elements but is otherwise a disappointing, muddled mess. By the time I read it, I was no longer interested in the characters or the story. I simply wanted the book to end.
I’d like to thank Net Galley and the publisher for the free advance copy of the novel. It appears that I’m an outlier, but I really cannot recommend this book.
The first half of Smith’s novel is strong and controlled. The author expertly creates tension and a sense of menace. His haunted characters engage the reader and even intrigue. He sets up an interesting problem but proves in the second half of the book that he is not up to the task of cleanly resolving it. This latter section, which largely focuses on Wade’s efforts to help the daughter he loves but feels he failed in the past, reads as though it were written by a different author. The prose becomes careless: the grammar is sloppy; the sentences rambling; the diction imprecise— all of it bloated with excess detail. Holt’s reasons for stealing the keys at all as well as their actual significance are never clarified. The door that the keys unlock could surely have been breached by other means. Even more problematic, however, are the actual nature and purpose of Elser and the gray man’s sinister operations at a site deep in the Mississippi wilds. The novel’s conclusion has some formulaic elements but is otherwise a disappointing, muddled mess. By the time I read it, I was no longer interested in the characters or the story. I simply wanted the book to end.
I’d like to thank Net Galley and the publisher for the free advance copy of the novel. It appears that I’m an outlier, but I really cannot recommend this book.
May 12, 2023
The lowlands of Mississippi and Louisiana are ravaged by hurricanes in this dystopian novel. This book is set earlier than Michael Farris Smith's Rivers. Small towns around the Gulf Coast are emptying as people evacuate northward to safer areas. Jobs are scarce, and stealing from abandoned buildings is rampant.
Elser, a manipulative but charismatic preacher, drives around in a hearse and runs traveling tent revival meetings. Holt works for her as a roustabout, and he can see through her greedy, controlling ways. Elser tells Holt that his soul is scarred, like the scars on his skin. When he takes an important item belonging to her, Elser sends her followers out to hunt him down.
Wade's daughter, Jessie, left home with Holt when she was barely eighteen. Now, Jessie and her toddler son are also on the run, fleeing the men that are trying to track down Holt. In desperation, Jessie returns to her father's Louisiana home. Wade loves his daughter, but they both are stubborn and always found it difficult to communicate.
As another destructive hurricane blows in from the coast, the lives of all these characters become entwined. Elser and her followers have entered into a hellish world of darkness.
"Salvage This World" is gritty, gothic, and Southern. The tension never lets up in this well-written book, although one of the final scenes may leave the reader with questions. The father - daughter relationship is thoughtfully written. Like some of his other novels, this tale of survival could be adapted into a great noir movie with complex characters and lots of suspense. 4+ stars.
Elser, a manipulative but charismatic preacher, drives around in a hearse and runs traveling tent revival meetings. Holt works for her as a roustabout, and he can see through her greedy, controlling ways. Elser tells Holt that his soul is scarred, like the scars on his skin. When he takes an important item belonging to her, Elser sends her followers out to hunt him down.
Wade's daughter, Jessie, left home with Holt when she was barely eighteen. Now, Jessie and her toddler son are also on the run, fleeing the men that are trying to track down Holt. In desperation, Jessie returns to her father's Louisiana home. Wade loves his daughter, but they both are stubborn and always found it difficult to communicate.
As another destructive hurricane blows in from the coast, the lives of all these characters become entwined. Elser and her followers have entered into a hellish world of darkness.
"Salvage This World" is gritty, gothic, and Southern. The tension never lets up in this well-written book, although one of the final scenes may leave the reader with questions. The father - daughter relationship is thoughtfully written. Like some of his other novels, this tale of survival could be adapted into a great noir movie with complex characters and lots of suspense. 4+ stars.
August 6, 2023
Salvage This World is my first experience of Michael Farris Smith’s writing and his picture of the destroyed world of the southern regions of storm ravaged Mississippi and Louisiana. With prose that calls forth ancient gods of the skies and poetic dawns, Smith introduces us to this changing landscape and some of the people trying to survive there while so many others have moved away from the destructive weather.
