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Check for Availabilityout of stock. Click on the button below to search for this title in other formats.  This title in other editionsThe World Made Straight
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:In an Appalachian community haunted by the legacy of a Civil War massacre, a rebellious young man struggles to escape the violence that would bind him to the past Travis Shelton is seventeen the summer he wanders onto a neighbors property in the woods, discovers a crop of marijuana large enough to make him some serious money, and steps into the jaws of a bear trap. After hours of passing in and out of consciousness, Travis is discovered by Carlton Toomey, the wise and vicious farmer who set the trap to protect his plants, and Traviss confrontation with the subtle evils within his rural world has begun. Before long, Travis has moved out of his parents home to live with Leonard Shuler, a one-time schoolteacher who lost his job and custody of his daughter years ago, when he was framed by a vindictive student. Now Leonard lives with his dogs and his sometime girlfriend in a run-down trailer outside town, deals a few drugs, and studies journals from the Civil War. Travis becomes his student, of sorts, and the fate of these two outsiders becomes increasingly entwined as the communitys terrible past and corrupt present bear down on each of them from every direction, leading to a violent reckoning—not only with Carlton, but with the legacy of the Civil War massacre that, even after a century, continues to divide an Appalachian community. Vivid, harrowing, yet ultimately hopeful, The World Made Straight offers a powerful exploration of the painful conflict between the bonds of home and the desire for independence. Ron Rash is the author of the prizewinning novels One Foot in Eden and Saints at the River, as well as three collections of poetry and two of short stories. He is the recipient of an O. Henry Prize and the James Still Award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. For Saints at the River he received the 2004 Weatherford Award for Best Novel and the 2005 SEBA Best Book Award for Fiction. Rash holds the John Parris Chair in Appalachian Studies at Western Carolina University and lives in Clemson, South Carolina. Winner of the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction Travis Shelton is seventeen the summer he wanders onto a neighbor's property in the woods, discovers a crop of marijuana large enough to make him some serious money, and steps into the jaws of a bear trap. After hours of passing in and out of consciousness, Travis is discovered by Carlton Toomey, the wise and vicious farmer who set the trap to protect his plants, and Travis's confrontation with the subtle evils within his rural world has begun. Before long, Travis has moved out of his parents' home to live with Leonard Shuler, a one-time schoolteacher who lost his job and custody of his daughter years ago, when he was framed by a vindictive student. Now Leonard lives with his dogs and his sometime girlfriend in a run-down trailer outside town, deals a few drugs, and studies journals from the Civil War. Travis becomes his student, of sorts, and the fate of these two outsiders becomes increasingly entwined as the community's terrible past and corrupt present bear down on each of them from every direction, leading to a violent reckoning—not only with Carlton, but with the legacy of the Civil War massacre that, even after a century, continues to divide an Appalachian community. "Poet's novels tend to be finely wrought, pretty failures—or worse. Ron Rash, a justly admired poet, is an exhilarating exception, and his third book-length work of fiction, The World Made Straight, marks him as a major Southern writer . . . Rash is too fine and knowing a writer to allow even a hint of folkloric sentimentality to intrude. His fiction inhabits a territory of great beauty and few material consolations . . . The World Made Straight is his most ambitious novel . . . Rash's skill as a storyteller, allows this novel to succeed as an intellectually satisfying work of suspense . . . The World Made Straight reminds us of the sort of compelling literature a brave artist can fashion from the shards of experience. It is less the literature of post-apocalyptic landscape than it is one in which life, searching for reconciliation, continuously recapitulates the apocalypse in ways both social and personal."—Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times
"Rash paints the beauty of the mountains vividly . . . [but he] does not shy from coloring in the meanness and the harsh side of the beauty as well. [He] creates a forceful reality, and his skill and style establish him as a powerful writer. He ties shadowy past and harsh present with a vine as strong and pervasive as kudzu."—Anne Moise, The Post and Courier "His third novel . . . establishes Rash as a major writer. It further demonstrates his ability to tell a contemporary Appalachian story that is strongly rooted in that region's heart-rending past . . . Rash is a supreme master at revealing character through dialogue, with showing rather than telling. Without calling a person evil and mean or wise and kind, Rash can render on the page nuances of speech and tone that let us know without doubt exactly what a person is like . . . His knowledge of his own Appalachian past, which extends back into the mid-1700s, with his keen observation of people in Oconee County, S.C., where he lives, and Cullowhee, N.C., where he teaches, enable him to craft fiction that is at once uplifting, harrowing and unforgettable."—Donald Harington, The News & Observer "[Rash's] novels are complex and compelling, told in graceful, conscientious prose, and The World Made Straight is his finest yet. Here, he deftly braids past and present to place, his own literary place."