South of Resurrection

by Jonis Agee

Having left home at the age of sixteen, Moline returns to her small-town community in Missouri to take care of some simple family business, but upon her arrival, she sees that the town is nearing extinction and stays to save the family's land and help the community. Reprint.

Genres: Fiction

353 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1997

About the author

Jonis owns twenty pairs of cowboy boots, some of them works of art, loves the open road, and believes that ecstasy and hard work are the basic ingredients of life and writing.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, she grew up in Nebraska and Missouri, places where many of her stories and novels are set. She was educated at The University of Iowa (BA) and The State University of New York at Binghamton (MA, PhD). She is Adele Hall Professor of English at The University of Nebraska — Lincoln, where she teaches creative writing and twentieth-century fiction.

Awards include three books chosen as New York Times Notable Books, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Nebraska Book Award, Nebraska Arts Council Merit Award, Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship in Fiction, Loft McKnight Award of Distinction, and Editor's Choice Award from Foreword Magazine.

Reviews

[Richard Tolleson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't grow up in the Ozarks, but I was Ozarks-adjacent. Reading this book made me glad I wasn't from the hills if these characters represent the people who live there. You've never met a more trashy bunch of people. They couldn't make a good life choice if you eliminated all the wrong choices for them. It's a well-written book, but I just found it disturbing. I prefer my country characters to be salt-of-the-earth and comical, like the residents of Hooterville. These people are poor, dirty, drug-and-alcohol addicted no-good people from a town that is falling apart. The sex scenes are graphic, so if you're offended by that, be forewarned. Recommended only for those who can avoid being emotionally entangled by fictional characters.

[Molly Vaughan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has everything in it... romance, intrigue, who done it, family drama and farm animals. It was a good read and I had difficulty putting it down. Agee really packs a lot into her books.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do I like her as an author?

[Kathleen Basi · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a lifelong resident of central Missouri who has spent significant amounts of time at the Lake of the Ozarks, this book really caught my eye. The story is by turns exquisitely beautiful and horrifying. Moline returns to her hillbilly/redneck town and finds all the people she used to know, including the brothers with whom she has a checkered history--deeply in love with one, and with the other, well, I can't properly describe that relationship without spoilers, but let's just say--it's bad. Into this mix comes a corporate hog operation and a small town full of people determined to cling to their way of life and others determined to resurrect their dying community at any cost.

Time and time again, Jonis Agee's imagery made my breath catch, both for its beauty and for the way it so vividly evoked the state where I grew up. It stands out in stark contrast to the ugliness of some of the events and people depicted, who themselves highlight the incredible good and bad within the same human heart. Very complex, very real. A note: as a Missouri native, it was always fun to stumble across the names of real small towns that surround me mixed in with places I assume were invented for the story, although I never was sure if Booneville was meant to be the real town Boonville, its misspelling not caught by copy editors, or a made up place.

[jimtown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I would like this book better than I did, it seems to be my style but it just dragged for me. It might be me or it might have been the book but most likely a combination of both. Home comes Moline Bedwell to this rural Missouri town of Resurrection, that she fled from at sixteen. Her husband is dead, her son is grown and gone and her sister's ashes need tending to. Moline finds out a lot more needs tending to when she arrives to her home town. It's slowly falling to the hands of time and Heart Hogs wants to buy everyone out. They want to make a giant hog heaven out of the area and of course the town is divided between those who want to cash it in and get out and those who want to hang on. Moline's Aunt Walker is one who wants to hold on and she needs a lot of help from the long absent Moline to do it. Add to this mix the handsome but troubled brothers Dayrell and McCall. Where ever they go they leave the women swooning and trouble follows. As we read we find out why Moline left home so suddenly and what her relationship with the two brothers really is. In a way, I thought the ending tidied things up almost a little to neatly but a girl can dream, can't she?

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this novel since I loved The River Wife by Jonis Agee but this just didn't live up to the trials, tribulations and adventures of the characters in that novel. This novel was very long and just kind of drolled on and on. The story wasn't bad and the characters were deep and though provoking but I think I would have enjoyed it more if it would have been told in a different manner.

[Patty · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was lots of drama in this book, but I don't really know the point of any of it. Unrequited love. Racial tensions. Rich v. poor. Soul searching. Family dynamics. Fixing the past. Mental illness. Big corporation v. "the little guy." Just too many different themes, maybe? I didn't really enjoy it, but kept hoping for something to make it worth reading.

[Ghostradish · Rating 1 out of 5]

This author should spend more time fleshing out her characters than worrying about all the poignant subtleties of sex. Plus, I thought I'd go nuts if I read ONE MORE FLIPPING METAPHOR! It will take some serious talking for me to read another piece of tripe by this author.

[Esigs · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book and not the tupe I usually read, but it was pretty good. It is about a women who moves back to her hometown after many years and how old relationships begin to form again.

[Jeanette · Rating 1 out of 5]

Waste of my time. I can't believe I took the time to finish it. The characters were shallow and the storyline was trashy. Skip it!

[Deidre · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted so badly for this to turn out good. I just cant read another story about a sad middle aged woman who falls for the WRONG guy knowingly!!!