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Above the Slate: An Appalachian Love Story
When Neva and Grady marry, she dreams of owning their own home, while he dreams of organizing his fellow coal miners to fight for their rights. Above the Slate follows the twists and turns of the couple’s life together—their birthing and grieving, their hoping and hiding from the law. Throughout it all, Neva and Grady remain committed to different, often conflicting dreams. A down to earth account, Above the Slate is told in the plain and earthy voices of a husband and wife who struggle against the harsh realities of Appalachian coal country in the 1930s. Imprisonment and escape, the death of one child, the birth of three, and a tragic mine explosion give the story structure; an honest portrayal of family relationships gives it heart.
217 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 1, 2019
Lord, Save Me From These Simple Stories
A love story? I always think of a love story as meeting a person, falling in love, and then getting married and living happily ever after and NOT starting out in a marriage.
Well, this book begins with Neva and Grady being married and with children. They had 4 in all and another that had died, but some of these kids were born when Grady was on the run from the law; she happened to be with him.
Grady worked in a coal mine and fought for miner‘s rights through the Union. One morning he was late for work because Neva burned the biscuits and said that she could make more. He was hungry. Well, the man who was picking him up went on without him. Problem is, they were on strike, and the 4 men in the truck that had been there to pick him up, were all killed. Shot to death.
But he also had a still; he was making moonshine, and the law knew about it and had a warrant out for his arrest. He knew that it was really the boss of the mine that was after him. Learning this, he left town heading for home where he gathered up his wife and kids and headed on out of there.
They stayed with a nearby relative, but when he saw that they had found him, he and his family moved again, this time to another relative. People who have a lot of babies have a lot of relatives, I learned.
And then he looked for work and got a job at a café that he had frequented. He liked the woman who worked there, so an affair was brewing, even boiling, but not before I read that one of the women relatives, with whom they were living at the moment, was reading a True Story Magazine. I had just finished doing a review on True Story Magazine and though that this was ironic. I had wondered why I liked them as a child. Well, extramarital affairs are obviously sexy, forbidden fruit, as this reader in the book was alluding to. But now Grady is having the men’s version of a True Story Magazine, as he was the one doing the cheating and not the women like in True Story Magazines.
But, his wife was suspicious. She had even asked him if the woman at the café was pretty. And he was coming home later and later. She never wanted to go check it out, which would have been easy to do. I would have nailed the guy.
Then one day they went to a church revival and Grady got saved, Again, his wife noted. He quit his job, told the woman that he and his wife were moving away, which left her in tears, and then he packed up their bags, his wife and kids, and they moved on.
I can’t say that this was a great American read although it was American. But for some reason it kept my interest, but of course, I got the book because it was about Appalachian people.
I never could figure out what the romance was except that Neva thought that her husband was sexy and handsome, and she loved him, and he liked her for the same reasons. Plus, he loved having children and was a good father. I imagine by the time their life had ended they may have had 5 more.
A love story? I always think of a love story as meeting a person, falling in love, and then getting married and living happily ever after and NOT starting out in a marriage.
Well, this book begins with Neva and Grady being married and with children. They had 4 in all and another that had died, but some of these kids were born when Grady was on the run from the law; she happened to be with him.
Grady worked in a coal mine and fought for miner‘s rights through the Union. One morning he was late for work because Neva burned the biscuits and said that she could make more. He was hungry. Well, the man who was picking him up went on without him. Problem is, they were on strike, and the 4 men in the truck that had been there to pick him up, were all killed. Shot to death.
But he also had a still; he was making moonshine, and the law knew about it and had a warrant out for his arrest. He knew that it was really the boss of the mine that was after him. Learning this, he left town heading for home where he gathered up his wife and kids and headed on out of there.
They stayed with a nearby relative, but when he saw that they had found him, he and his family moved again, this time to another relative. People who have a lot of babies have a lot of relatives, I learned.
And then he looked for work and got a job at a café that he had frequented. He liked the woman who worked there, so an affair was brewing, even boiling, but not before I read that one of the women relatives, with whom they were living at the moment, was reading a True Story Magazine. I had just finished doing a review on True Story Magazine and though that this was ironic. I had wondered why I liked them as a child. Well, extramarital affairs are obviously sexy, forbidden fruit, as this reader in the book was alluding to. But now Grady is having the men’s version of a True Story Magazine, as he was the one doing the cheating and not the women like in True Story Magazines.
But, his wife was suspicious. She had even asked him if the woman at the café was pretty. And he was coming home later and later. She never wanted to go check it out, which would have been easy to do. I would have nailed the guy.
Then one day they went to a church revival and Grady got saved, Again, his wife noted. He quit his job, told the woman that he and his wife were moving away, which left her in tears, and then he packed up their bags, his wife and kids, and they moved on.
I can’t say that this was a great American read although it was American. But for some reason it kept my interest, but of course, I got the book because it was about Appalachian people.
I never could figure out what the romance was except that Neva thought that her husband was sexy and handsome, and she loved him, and he liked her for the same reasons. Plus, he loved having children and was a good father. I imagine by the time their life had ended they may have had 5 more.
September 1, 2012
More than real, more than honest, more than down-to-earth, more than uplifting. Exquisite rendering of subtle human feelings giving warmth, color and life to a harshly beautiful environment.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews