On the Southern Literary Trail discussion

Here is the topic to begin discussion of A Land More Kind Than Home. Please hide spoilers.

Mike S.
"Lawyer Stevens"

Top 10 reasons book clubs will want to read A Land More Kind Than Home - http://youtu.be/SXBtkdiAix4

I read this last month with another book club on Goodreads and found this. Only about 3 mins, check it out.

Lexy wrote: "Top 10 reasons book clubs will want to read A Land More Kind Than Home - http://youtu.be/SXBtkdiAix4

I read this last month with another book club on Goodreads and found this. Only about 3 mins, ..."

*chuckle* Now, that's what I call selling a book at any cost.

Mike S.

Hmmmmm.

This has been on my To Read pile for a while - glad to have a reason to move it up on the list

Thanks to Cathy for getting this "old" information back on the update feed. This is our second chance to read this book. I have already started it. Maybe it will draw more comments this time around! Anyone want to pursue the Skype idea with Wiley?

Larry wrote: "Thanks to Cathy for getting this "old" information back on the update feed. This is our second chance to read this book. I have already started it. Maybe it will draw more comments this time around..."

LOL - no Skyping!
Sorta up there with the day job (I telecommute) with conference calls instead of anything with a camera!

Whoa! This was an outstanding debut novel. The first three chapters had me sweating bullets, nearly in tears, and furious all at once - it was difficult to put this book down from that point onward. I just finished it today, and despite a less than perfect wrap-up, I gave it five stars. Y'all will enjoy it.

Oops I am struggling with the first two chapters , I m finding the pace slightly long winded and a little repetitive, especially with references to the fan?
Hope I m not alone, maybe It ll pick up for me.

I'm having a bit of trouble, too, but different from yours, Jane. For the most part, I prefer third person narration, the reason being that I often just get tired of the same voice and/or want a break into something different. I realize that there will be different voices in the book, also in first person. I have already identified with Adelaide and like her as a character. I don't know how it will be, though, to "listen" to the characters for the length of the book. I tend to have a hard time, too, with narration in dialect. So, I don't know how well this one is going to work for me. I like the writing and the sensibility--and certainly what I've understood so far to be the writer's intention. We'll see, I suppose, if those things will carry the novel for me.

I am another one having trouble with the beginning of this book. Can snake handling be considered a slow start to a book? I thought so - that there was too much scene-setting before getting into the plot. And those who know me will not be surprised to hear that I am not enamored by the focus on religion - evil or otherwise. That might just spoil the whole book for me.

How can one write honestly about the South and never focus on religion? It is like asking one to write about pecan pie but never focus on Karo Syrup.

Larry wrote: "I am another one having trouble with the beginning of this book. Can snake handling be considered a slow start to a book? I thought so - that there was too much scene-setting before getting into th..."

My recommendation is to focus on the unscrupulous minister's misuse of religion for his own interests. The congregation is duped. Two children's mother is sexually exploited. A child is killed at the instigation of the preacher. To claim this is a man of religion is a joke. Rather, I think the misuse of religion should appeal to you rather than spoil the book for you. Let me also say that this is not my favorite read. I ratcheted up my rating on Cash's effective use of point of view. In other words, I appreciated the story being told by the various characters. I found the sheriff the most compelling voice. I find holes in Cash's plotting--vast ones. I urge you to stick with it. Reserve judgment. You might be surprised.

Randy wrote: "How can one write honestly about the South and never focus on religion? It is like asking one to write about pecan pie but never focus on Karo Syrup."

Astutely put. And the Karo must be used appropriately. My greatest failure as a cook was with a pecan pie. It was a Chef John Folse recipe which I followed to the letter. It never set. It might have served as an appropriate topping for ice cream but never been capable of being sliced. Take away religion and you have no Flannery O'Connor for a beginning. Scratch Lee Smith. We could continue the list. I think one of the most valuable references is The Christ-Haunted Landscape: Faith and Doubt in Southern Fiction by Susan Ketchin. To drop a work of literature because the characters do not share you system of belief or non-belief is an act of self-deprivation. You miss a lot. On a basis of intellectual honesty, both the believer and non-believer can only realistically say, "I don't know." Both sides of the argument, yea and nay, in and of themselves are a statement of faith, one positive, the other negative. One of the reasons I find Ketchin's work valuable is her careful delineation of Faith and Doubt, for each is an element of the other in the final analysis.

Truly. I mean, we're talking about the underlying fabric here.

Mike wrote: "To drop a work of literature because the characters do not share you system of belief or non-belief is an act of self-deprivation. You miss a lot."

I plead guilty, Mr. Prosecutor. I am a relative newcomer to southern literature and I am just to the point where I might have to sadly agree with Randy saying "How can one write honestly about the South and never focus on religion?" That might mean that my increasing religious antagonism puts me at a significant disadvantage with the genre of this group. My own version of intellectual integrity sometimes lands me in a hard place here on The Trail. Mea culpa!

Larry, speaking purely for myself, let me assure you--one does not have to accept or embrace or even feel no antagonism toward a religious structure to rightly incorporate it into a portrait of a people or a region.

I do second Randy's statement. No mea culpa need be involved, Larry. One doesn't have to "like" the fundamentalist religion of the South, but it's impossible to pretend it's not there or that it hasn't been one of the prime movers of the culture.

Patricia wrote: "One doesn't have to "like" the fundamentalist religion of the South, but it's impossible to pretend it's not there or that it hasn't been one of the prime movers of the culture."

You are all surely correct and I have continued to try to batter that square peg into the round hole occasionally to my detriment! Consider me the rabid dog whom even the noble Mr. Finch has to shoot.

Thanks for this excellent conversation. I haven't started this book yet but I can relate to the talk about religious fundamentalism. Sometimes I find it a difficult subject in my fiction.

Larry wrote: "Mike wrote: "To drop a work of literature because the characters do not share you system of belief or non-belief is an act of self-deprivation. You miss a lot."

I plead guilty, Mr. Prosecutor. I a..."

I agree with the other folks who have addressed this topic. No Mea Culpa is necessary. Merely give time for the story to develop. This is a story regarding the destructive force of religion. It leads to the death of an innocent child. The repercussions are far reaching. Many share the guilt for the death of the child. However the person most responsible is the despicable "shepherd" of the flock who has a duty to protect his flock, not to subject it to harm to cover up his own misdeeds. The story line seems to me to fit your intellectual integrity. This is a story lacking in piety or devotion. It is one of manipulation, deceit, and murder. The villain's modus operandi is a twisted interpretation of the Gospels to suit his own motivations.

I feel the character of the Sheriff introduces some vigor into the narrative and my interest has picked up again.

I was interested in this book because I saw Wiley speak at the SC Book Festival in May, and because I knew Jason-of-this-group spoke highly of him. Also because in person, the author has a bit of a Robert Downey Jr. vibe that isn't obvious from his author photos. Forgive me for my shallow reason, but officially I also wanted to read more living southern authors!

I'm almost done with the book but I'll discuss it more in the other threads. As I was driving up to the National Storytelling festival in Jonesborough, TN on Friday, I was struck by how unsettling some small towns can be. I think that is what is captured well in this book- the power one person can have.

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: " I also wanted to read more living southern authors!"

Let's hear it for living Southern authors ...

As I was driving up to the National Storytelling festival in Jonesborough, TN on Friday, I was struck by how unsettling some small towns can be. I think that is what is captured well in this book- the power one person can have.
Jenny I would agree with you and I feel it is an important point. I saw that Gaines-my hero- had explained how he suggested to Wiley that an author writes best about places he knows well and that Wiley had based this book on a true story but in an African American environment.
I would be interested to know what you all thought about this subject matter to location connection ?

This is set in an African American environment? I didn't pick up on that.

No, the real life story it was based on was apparently.

I have two sons, ages 11 and 14, and my oldest has autism. Maybe because of this, I identified very deeply with the younger boy's love and concern for his brother. There was a real-life event that this novel reflects, making the first section of the novel even more gripping for me.

Oh, and the real-world tragedy this is based on occurred in Chicago - not the deep South. Fundamentalism isn't corralled by geography.

Leanne wrote: "Oh, and the real-world tragedy this is based on occurred in Chicago - not the deep South. Fundamentalism isn't corralled by geography."

Yes, that s correct Leanne

Randy wrote: "Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: " I also wanted to read more living southern authors!"

Let's hear it for living Southern authors ..."

*chuckle* Top of the morning to you, Randy.

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I was interested in this book because I saw Wiley speak at the SC Book Festival in May, and because I knew Jason-of-this-group spoke highly of him. Also because in person, the author has a bit of a..."

*Laughing* Tsk, Tsk, Jenny. Robert Downey, Jr.? Yeah, he's got that Vanity Fair poster boy thing going for him. Regarding living authors, I prefer to be vertical as long as possible. However, our living authors owe much to those that paved the way. The influence of past voices lives on in the living choir of Southern voices. After all, "The past is never dead, it's not even past," spoken by my favorite Faulkner mouthpiece Gavin Stevens, from Requiem for a Nun.

Jane wrote: "Jenny I would agree with you and I feel it is an important point. I saw that Gaines-my hero- had explained how he suggested to Wiley that an author writes best about places he knows well and that Wiley had based this book on a true story but in an African American environment.
I would be interested to know what you all thought about this subject matter to location connection ?
"

Ah, Jane. "Gaines-my hero." Gimme FIVE! I revere Ernest J. Gaines. He gave Cash fine advice. Just as Sherwood Anderson advised William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway. Write what you know. Gaines' blurb on Cash's novel was rather a back handed compliment, I thought. This may border more on final impressions than initial. However, I thought Cash had the setting down well. The voices quite well. The plotting had holes. Why? The point that you raised. Exporting the factual event to the location. There was nothing wrong with this, except Cash did not seem to be familiar with the idiosyncratic nature of the "faith" of those who belong to churches of signs following. I will say no more lest I get into spoilers. I will say I have been lashed on this point for being more concerned with that issue than the emotional issue of the death of an autistic child in my review. I still contend that was not my intent. So it goes.

Now, about Gaines. As the senior Moderator, having founded what has turned into a wonderful member driven journey, I have maintained a position of strict neutrality. I do NOT nominate. I do NOT vote except in the event of a tie. However, your having mentioned Gaines, I'm going to wheedle and beg that you nominate your favorite Ernest J. Gaines novel come the next call for nominations. We have not had a group read by him which I think would be a great experience for all our readers.

Mike wrote: "Randy wrote: "Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: " I also wanted to read more living southern authors!"

Let's hear it for living Southern authors ..."

*chuckle* Top of the morning to you, Randy."

And a top of the morning to you too, Mike.

Mike said
Exporting the factual event to the location. There was nothing wrong with this, except Cash did not seem to be familiar with the idiosyncratic nature of the "faith" of those who belong to churches of signs following.
Thankyou so much for this astute observation Mike I think it s spot on !
As for E.J.Gaines I d pick," A Lesson Before Dying".

Jane wrote: "Mike said
Exporting the factual event to the location. There was nothing wrong with this, except Cash did not seem to be familiar with the idiosyncratic nature of the "faith" of those who belong ..."

Jane, there are so many factual incidents regarding churches of signs following upon which Cash could have based his novel. However, I must admit that the the issue of the two children carried with it a harrowing emotional grab. That, too, could have been carried off, with a little research into the culture of those families who have been members of these Appalachian churches for literally generations. Cash picked a Chicago incident which uniquely fit his plot line. Therein, lies the holes of his story.