We meet Jessie and her son Jace, on the run from an unknown but deadly evil. Then her estranged father, Wade. And there is Holt, Jace’s father, who has disappeared. Is this related to his sometime relationship to the Temple of Pain and Glory and the preacher woman Elser who prophesied a girl child savior is coming.
There is violence in the weather as it destroys livelihoods and land, violence in this quasi religious cult, emotional violence in relationships of tired people.
The story is compelling and pulled me on. The writing…well that was just great and I frequently found myself rereading sentences or paragraphs of descriptions to capture the phrasing again. I had thought Michael Farris Smith would be too “noir” for me, but no, he definitely isn’t. While the atmosphere is dark, the writing is excellent and there is genuine humanity lurking where you can find it.
Recommended to all who like Southern lit.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you to Little Brown and Company and Michael Farris Smith.
We meet Jessie and her son Jace, on the run from an unknown but deadly evil. Then her estranged father, Wade. And there is Holt, Jace’s father, who has disappeared. Is this related to his sometime relationship to the Temple of Pain and Glory and the preacher woman Elser who prophesied a girl child savior is coming.
There is violence in the weather as it destroys livelihoods and land, violence in this quasi religious cult, emotional violence in relationships of tired people.
The story is compelling and pulled me on. The writing…well that was just great and I frequently found myself rereading sentences or paragraphs of descriptions to capture the phrasing again. I had thought Michael Farris Smith would be too “noir” for me, but no, he definitely isn’t. While the atmosphere is dark, the writing is excellent and there is genuine humanity lurking where you can find it.
Recommended to all who like Southern lit.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you to Little Brown and Company and Michael Farris Smith.
September 21, 2023
Set in an area either side of the Pearl River, separating the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, this story tells of a poor family torn apart by grief. A girl born to a mother who died as her newborn was brought into the world; a withdrawn father who can’t cope with either the loss of his wife or, in time, the needs of his daughter; a man, older than the daughter, who offers her an option – escape. Eventually he gives her something else too, a daughter.
We will follow these people as, in time, each adult is to plough their own furrow, in this area now plagued by a never ending series of hurricanes. It will soon be closed down completely by the American government, leaving those remaining in situ to their own fate. In the meantime, there’s the small matter of eking out enough cash to survive in a place with no real jobs on offer. And moving amongst the ragbag population that remains here is a travelling congregation calling themselves The Temple of Pain and Glory. This religious extremist group should really be avoided at all costs as they con those who attend their exhortations out of the little money they have and carry out darker deeds – much darker deeds – in a hidden place that is shown on no map. Their leader, a wizened screecher called Elser, is the most riveting character in this story.
The timeline of this tale is that it’s a precursor to In the beginning which is, in turn, a precursor to Rivers. The books can be read as standalone stories, but if you’re starting out from scratch you might want to keep this order in mind. These stories paint a vivid a picture of a dystopian environment in which a disparate (and often desperate) collection of people struggle to make sense of what’s happening to them and are conflicted as to whether to leave the land where many have spent their entire lives, or to stay put and hope for better times. But here, Elser is in their ear not only preaching hellfire and damnation but also dangling the possibility of a brighter future. What to do?
Farris Smith, himself the son of a Baptist minister, is close to the top of my ‘must read’ authors. He’s never let me down and I’m always searching eagerly for his next offering, only happy when I can grasp another sample of his output. Is this his best? No, I don’t think so. But only because it takes a while to warm up. Once it gets there – something like half way through – then you’re right in amongst the good stuff. It’s yet another brilliant piece of escapism with characters so compellingly drawn that by this point it’s simply impossible to put the book down.
If you’re already a fan of MFS then you’ve got another great book to enjoy. If you’ve yet to sample his work then please do yourself a favour and grab one quicksmart.