—Ashley Warlick, Charlotte Observer "This is the third novel by Ron Rash that has brought my life to a grinding halt—but to praise Rash simply as a powerful storyteller would be to overlook his gifts as a profoundly ethical writer and, at the same time, a poet with a fine and tender eye for the beauty of nature. What I love and admire most of all about this book, however, is its fierce confrontation of a human dilemma that has sparked too many of the world's most violent tragedies: the burning question of just how much allegiance we owe family and community, including the ghosts from our past."—Julia Glass, author of Three Junes "The World Made Straight is a wonderful, heartbreaking, heart-healing kind of work, a work of genius—genius and insight and poetry and the kind of language that whispers to me like music coming back off dense wet hills and upturned faces."—Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina "Rash writes with beauty and simplicity, understanding his characters with a poet's eye and heart and telling their tale with a poet's tongue."—William Gay, author of Provinces of Night "Ron Rash writes so well about real people, people one paycheck short of extinction, that you care what happens to his characters in every clause. In A World Made Straight, he shows how much trouble a poor ol' boy can get in, just trying to catch a fish or two. Even in this novel, his words sound like poetry."—Rick Bragg, author of All Over but the Shoutin' and Ava's Man "Deft, intelligent, crisp, sensual and lyrical, The World Made Straight is the best work yet by a wonderful writer. This is why we read books: to encounter a great story told well."—Rick Bass "High-schooler Travis Sheldon steals one too many marijuana plants from vicious tobacco-famer-turned-drug-dealer Carlton Toomey and ends up caught in a bear trap, his foot so mangled he needs surgery. Travis' stern father kicks him out, and he ends up bunking at the rundown trailer of bookish Leonard Shuler, a low-level drug dealer and former schoolteacher who lost his job and his family because of false charges. Leonard sees in Travis something of himself in his youth, when he used his intelligence to outrun the fate that lies in store for so many of the region's poverty-stricken residents. He bonds with the boy over their shared fascination with a local Civil War incident, a massacre that divided the town. Just as Leonard starts to get his own life in order and talks Travis into making plans for college, he becomes enmeshed in a confrontation with Toomey. Part melancholy historical novel and part high-voltage thriller, this third novel from the talented Ron Rash will appeal to readers who like their suspense done with literary flair."—Joanne Wilkinson, Booklist Review:"Rash's finely wrought third novel (after Saints at the River) follows the wayward trajectory of high school dropout Travis Shelton, who stumbles on a neighbor's crop of marijuana while out fishing in Madison County, N.C. He steals a few plants to sell to Leonard Shuler, a divorced and disgraced former high school teacher, who is living in a trailer and selling drugs. Travis has a violent run-in with the father-and-son Toomeys, who own the crop, and is left hospitalized and homeless. He moves in with Leonard and his pill-popping girlfriend. There, Travis and Leonard study the Civil War ledgers and journals of a Dr. Candler, and learn of the county's seismic upheaval during the Shelton Laurel Massacre and its aftermath. Meanwhile, the Toomeys, who do business with Leonard, are not finished exacting their pound of flesh, this time from Leonard. Rash's vivid prose depicts his characters' dependence on drugs, alcohol and hell-raising with sympathy, rendering their shared sense of futility and economic entrapment without sentimentality or easy answers. The Civil War sections are less successful, but they convey the past's hold on the present and ground Rash's Appalachian wanderers in a shared vision of American immobility. (Apr.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Synopsis:Travis Shelton is seventeen the summer he wanders into the woods onto private property near his North Carolina home, discovers a grove of marijuana large enough to make him some serious money, and steps into the jaws of a bear trap. After hours on the forest floor, he's released from the trap by the shrewd and vicious farmer who set it--but he can no longer ignore the subtle evils that underlie the life of his small Appalachian community.
Before long, Travis has moved out of his parents' home to live with Leonard Shuler, a one-time schoolteacher who now deals a little pot to make ends meet. Travis becomes his student, of sorts, and the fate of these two outsiders becomes increasingly entwined as the community's violent past and corrupt present bear down on each of them from every direction. Synopsis:In an Appalachian community haunted by the legacy of a Civil War massacre, a rebellious young man struggles to escape the violence that would bind him to the past in this vivid, harrowing, yet ultimately hopeful new novel by the author of "Saints at the River." About the AuthorRon Rash is the author of the prizewinning novels One Foot in Eden (0-312-42305-5) and Saints at the River (0-312-42491-4), as well as three collections of poetry and two of short stories. He is the recipient of an O. Henry Prize and the James Still Award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. For Saints at the River he received the 2004 Weatherford Award for Best Novel and the 2005 SEBA Best Book Award for Fiction. Rash holds the John Parris Chair in Appalachian Studies at Western Carolina University and lives in Clemson, South Carolina. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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