Your choice of A Lesson Before Dying is among my favorites, as if one can have a favorite Ernest J. Gaines. Watch for the call for nominations for December group reads which will be around October 15.

Mike

Mike wrote: "Randy wrote: "Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: " I also wanted to read more living southern authors!"

Let's hear it for living Southern authors ..."

*chuckle* Top of the morning to you, Randy."

There's more than one of us around!

Mike wrote: "Jane wrote: "Jenny I would agree with you and I feel it is an important point. I saw that Gaines-my hero- had explained how he suggested to Wiley that an author writes best about places he knows we..."

I've only read a couple of Gaines. But In My Father's House is now on the way!

Patricia wrote: "I've only read a couple of Gaines. But In My Father's House is now on the way! "

Two thumbs up, Trish. In My Father's House is excellent. Yet, I've never found anything by Ernest J. Gaines that wasn't.

Interesting, I really had no idea about the Chicago export, and it didn't read as out of place to me.

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Interesting, I really had no idea about the Chicago export, and it didn't read as out of place to me."

Here's the origin of my problem with Cash's plotting, Jenny. It arises from an actual case in my home state, Alabama. Glenn Summerford was pastor at a Church of Jesus With Signs Following on Sand Mountain near Scottsboro, Alabama. He was married to Darlene. Snake Handling was a regular part of services at the church. Both husband and wife handled the snakes, mostly rattlers. Trouble was Glenn decided he wanted to marry another woman and divorce was out of the question. He couldn't continue to preach if he were divorced. So the logical solution to Glenn was to make it appear that Darlene got bit by one of their snakes. He stuck her hand in a cage full of rattlers and banged on it with a pipe to get the snakes good and riled up. Darlene was bitten once. Glenn drove her around for a while, took her back home, stuck her hand in the cage again and she was bitten again. She was able to get away when Glenn got drunk and passed out. Being a career prosecutor, I knew the DA who prosecuted Summerford. Summerford was convicted of Attempted Murder and got 99 years. It was one of those strange cases that got a lot of coverage and was talked about among prosecutors around the state. Then, author Dennis Covington wrote Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia. I believe you added it to your TBR list. Covington covered the Summerford Trial. Then he wrote about the Churches of Signs Following, up through Appalachia. He became caught up in, shall we call it the charismatic experience of the services, and handled a serpent himself once. Of course, Covington has a reputation for having been susceptible to seeking out a good adrenaline rush, covering the wars in El Salvador and other dangerous experiences. However, one of the main points of his book is that members of these churches are descendants of families that have belonged to these churches for generations. These churches just do not pop up in a traditional congregation and become converted to a church dealing in such dangerous practices overnight, no matter how charismatic the "preacher" might be. That's my major problem with Cash's books. I rank it high on prose and the voice of the characters. However, Cash, being from North Carolina doesn't appear to be very familiar with his subject matter, or if he was, wasn't concerned that he was pulling the wool over the eyes of his readers. I don't think he fully followed his mentor Ernest J. Gaines's advice to write what he knew, or he took the easy way out. I rated it highly on particular aspects. Perhaps more highly than it deserved. I'll be thinking much about the novel, perhaps issuing a revised review, if time allows. I certainly haven't given up on Cash. This Dark Road to Mercy, Cash's second novel, is on my book shelf. If interested, here is Mike's review of Salvation on Sand Mountain .

Thanks Mike, that's helpful.

When Wiley was on a panel at the Sc Book Festival with Jon Sealy and George Singleton about Southern writers, he seemed really resistant to that label. He said that in other author circles, the label southern can seem overly constricting, maybe even dismissive. I don't agree with that, but I do wonder if that same perspective makes him more resistant to write what he does know, which keeps him a distance from his topic that leads to things not working as well. (Hopefully my musings make some sense, just typing out loud.) Or maybe he's assuming/hoping that his primary readers are not southern and wouldn't care that he picked and chose which details he wanted to use.