We will follow these people as, in time, each adult is to plough their own furrow, in this area now plagued by a never ending series of hurricanes. It will soon be closed down completely by the American government, leaving those remaining in situ to their own fate. In the meantime, there’s the small matter of eking out enough cash to survive in a place with no real jobs on offer. And moving amongst the ragbag population that remains here is a travelling congregation calling themselves The Temple of Pain and Glory. This religious extremist group should really be avoided at all costs as they con those who attend their exhortations out of the little money they have and carry out darker deeds – much darker deeds – in a hidden place that is shown on no map. Their leader, a wizened screecher called Elser, is the most riveting character in this story.
The timeline of this tale is that it’s a precursor to In the beginning which is, in turn, a precursor to Rivers. The books can be read as standalone stories, but if you’re starting out from scratch you might want to keep this order in mind. These stories paint a vivid a picture of a dystopian environment in which a disparate (and often desperate) collection of people struggle to make sense of what’s happening to them and are conflicted as to whether to leave the land where many have spent their entire lives, or to stay put and hope for better times. But here, Elser is in their ear not only preaching hellfire and damnation but also dangling the possibility of a brighter future. What to do?
Farris Smith, himself the son of a Baptist minister, is close to the top of my ‘must read’ authors. He’s never let me down and I’m always searching eagerly for his next offering, only happy when I can grasp another sample of his output. Is this his best? No, I don’t think so. But only because it takes a while to warm up. Once it gets there – something like half way through – then you’re right in amongst the good stuff. It’s yet another brilliant piece of escapism with characters so compellingly drawn that by this point it’s simply impossible to put the book down.
If you’re already a fan of MFS then you’ve got another great book to enjoy. If you’ve yet to sample his work then please do yourself a favour and grab one quicksmart.
July 7, 2023
A writer like no other! If you’re a MFS fan you understand, if not read the book. I can’t wait for his next novel!
May 12, 2023
3.5 stars, rounded up for outstanding imagery like this:
“The water was calm with the lazy flop of the occasional whitecap and she ran in and out, laughing and throwing her arms and kicking her feet and the day seemed to stretch out into the reaches of a dream where life rests just on the edges of what you want it to be. The blue sky and the flakes of clouds and the sun sliding toward the horizon with patience.”
The first half of this book was five-star material for me, some of the strongest writing I’ve read yet by this author. He meticulously creates a cast of unforgettable, authentic characters and sets them down in a place he knows well - the hurricane-riddled Gulf South of the United States. Orphaned Holt with his private but visible scars; motherless Jessie with her teen angst and romantic dreams of a better life; toddler Jace with his fine hair and love of milk; stoic Wade with his silent grief and fatherly regret; and religious zealot Elser with her bony fingers and fiery sermons. Each of these characters are damaged to some degree, but Elser may be the most scarred of all as evidenced by this final farewell at age fifteen to her passed-out mother: “I have seen the fires of hell. And you dance among the flames.” That’s some great writing.
But I felt Smith rushed the ending and chose a cinematic plot over his characters in the second half. Readers who love thrillers will probably disagree with me, because the final third of this novel is a page-turning apocalypse. But I felt let down at the end, felt like “my people“ got abandoned in the rush to close, felt that super-hyped details in the early going never paid off at the end. Also, I rarely find an epilogue successful - just say what needs to be said, even if it takes an extra chapter, and end the book. That said, Smith does give a nod to Wendell Berry in his epilogue.
No doubt this novel will soon be coming to a theater near you. And this author earned and deserves every bit of his success. He works hard at his craft, and it shows. This is my fifth MFS novel. I’ll continue to brace myself and read whatever he writes.
“The boy smelled like soap and youth. The aroma of a life yet to be lived.”
“The water was calm with the lazy flop of the occasional whitecap and she ran in and out, laughing and throwing her arms and kicking her feet and the day seemed to stretch out into the reaches of a dream where life rests just on the edges of what you want it to be. The blue sky and the flakes of clouds and the sun sliding toward the horizon with patience.”
The first half of this book was five-star material for me, some of the strongest writing I’ve read yet by this author. He meticulously creates a cast of unforgettable, authentic characters and sets them down in a place he knows well - the hurricane-riddled Gulf South of the United States. Orphaned Holt with his private but visible scars; motherless Jessie with her teen angst and romantic dreams of a better life; toddler Jace with his fine hair and love of milk; stoic Wade with his silent grief and fatherly regret; and religious zealot Elser with her bony fingers and fiery sermons. Each of these characters are damaged to some degree, but Elser may be the most scarred of all as evidenced by this final farewell at age fifteen to her passed-out mother: “I have seen the fires of hell. And you dance among the flames.” That’s some great writing.
But I felt Smith rushed the ending and chose a cinematic plot over his characters in the second half. Readers who love thrillers will probably disagree with me, because the final third of this novel is a page-turning apocalypse. But I felt let down at the end, felt like “my people“ got abandoned in the rush to close, felt that super-hyped details in the early going never paid off at the end. Also, I rarely find an epilogue successful - just say what needs to be said, even if it takes an extra chapter, and end the book. That said, Smith does give a nod to Wendell Berry in his epilogue.
No doubt this novel will soon be coming to a theater near you. And this author earned and deserves every bit of his success. He works hard at his craft, and it shows. This is my fifth MFS novel. I’ll continue to brace myself and read whatever he writes.
“The boy smelled like soap and youth. The aroma of a life yet to be lived.”
May 18, 2023
This review can also be found at https://carolesrandomlife.com/
This is the first time that I have read any of Michael Farris Smith’s writing and I was quite impressed by how his writing pulled me in. I read this book over the course of a single day. When I did put it down, I quickly found myself coming back to it. This isn’t a feel-good story. It is a story of desperation filled with flawed characters that came to life through the writing. I am so glad that I decided to give this book a try.
Jessie finds herself on the run with her toddler son, Jace. She decides to go home to her father, Wade, whom she hasn’t seen since she left when she ran off with Jace’s father as a teen. Jessie knows that people are after Holt and running was the only option but she is worried about what might have happened to him. There aren’t a lot of options in the hurricane-ravaged lands of southern Mississippi where the land is too wet to grow crops anymore. They will find themselves in more danger before things are over.
The descriptions in this book were incredibly vivid. I felt Jessie’s worry when she was on the run with her son and I loved seeing Wade encounter the grandchild that he didn’t know existed. All of the characters in this story were flawed but they were doing the best that they could, with a few setbacks. They obviously cared about each other even though they didn’t always know how to show it.
I would recommend this book to others. I thought that this book was not only incredibly well-written but also entertaining and thought-provoking. I would not hesitate to read more of this author’s work in the future.
I received a review copy of this book from Little, Brown and Company.
This is the first time that I have read any of Michael Farris Smith’s writing and I was quite impressed by how his writing pulled me in. I read this book over the course of a single day. When I did put it down, I quickly found myself coming back to it. This isn’t a feel-good story. It is a story of desperation filled with flawed characters that came to life through the writing. I am so glad that I decided to give this book a try.
Jessie finds herself on the run with her toddler son, Jace. She decides to go home to her father, Wade, whom she hasn’t seen since she left when she ran off with Jace’s father as a teen. Jessie knows that people are after Holt and running was the only option but she is worried about what might have happened to him. There aren’t a lot of options in the hurricane-ravaged lands of southern Mississippi where the land is too wet to grow crops anymore. They will find themselves in more danger before things are over.
The descriptions in this book were incredibly vivid. I felt Jessie’s worry when she was on the run with her son and I loved seeing Wade encounter the grandchild that he didn’t know existed. All of the characters in this story were flawed but they were doing the best that they could, with a few setbacks. They obviously cared about each other even though they didn’t always know how to show it.
I would recommend this book to others. I thought that this book was not only incredibly well-written but also entertaining and thought-provoking. I would not hesitate to read more of this author’s work in the future.
