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Chimney Rock
Hailed for his "appalling brilliance" on the front page of The New York Times Book Review, Charlie Smith is like the Titan who stole fire from heaven: a novelist of Promethean originality and daring who in three enduring novels - Canaan, Shine Hawk, and The Lives of the Dead - has given us a vision that is at once achingly beautiful, violent, erotic, and, at the last, full of grace.
In Chimney Rock, Smith takes on the illusion and madness of America's factory of fantasy. Hollywood is home for Smith's narrator, Will Blake, the scion of two generations of movie folk, himself an actor by default, though a good one, for who could better play a role or steal the show than a homeboy, raised where make-believe is every bit as real as what's real.
Smith's Los Angeles is the end of the American line, the place where the West ran out of itself and turned inward, its pioneers become impresarios, mining myths, not gold. Will's father, Clement, is the ape of Hollywood, hell-bent to produce the next spectacle of mayhem and excess, seduce the next woman, and willing to destroy whatever stands in his way. Between father and son there is much bitterness. There is the memory of Will's brother, Bobby, a suicide; and Jennie White, Will's mother, who has withstood her husband's voraciousness only at great cost. But when Clement takes an interest in Will's wife, Kate - known to the world as the actress Zebra Dunn, she is Smith's most incandescent creation - this lifelong antipathy erupts in a deadly struggle.
Part murder mystery, part family tragedy, part exploration of the extreme personality, Chimney Rock burns in a white heat from beginning to end and succeeds in questioning, even redefining, the limits of invention.
In Chimney Rock, Smith takes on the illusion and madness of America's factory of fantasy. Hollywood is home for Smith's narrator, Will Blake, the scion of two generations of movie folk, himself an actor by default, though a good one, for who could better play a role or steal the show than a homeboy, raised where make-believe is every bit as real as what's real.
Smith's Los Angeles is the end of the American line, the place where the West ran out of itself and turned inward, its pioneers become impresarios, mining myths, not gold. Will's father, Clement, is the ape of Hollywood, hell-bent to produce the next spectacle of mayhem and excess, seduce the next woman, and willing to destroy whatever stands in his way. Between father and son there is much bitterness. There is the memory of Will's brother, Bobby, a suicide; and Jennie White, Will's mother, who has withstood her husband's voraciousness only at great cost. But when Clement takes an interest in Will's wife, Kate - known to the world as the actress Zebra Dunn, she is Smith's most incandescent creation - this lifelong antipathy erupts in a deadly struggle.
Part murder mystery, part family tragedy, part exploration of the extreme personality, Chimney Rock burns in a white heat from beginning to end and succeeds in questioning, even redefining, the limits of invention.
- GenresFiction
388 pages, Hardcover
First published December 12, 1941
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 13, 2020
I found this book at my local Goodwill and liked the cover (same reason I buy some wines, being attracted to the label) and for the interesting comments from reviewers. The descriptions of places are absolutely fantastic and as another reviewer mentioned the novel demands a lot of the reader and I almost always enjoy a demanding read. But, I found the characters pretty despicable, although fascinating (especially Kate) and sometimes I felt a bit "dirty" indulging myself with their story. If you want to read a very creatively constructed novel, I highly recommend this one. If you dislike reading about self-indulgent, tormented and frankly, a bit nutty characters, then skip it.
June 20, 2018
Charlie Smith is a master wordsmith. With mere words on a page, he is able to do what so many other respected, talented, and successful writers are unable to do: teleport you not just into another place filled with other people, but into an idea. Fifty percent of any Smith book is theme. Just as we spend so much of our day feeling things abstractly, taking in smells that conjure up long lost memories, and existing in what feels sometimes like a void; Charlie Smith unleashes this part of his characters. Will Blake is a Hollywood actor birthing himself out of his existential crisis and can see and finally accept, distantly, the beautiful in the terrible. The end result is sweet, dark, scary, and insightful. I found myself rereading passages just because I wanted to. I began to dream about the people and the cities and the colors of all the flowers that populate Chimney Rock. Its the kind of book that reveals the true power of a gifted writer.
On the other hand, Charlie Smith is not for everyone. Inexperienced readers need not apply. If a good yarn is all your after, have a friend tell you the story. Charlie's prose is difficult. His sentences are long and crooked. They sometimes form into chains that lead to dramatically different places than they began. A man may walk into a restaurant and say hello to a woman, but her response could occur three pages later with this type of writing. Its lyrical but indirect. Or, direct spiritually, but not narratively. Nonetheless, its the difficult roads that lead to the grandest rewards.
On the other hand, Charlie Smith is not for everyone. Inexperienced readers need not apply. If a good yarn is all your after, have a friend tell you the story. Charlie's prose is difficult. His sentences are long and crooked. They sometimes form into chains that lead to dramatically different places than they began. A man may walk into a restaurant and say hello to a woman, but her response could occur three pages later with this type of writing. Its lyrical but indirect. Or, direct spiritually, but not narratively. Nonetheless, its the difficult roads that lead to the grandest rewards.
February 16, 2025
The language of this book is just fantastic. There are moments where the prose can just leave you breathless and it begs to be real out loud
The plot is... Over the top, but I think that's the point. I think we're supposed to read this book as modern epic mythology. No one calls Kronos eating his children over wrought. And I think a lot of this book should be read through that kind of lense.
The plot is... Over the top, but I think that's the point. I think we're supposed to read this book as modern epic mythology. No one calls Kronos eating his children over wrought. And I think a lot of this book should be read through that kind of lense.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews