On the Southern Literary Trail discussion

Comments on this board should be written with the assumption that not all readers have finished the book. Please take care not to reveal information that might lessen other readers’ enjoyment.

I will not reread this one but will say that readers are in for a treat. Just don't plan to get anything done until you finish it. Luckily, Serena is a Kindle special today for $1.99.

I’ve read this one several times and one of my favorite books. If you like a good villain you will certainly find it here. If you saw movie, trash it, and read the book. The only thing good about the movie was it paid off some debt for Ron Rash. If end of June gets slow I might try a reread by audio.

A reread by audio might be of interest to me at some point in time but not this month. Serena is on my list of top literary villains.

I was struck by the level of description in this book. It really takes you into the logging camps of Appalachia during the Great Depression. And Serena is a classic villain.

This was classic historical fiction set in my home state of North Carolina (although I don't live in the mountains). The rough cut workers, the cruelty of the owners, and Serena's natural nastiness made it unforgettable. Ron Rash is a great writer, and I see he has a new one out, too... about a cemetery from his youth. I'll be checking that one out soon.

Loved this book when I read it a while back. Recommended it to my F2F book club, too. They were more taken aback by Serena than appreciative of Rash's writing.

I also have a few chpters left here. I loved the start of the book but the story has gotten a bit melodramtic for my tastes. But that reflects my taste and I think Rash's audience prefers what he is giving them. But I could have read about the historical elements of the setting forever since I spent some of my life there.

I’m 46% done now…this is my second Rash book and really loved the first one. This one isn’t grabbing me quite so much but do want to see where things go…..and hope the villians get their just rewards. It usually doesn’t bother me to have unlikeable characters in a book, but Serena and Pemberton take it to a new level. It’s also set in a different era and maybe it’s due to my conservationist tendencies growing as I get older, but hard to read about the forest cutting and hunting practices used by Serena and Pemberton. Rash’s beautiful writing and storytelling is still there to be found. I didn’t know it was a movie but don’t expect to seek out the movie.

Carol, I've heard that the movie is awful. I don't ever plan to watch it, but I did love the book. Serena is a villain for the ages.

Diane is spot on - the movie, despite a director who holds an Oscar and the two starring actors both holding Oscars, was awful. The screenwriters completely defanged Serena and seemingly wanted to make it more a love story.

What you all may love is this little homage or Easter egg. After reading Serena, the second time, I happened to read a book by Walker Percy, an author who lived about 6 miles from my house. “The Movie Goer” has a character that walks into a beautiful garden district mansion, and immediately notices a table. The surface of the table is one entire slab cut from a tree, and he runs his hand over it appreciatively.

What struck me was that Serena had done the same thing when she entered the logging camp office or conference (dining?) room. It made me wonder if in the 1930s, those types of tables were fashionable amongst the elites.

While my club was doing an author chat with Ron Rash, I mentioned the coincidence of me reading two books back to back where a character showed appreciation for a slab top table. Ron did his masters thesis on Walker Percy, and took that little moment from The Moviegoer to put into Serena!

Apologies for any typos or punctuation errors. I am dictating into my phone and Siri tends to mangle things!