I received a review copy of this book from Little, Brown and Company.
May 1, 2023
An absolute corker and a contender for book of the year, for me.
Farris Smith just gets better and better. Here he offers his vision of near-future Mississippi and it's at once enticing and utterly horrifying.
In a world devastated by hurricanes, only a hardy few remain after the great American migration north. In this battered and largely lawless land, the fates of several characters - all beautifully drawn - collide in dark and dire circumstances.
There are splashes of Flannery O'Connor and Donald Ray Pollock and Daniel Woodrell at every turn and, as always with southern gothic novels, the influence of Cormac McCarthy is difficult to hide from. But, through all his novels to date, Farris Smith has crafted his own style and energy. This is his best work and I lapped up every masterful page.
Farris Smith just gets better and better. Here he offers his vision of near-future Mississippi and it's at once enticing and utterly horrifying.
In a world devastated by hurricanes, only a hardy few remain after the great American migration north. In this battered and largely lawless land, the fates of several characters - all beautifully drawn - collide in dark and dire circumstances.
There are splashes of Flannery O'Connor and Donald Ray Pollock and Daniel Woodrell at every turn and, as always with southern gothic novels, the influence of Cormac McCarthy is difficult to hide from. But, through all his novels to date, Farris Smith has crafted his own style and energy. This is his best work and I lapped up every masterful page.
May 21, 2023
2.5 🗝️🗝️
A favorite author's latest work elicits a huge disappointment. It pains me to post this rating.
A favorite author's latest work elicits a huge disappointment. It pains me to post this rating.
May 10, 2023
MFS doing MFS things! A reader asks this question, “do you outline or let it rip when writing?” Response, “let it rip.” This is a spot on description of this book. The pace is rapid. This may be one of his best group of characters, none are created equally. MFS leaves his reader wanting more, not because the story is incomplete but you don’t want the ride to end.
September 9, 2025
this is a masterpiece
that ending W O W (got me goin!!!!)
i absolutely loved these characters and it just amazes me what they’ve endured in life
oron reminded me so much of my great uncle jim
wade made me contemplate on my own dads life, our relationship, what he carries and thinks
jace was so sweet and i loved his minimal lines
my heart was grabbed in multiple places while reading this
and it’s so short but i made it last because i knew i didn’t want it to end
that ending W O W (got me goin!!!!)
i absolutely loved these characters and it just amazes me what they’ve endured in life
oron reminded me so much of my great uncle jim
wade made me contemplate on my own dads life, our relationship, what he carries and thinks
jace was so sweet and i loved his minimal lines
my heart was grabbed in multiple places while reading this
and it’s so short but i made it last because i knew i didn’t want it to end
May 1, 2023
MFS has returned to the climate-induced post-apocalyptic world of Rivers, one of his earliest novels and I, for one, couldn't be happier. This is southern grit-lit stirred up by a healthy dose of hurricanes.
My thanks to the late Mike Sullivan, aka Lawyer, and all the folks at the On the Southern Literary Trail group for giving me the opportunity to read and discuss this and many other fine books.
My thanks to the late Mike Sullivan, aka Lawyer, and all the folks at the On the Southern Literary Trail group for giving me the opportunity to read and discuss this and many other fine books.
May 11, 2023
3.5 stars rounded up because this was a page turner. Points off because the novel left me wondering about many issues — like what the hell happened at the end? I guess I like my novels to have all the loose ends gathered up and tied down.
May 21, 2023
2.5 ungenerously rounded down.
I think Michael Farris Smith is an incredibly talented author, and I would like nothing more than to shake his hand and tell him "Thank You" for all he's doing for the Southern Gothic / Southern Noir genre. But lets be honest. This one falls pretty short on a lot of points. I appreciate the small cast of characters, I appreciate the religious subtexts, and I totally understand what the author is trying to do here with its notes of near future apocalyptic / global warming / religious extremism nods that really aren't that far away from where we are now in the real world 2023. Yet, for a reader like me, the story has more plot holes that a double barrel blast of buckshot through a barn door.