I think that the detail that jumped out most to me as not quite working was the minister being a former meth dealer. It confused the time setting for me, because meth is pretty new and I was reading this as being decades ago.

So it sounds like he could have gone one of two directions to deal with some of these issues. He could have pulled back from using a historical, existing denomination so as not to violate the historical possibilities that some of you are struggling with, because to my mind it seems possible that a charismatic character could develop a cult and control a small town. So make it feel less historical/factual so he could just make up a story that interested him. Or he could have more faithfully and factually written the story he picked up and moved.

Snake handlers were part of Donna Tartt's second book (and my favorite), "The Little Friend" and also in Erdrich's "Plague of Doves." In the latter, one of the female characters slept with a snake in her bed every night. Were the instances in these novels well researched? I've no clue - they effectively set the tone for me, and I didn't think any harder.

Cash's accuracy (or lack thereof) in describing how a charismatic church membership would progress into actually snakes, strychnine, and re-birthing didn't bother me. Maybe that is too deep and dark a well for me to want to look down. Creepy!

Mike wrote: "Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Interesting, I really had no idea about the Chicago export, and it didn't read as out of place to me."

Here's the origin of my problem with Cash's plotting, Jenny. It..."

Yes.

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Thanks Mike, that's helpful.

When Wiley was on a panel at the Sc Book Festival with Jon Sealy and George Singleton about Southern writers, he seemed really resistant to that label. He said that in other author circles, the label southern can seem overly constricting, maybe even dismissive."

Cash would not be the first Southern author to resist that label. William Styron upon the publication of his first novel, Lie Down in Darkness not only resisted the label of Southern author but resented comparison to William Faulkner. However, Styron was twenty-six. Perhaps he sought his independence and carried a certain degree of arrogance streaming through his blood. In fact, with the exception of Set This House on Fire, Styron's major works dealt with Southern themes and Southern characters. In Sophie's Choice, Styron created his most garrulous Southern character, Stingo, a younger version of himself.

I am always put a bit at unease by Southern authors who are dismissive of their roots. Being quite frank, I find it showing a lack of backbone, being fearful of that disdainful attitude of some folks from other areas of the country who look over their glasses, stare balefully, at a Southerner, and say something in the intonation of their voice bearing the implied question, "Do you people read?" I have encountered it when conducting national trainings on interviewing children, courtroom procedure for social workers, and similar subjects. My response has been to carry on, make my presentation, and let my credentials speak for themselves. In more pointed conversations I have had to explain that racism is not exclusive to the South, that the American Nazi Party is centered in Skokie, Illinois, and that the Ku Klux Klan was bankrupted in Alabama by the Southern Poverty Law Center located in Montgomery, Alabama.

While Cash may be dismissive of being termed a Southern writer, he certainly is not dismissive of seeking Southern writers' and publications' supportive blurbs on his books. His residence is now in Wilmington, North Carolina, a haven for the arts and the residence of Clyde Edgerton and Philip Gerard, an author of Southern fiction and non-fiction. Cash needs to decide who he is. He cannot be all things to all people.

I took a few moments to peruse This Dark Road to Mercy. It is the story of two children in the foster care system in Gastonia, NC. Their long absent father shows up and steals them away. Their father is a former minor league baseball player. There's a man on the father's trail. Seems dear old dad may have been involved in a million dollar plus robbery and the man chasing him thinks dad owes him something. Southern? Who knows. Kids are in foster care everywhere. We'll see if Cash remembers his roots or we'll find out what newspaper he got his inspiration from for this one. It's tough when you want Vanity Fair Magazine to like you.

I do collect first edition first printings of Southern Literature. I have as many signed as possible. When I have an author signing within a reasonable distance, I order any back titles I've not had signed. It's true. Southern titles sell for significantly less among Northern and Western book sellers. I've saved a ton buying from them.

