Fear was my gateway to becoming interested in stories. My nanny growing up, a Scottish expat named Jackie with a fox pelt of red hair and a manic...
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Olga Hanson, August 4, 2012 (view all comments by Olga Hanson)
I knew Ron Rash would take me away from real life with "The Cove: A Novel" because he'd already done so with "Saints at the River: A Novel" and "The World Made Straight: A Novel."
He didn't let me down one bit. In no time at all through his brilliant use of words and sentences, I knew Laurel Shelton and her family home in North Carolina. I knew Hank and Slidell and Walter, even Chauncey and Jubel, as well as if I were the proverbial fly on the wall.
Sounds pastoral doesn't it--that list of names along with the words family home? Nope. Not at all. A heavy wondering about what is going to happen next permeated the novel. To tell you the truth, as badly as I wanted to know what was next, I dreaded it, too. I couldn't find but a sliver of hope, yet I continued to read because I had to know. I had to know where the novel would take me, willingly going all the way to its end.
Novel. Let's see, according to Merriam-Webster, novel as an adjective can mean "original or striking especially in conception or style." I think that definition must be why the word is included in the titles of Mr. Rash's books. Anyway, by the time he was done with me, I slowly closed the book and sat there, with my hand resting on the cover. I slowly moved my hand back and forth across the cover, feeling the slightly raised words, hoping that in doing so I was in some way comforting Laurel.
JoanMaggie, May 19, 2012 (view all comments by JoanMaggie)
Ron Lash is a gifted wordsmith and storyteller. I was able to feel the gloom of the setting and the emotions of each of the characters. The story is a sad but lovely one. The novel takes place in a small southern locale at the time of the First World War. Yet, the characters and their actions are as timeless as literature itself. I found the story to be emotionally moving and well worth reading.
"Publishers Weekly Review"
by Publishers Weekly,
"Veteran novelist Rash (Serena) knits his newest rustic yarn in North Carolina during WWI. Located near the hardscrabble village of Mars Hill, the cove is shrouded in superstition, 'a place where ghosts and fetches wandered.' Nearby, the alienated Laurel Shelton lives with her wounded war veteran brother in an isolated cabin. While out doing laundry by the creek one day, Laurel discovers Walter Smith, an illiterate, mute flutist en route to New York City, who has been incapacitated by hornet stings. As she nurses the mysterious Walter back to health, Laurel begins to fall in love. 'Waiting for her life to begin,' she clings to Walter and the future he represents. However, local Army recruiter Chauncey Feith threatens to ruin all that Laurel and Walter hope for. A rabid anti-German agitator, he begins to suspect that Walter is not who he claims to be. Driven by fear, patriotism, and bloodlust, Chauncey progresses from arrogant drunk to a craven yet dangerous force. The gripping plot, gothic atmosphere, and striking descriptions, in particular of the dismal cove, make this a top-notch story of an unusual place and its fated and fearful denizens. Agent: Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff & Associates Inc." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
"Review"
by Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls,
"Ron Rash is a writer of both the darkly beautiful and the sadly true; his new novel, The Cove, solidifies his reputation as one of our very finest novelists."
"Review"
by Jennifer Haigh, author of Faith,
"I wish the whole world spoke the way Ron Rash's characters do. Read him for his poetry and great humanity. Just read him."
"Review"
by Library Journal (Starred Review),
"Rash develops his story masterfully; the large cast of characters is superbly realized, as is the xenophobia that accompanies the war, and Rash brings the various narrative threads together at the conclusion of the novel with formidable strength and pathos."
"Review"
by Daniel Woodrell, author of Winter's Bone,
"Ron Rash uses language with such apparently effortless skill that it is as though he found words in his barn as a child and has been training them to fit his needs ever since....Rash throws a big shadow now and it's only going to get bigger and soon."
"Review"
by Publishers Weekly (Starred Review), Pick of the Week,
"The gripping plot, gothic atmosphere, and striking descriptions, in particular of the dismal cove, make this a top-notch story of an unusual place and its fated and fearful denizens."
"Review"
by Booklist (Starred Review),
"Rash effortlessly summons the rugged Appalachian landscape as well as the small-mindedness and xenophobia of a country in the grip of patriotic fervor, drawing striking parallels to the heated political rhetoric of today. A powerful novel that skillfully overlays its tragic love story with pointed social commentary."
"Review"
by Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review),
"Lonely young woman meets mysterious stranger. What might have been trite and formulaic is anything but in Rash's fifth novel, a dark tale of Appalachian superstition and jingoism so good it gives you chills....Even better than the bestselling Serena (2008), for here Rash has elevated melodrama to tragedy."
"Review"
by Janet Maslin, New York Times,
"Mr. Rash's writing is so richly atmospheric...[he] can make words take wing....A breathless sequence of events lead the book to its devastating final sentence. And that sentence affirms Mr. Rash's reputation for writerly miracles."
"Synopsis"
by Harper Collins,
Here is a magnificent tale that captures the wondrous beauty of nature and love — and the darkness of superstition and fear — from one of America's most exciting contemporary novelists. With The Cove, Ron Rash, author of the acclaimed New York Times bestseller Serena, returns to the Appalachian milieu he has previously so memorably evoked. A two-time O. Henry Prize winner for his short fiction — and recipient of the 2010 Frank O'Connor International Story Award and the 2010 SIBA Book Award for his story collection Burning Bright — Rash can expect more honors for The Cove, a novel that brilliantly explores often dangerous notions of patriotism during wartime. This story of a love affair doomed in the rising turmoil of WWI resonates powerfully in today's world.
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