At only 258 pages, this book is a short read and it shows, negatively to my tastes. Don't get me wrong there is some beautiful lines of prose in this book ala Cormac McCarthy especially when it comes to the land. What Smith is doing with the prose in this book regarding the rural and impoverished South is very much akin to what McCarthy is doing in Blood Meridian and All The Pretty Horses for Mexico. Salvage This World is largely based around four main characters: Jessie, the father of her child Hoyt, her son Jace, and Jessie's father Wade. The antagonist of the book - if you don't count the looming hurricane and the climate change that has made farming in the area impossible - would be the religious leader Elser. We get one really good chapter about Elser and her rise to leading the Temple of Pain and Glory - a big tent revival-esque faith - but then that's basically it. So much goes unexplained: the girl child/reincarnation of Christ, what that set of keys leads to, the man in the gray suit (is he a politician? is he the devil?) I don't know, and it is definitely not explained.
The big reveals in the book don't seem to happen naturally either. We do find out how Holt got his scars, and how Wade knows about The Bottoms. But they don't flow, it seems to just be stuck in there randomly. Again, the book is just over 250 pages and there's plenty of space unravel these plot points naturally, but it just feels forced. The climax at the end as well with Hoyt and Jessie in The Bottoms, and the epilogue where a nameless man and woman come upon what seems to be the remains of the family home of the people Wade leaves Jace with. The book name dropping itself in the last line was a total eye roll for me as I was left with very little closure to the storyline.
Had Elser been given a larger part of the story, had The Bottoms been better connected, had the escape from The Bottoms not been quickly skipped through, had a greater sense of doom and dispair been up around the Temple of Pain and Glory, then, you might have something here. But again, it's too choppy, too jumpy to have a natural unfurling on the story line. My biggest complaint about the book is that the weather only flirts at becoming an actual character. Had Smith written it as such, with dark intentions, and a desire for destruction and death; I think this would be a stronger novel. If you want to read Michael Farris Smith - and I hope you do - go and read Blackwood. It's only about 50 more pages but it is a much lusher story, and a much greater display of the talents of a tremendous author.
I think Michael Farris Smith is an incredibly talented author, and I would like nothing more than to shake his hand and tell him "Thank You" for all he's doing for the Southern Gothic / Southern Noir genre. But lets be honest. This one falls pretty short on a lot of points. I appreciate the small cast of characters, I appreciate the religious subtexts, and I totally understand what the author is trying to do here with its notes of near future apocalyptic / global warming / religious extremism nods that really aren't that far away from where we are now in the real world 2023. Yet, for a reader like me, the story has more plot holes that a double barrel blast of buckshot through a barn door.
At only 258 pages, this book is a short read and it shows, negatively to my tastes. Don't get me wrong there is some beautiful lines of prose in this book ala Cormac McCarthy especially when it comes to the land. What Smith is doing with the prose in this book regarding the rural and impoverished South is very much akin to what McCarthy is doing in Blood Meridian and All The Pretty Horses for Mexico. Salvage This World is largely based around four main characters: Jessie, the father of her child Hoyt, her son Jace, and Jessie's father Wade. The antagonist of the book - if you don't count the looming hurricane and the climate change that has made farming in the area impossible - would be the religious leader Elser. We get one really good chapter about Elser and her rise to leading the Temple of Pain and Glory - a big tent revival-esque faith - but then that's basically it. So much goes unexplained: the girl child/reincarnation of Christ, what that set of keys leads to, the man in the gray suit (is he a politician? is he the devil?) I don't know, and it is definitely not explained.