In many areas of the country booksellers, those who are not in the know, are dismissive of Southern literature. The exceptions are those titles readily known to be high value items, primarily the Holy Grails, signed Cormac McCarthy's, Firsts of To Kill a Mockingbird, and hot titles like Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell.

Here's to Cash figuring out just who he is.

Mike wrote: "Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Thanks Mike, that's helpful.

When Wiley was on a panel at the Sc Book Festival with Jon Sealy and George Singleton about Southern writers, he seemed really resistant ..."

Southern Lit is the only regional American literature that remains viable and alive as a genre. I'll take it.

10/13/14

Wow! This thread on Wiley Cash is really going around !!! I was trying to get my word in at a point about the snake handlers and religious believers wild ceremonies and how they literally interpret the Bible and convince or persuade simple folk in the mountains to follow their beliefs. Their beliefs which they say are based on faith are actually a misunderstanding of the word of God. Yes, these snake handlers sometimes make it through a poisonous bite or too due to old remedies brought down through the past years when there was no Antivenom. Nowadays, they may know how to make it themselves to control people even more. These people are users and takers from those who can't read or write and who stay in the mountains or very rural areas away from urban areas . Some remind me of Daniel Woodrell's Winter's Bone creatures selling Meth on the side.
Yes, religion has always been part of the south, rather you believe or not , it has been a ritual and rather ignorant or smart you go to church. People are to superstitious to take a chance one way or another. For centuries before AMERICANS came and stepped a foot on this land EUROPE was loyal to some God or Gods. We brought that tradition with us as FREEDOM OF RELIGION when we migrated this way. The South was so naturally far from others , I believe the social and hopeful life of Spirituaity was very important to Southerners. Also Remember, the Bible was the only book in America besides books from America for a long time. In the South, there was not a book published for a great deal longer than the South. The Bible was it and was interpreted and misinterpreted for years. I really can't think of any books to hit the south until after the Victorian Era.
AMERICAN literature has not been around as long as we think .
Oh and a great book to mention snake handlers and meth and murder and all that which I think is a better book than they did give it credit for was Donna Tarrt's Little Friend . I have been hoping to read it some time soon because there have been so many controversial opinions about the book.
Looks like Mr. Wiley might be here for a little while ???? He is a terrible speaker. HA!!! But, he had a good setting and idea ! Maybe his style was just not good in writing. Anybody can research and write an outline, but you have to fill it in with the correct style and form and dialect and motion and well you know ...

In Southern writing you need:

Great characters - unique , use dialect,

Conflicts - with people, past, land, innermost, secrets, wealth, poverty, race, life, death, God, evil, good, women , men , family etc...

Great settings - beauty, descriptions, Southern landscapes, the coasts, the mountains, the woods, farms, popular cities

Religion vs. true Christian beliefs or hypocrites

FOOD

Sports

Hunting

Old Money and New Money

MUSIC AND FESTIVALS


That is just some things I can think of right now !!! Feel free to add !!! LOL!

Dawn

Great post, Dawn. Also, I really loved Donna Tartt's The Little Friend! I liked A Land More Kind than Home, too. Wiley Cash is a good writer. However, I agree with some, especially Larry, that a misguided "belief in top-down leadership fits the conclusion of this book: kill the leader and the problem is solved. I do not concur that the sheep being led are blameless. Silent acceptance is not admirable." To me, this is what was missing in Cash's book--delving into that moment of moral or immoral human choice in which a character (and everyone alive for that matter) chooses one path or another. Almost as if Cash was afraid to deal with it.

Southerners are among some of the best and most exciting storytellers to come out of the USA- a personal opinion ;)

Lexy wrote: "Top 10 reasons book clubs will want to read A Land More Kind Than Home - http://youtu.be/SXBtkdiAix4

I read this last month with another book club on Goodreads and found this. Only about 3 mins, ..."

Thanks for sharing, Lexy! I'm about half-way through the audio and loving this book. Seeing this video is making me love it more. :-)