The big reveals in the book don't seem to happen naturally either. We do find out how Holt got his scars, and how Wade knows about The Bottoms. But they don't flow, it seems to just be stuck in there randomly. Again, the book is just over 250 pages and there's plenty of space unravel these plot points naturally, but it just feels forced. The climax at the end as well with Hoyt and Jessie in The Bottoms, and the epilogue where a nameless man and woman come upon what seems to be the remains of the family home of the people Wade leaves Jace with. The book name dropping itself in the last line was a total eye roll for me as I was left with very little closure to the storyline.
Had Elser been given a larger part of the story, had The Bottoms been better connected, had the escape from The Bottoms not been quickly skipped through, had a greater sense of doom and dispair been up around the Temple of Pain and Glory, then, you might have something here. But again, it's too choppy, too jumpy to have a natural unfurling on the story line. My biggest complaint about the book is that the weather only flirts at becoming an actual character. Had Smith written it as such, with dark intentions, and a desire for destruction and death; I think this would be a stronger novel. If you want to read Michael Farris Smith - and I hope you do - go and read Blackwood. It's only about 50 more pages but it is a much lusher story, and a much greater display of the talents of a tremendous author.
June 4, 2023
I like southern noir and I liked Desperation but this novel was somehow incomplete and confusing, it started out interesting but about halfway through it it just became a muddled mess, with Wade chasing after his daughter and a totally unsatisfying ending.
April 26, 2023
Michael Farris Smith follows a fractured family in hurricane-ravaged Mississippi who are on the run from an extremist religious group in his latest book, Salvage This World. Smith’s writing echos some of the American lit greats and multiple times while reading I thought his writing similar to Hemingway’s. World falls comfortably in the Southern Gothic genre with isolated and angst-filled characters in desperate situations, a decaying and desolate setting and a constant prevalence of violence.
There are multiple points of view and a non-linear timeline that all come crashing together in a jarring end. The book had me hooked from page one and was tracking to be one of my favorite reads up until about the 75% mark where Smith threw in a splash of something darker and more otherworldly than I expected. I’m still not altogether sure what went down or why it took that turn. It led to plot holes and unanswered (relevant and necessary in my opinion) questions that go unanswered. The ending recovered but not before the randomness took away from what was tracking to be a five-star read.
There’s no denying Smith knows how to write an angst-fueled and addictive story. His characters are rich and well-developed and while they are morally ambiguous for the most part, you still feel invested in their story. I also loved how he described the hurricane ravaged south with the reality of what is and memory of what it used to be. You feel the desolation, desperation and isolation of the setting, the characters and the situations they are in.
Overall, I very much enjoyed Salvage This World with it’s dark and desperate tone and themes of family, redemption and religion. It’s a quick read that you’ll easily lose yourself in as our characters question their existence, their choices and what’s left for them to hold onto.
Thank you to Novel Suspects for my early copy of this book
There are multiple points of view and a non-linear timeline that all come crashing together in a jarring end. The book had me hooked from page one and was tracking to be one of my favorite reads up until about the 75% mark where Smith threw in a splash of something darker and more otherworldly than I expected. I’m still not altogether sure what went down or why it took that turn. It led to plot holes and unanswered (relevant and necessary in my opinion) questions that go unanswered. The ending recovered but not before the randomness took away from what was tracking to be a five-star read.
There’s no denying Smith knows how to write an angst-fueled and addictive story. His characters are rich and well-developed and while they are morally ambiguous for the most part, you still feel invested in their story. I also loved how he described the hurricane ravaged south with the reality of what is and memory of what it used to be. You feel the desolation, desperation and isolation of the setting, the characters and the situations they are in.
Overall, I very much enjoyed Salvage This World with it’s dark and desperate tone and themes of family, redemption and religion. It’s a quick read that you’ll easily lose yourself in as our characters question their existence, their choices and what’s left for them to hold onto.
Thank you to Novel Suspects for my early copy of this book
May 7, 2023
I don't think I really understood this, or at least there were a lot of unexplained parts that I wish were more fully developed. The lengths that the characters were willing to go to for the set of keys that they didn't even know anything about didn't make sense - they were just dropped in the middle of the action and made to run. Their motivations for risking their own lives as well as their child's had this weight behind it that was (it seems, to the book) unnecessary to actually develop and characterize.
July 2, 2023
This was my first time to read this author and I really liked his work. Southern gothic is a genre I’m really coming to like these days and I thought this was done really well. Dystopian novels are not what I normally gravitate to, but this one sounded different. Taking place in the south where hurricanes have ravaged South Mississippi, folks have fled taking jobs with them and stores have mostly closed their doors, all setting the stage where religion and climate change collide with family in the middle and it really was a good read.
Thank you to Novel Suspects and Little Brown Books for the gifted copy to review.
Thank you to Novel Suspects and Little Brown Books for the gifted copy to review.
August 25, 2023
Ersatz McCarthy
Imitation Cormac McCarthy to the core but sturdy enough for something composed solely of secondhand styles and themes and shifted to the Deep South.
Imitation Cormac McCarthy to the core but sturdy enough for something composed solely of secondhand styles and themes and shifted to the Deep South.
December 11, 2022
I am a huge MFS fan and his latest left me just saying, "wow. that was phenomenal." From the character description and development to the Kerouacian stream-of-consciousness style of writing I was taken from the first sentence. I mean, MFS always has the best opening lines and sentences, but this one, I was smitten and couldn't wait to dig in.
I don't want to get into the plot too much because if you're going to read this you'll be familiar with MFS's style of writing and thematic approach, but I will say that this one has some harrowing moments and hold your breaths scenes that just took me away.
Wade, Jessie, Jace, and by extension Holt are remarkable characters who have lived lives (maybe with the exception of Jace) that are unlike anything I've ever seen or known. I do not pretend to know what living in the south entails for those who live there, but the picture that MFS paints is one of natural beauty, but also pain, strife, death, and dreams deferred or altogether forgotten and lost. However, as true to MFS's novels, there is a possible ray of hope at the end. This book had it all and I was there for every second of it.
I highly recommend this book for readers of Southern Goth, Grit Lit, or whatever y'all call it. It is lovely. It's written with a deft hand, includes mesmerizing characters and settings, and every moment that you turn the page there is something there to pull on those heartstrings. This is a 5-star book if I've ever read one.
I don't want to get into the plot too much because if you're going to read this you'll be familiar with MFS's style of writing and thematic approach, but I will say that this one has some harrowing moments and hold your breaths scenes that just took me away.
Wade, Jessie, Jace, and by extension Holt are remarkable characters who have lived lives (maybe with the exception of Jace) that are unlike anything I've ever seen or known. I do not pretend to know what living in the south entails for those who live there, but the picture that MFS paints is one of natural beauty, but also pain, strife, death, and dreams deferred or altogether forgotten and lost. However, as true to MFS's novels, there is a possible ray of hope at the end. This book had it all and I was there for every second of it.
I highly recommend this book for readers of Southern Goth, Grit Lit, or whatever y'all call it. It is lovely. It's written with a deft hand, includes mesmerizing characters and settings, and every moment that you turn the page there is something there to pull on those heartstrings. This is a 5-star book if I've ever read one.
May 4, 2023
A great piece of writing, immersive and stylish. Smith’s world comes to life almost on page one. Through the first half of the book it’s not clear how the threads come together, their is a sense of doom and threat that is just fantastic.
Too bad about the second half of the book. Smith kind of fails to resolve anything, he includes a lot of flashbacks that begin to feel overstuffed, and the ending itself is very unsatisfying, in kind of a Stephen King way.
I might track down his other work to see if it holds together better. Smith is a terrific writer, but this story didn’t live up to its own promise.
Too bad about the second half of the book. Smith kind of fails to resolve anything, he includes a lot of flashbacks that begin to feel overstuffed, and the ending itself is very unsatisfying, in kind of a Stephen King way.
I might track down his other work to see if it holds together better. Smith is a terrific writer, but this story didn’t live up to its own promise.
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