Synopses & Reviews
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. Ron Rash is the author of several novels, including the prizewinning Saints at the River and One Foot in Eden, both published by Picador. In addition, he is the author of two collections of short stories, including Chemistry and Other Stories, also available from Picador, and three collections of poetry. 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. His work has been featured in The Yale Review, Sewanee Review, Southern Review, and elsewhere. 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 reckoningnot 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 failuresor 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 "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 "The World Made Straight really is engrossingindeed, the last devastating fifty-odd pages are almost too compelling. You want to look away, but you cant, and as a consequence you have to watch while some bad men get what was coming to them, and a flawed, likable man gets what you hoped he might avoid. Its a satisfyingly complicated story about second chances and history and education and the relationships between parents and their children; its violent, real, very well written, and it moves like a train. . . . [Rash] manages to convince you right from the first page that his characters and his story are going to matter to you, even if you live in North London, rather than on a tobacco farm in North Carolina; its an enviable skill, and its demonstrated here so confidently, and with such a lack of show, that you almost forget Rash has it until its too late, and your own sense of well-being is bound up in the fate of the characters."Nick Hornby, The Believer "[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 "Ron Rash writes some of the most memorable novels of this young century . . . The World Made Straight establishes him as one of the major writers of our time."The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "This is the third novel by Ron Rash that has brought my life to a grinding haltbut 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 geniusgenius 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
"[Ron Rash's] novels are complex and compelling, told in graceful, conscientious prose, and The World Made Straight is his finest yet."--
The Charlotte Observer "An intellectually satisfying work of suspense . . . Reminds us of the sort of compelling literature a brave artist can fashion from the shards of such experience."--
Los Angeles Times
"A superb tale of redemption and healing . . . Vividly enriched by clear, concise prose . . . A beautifully rendered palimpsest."--BookPage
"Finely wrought . . . Vivid."--Publishers Weekly
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
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING NOAH WYLE, JEREMY IRVINE, MINKA KELLY, ADELAIDE CLEMENS, STEVE EARLE, AND HALEY JOEL OSMENT.
"ONE OF THE MAJOR WRITERS OF OUR TIME."--THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
Travis Shelton is seventeen the summer he wanders into the woods onto private property outside his North Carolina hometown, discovers a grove 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 Toomey, 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 is Ron Rash's subtlest exploration yet of the painful conflict between the bonds of home and the desire for independence.
Synopsis
Vivid, harrowing yet ultimately hopeful, The World Made Straight is Ron Rash's subtlest exploration yet of the painful conflict between the bonds of home and the desire for independence.
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING NOAH WYLE, JEREMY IRVINE, MINKA KELLY, ADELAIDE CLEMENS, STEVE EARLE, AND HALEY JOEL OSMENT.
ONE OF THE MAJOR WRITERS OF OUR TIME.--THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
Travis Shelton is seventeen the summer he wanders into the woods onto private property outside his North Carolina hometown, discovers a grove 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 Toomey, but with the legacy of the Civil War massacre that, even after a century, continues to divide an Appalachian community.
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. Ron Rash is the author of several novels, including the prizewinning Saints at the River and One Foot in Eden, both published by Picador. In addition, he is the author of two collections of short stories, including Chemistry and Other Stories, also available from Picador, and three collections of poetry. 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. His work has been featured in The Yale Review, Sewanee Review, Southern Review, and elsewhere. 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 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 The World Made Straight really is engrossing--indeed, the last devastating fifty-odd pages are almost too compelling. You want to look away, but you can't, and as a consequence you have to watch while some bad men get what was coming to them, and a flawed, likable man gets what you hoped he might avoid. It's a satisfyingly complicated story about second chances and history and education and the relationships between parents and their children; it's violent, real, very well written, and it moves like a train. . . . Rash] manages to convince you right from the first page that his characters and his story are going to
About the Author
Ron Rash is the author of the novels One Foot in Eden and Saints at the River, as well as three collections of poetry and two of short stories. He teaches at Western Carolina State University.
Reading Group Guide
Discussion Questions
1. Each chapter in the novel ends with an entry from the doctors journal. How does the information in the entries relate to the events of the present-day story? Did they change your understanding of the events at Shelton Laurel and their significance to Travis, Leonard, Toomey and the other characters in the novel?
2. "The boy had stirred up all sorts of things inside Leonard that hed thought safely locked in the past." (pg. 51) What is it about Travis that stirs these things in Leonard? What do the two men have in common when they meet that draws them together? In the end, considering all that happens by the end of the story, do you think theyre better off for having met?
3. Carlton Toomey, for all his brutality, is an eminently rational man with his own ideas about right and wrong. What do you think motivates him? Did you find him to be a sympathetic character at any point in the story.
4. When the two of them first visit Shelton Laurel, (pg. 86) Leonard tells Travis that "you know a place is haunted when it feels more real than you are," and Travis agrees. Why do you think Shelton Laurel feels more real to these men than their own lives? How does their susceptibility to the past, the ghosts and the legacy of the war, change by the end of the novel?
5. Travis first confrontation with the Toomeys leads directly to his moving out of his parents house, moving in with Leonard, and beginning to learn about the Civil War and the larger world. What do you think is the connection between these events in his mind? What would do you think would have happened to Travis in the coming years if he hadnt stepped in the bear trap on the Toomeys property?
6. What is the significance of the books epigraph, from Moby Dick? What does it say about the relationship between good and evil in the novel?
7. Why does Leonard plead guilty to the charges in Illinois? Look at his conversation with Kera (pg. 156); which of her explanations for his actions seems right? What do you think he should have done? Despite his crimes and his weakness, did you find Leonard to be a sympathetic character?
8. Why do you think Dena decides to go with Toomey (176)? Do you think Leonard should have stopped her?
9. After leaving his family dinner and confronting his father (pg 234), Travis spurns Lori, drops her off, and begins the rampage that will lead to Leonards death as well as Toomeys. Aside from his anger at his father, what is driving Travis on that night? How is his anger connected to what hes learned from Leonard? Is his attempt to save Dena and punish Toomey a sign of progress, of bravery, or just a regression?
10. "Landscape is destiny," Leonard remarks at one point in the story. How does the landscape where these characters live affect their lives in this story, their relationships and their ideas about the world? How might your own life be different if you had grown up, or lived now, in a drastically different landscape?
11. In a conversation with Shank during the early days of his lessons with Leonard, Travis decides not to tell his old friend everything hes been worrying about, and instead thinks to himself that "words ruin everything" (pg. 142). How do you reconcile Travis excitement about learning with his frustration with language? How does the conflict between words and actions come into play elsewhere in this novel?
12. Look at page 159, where Leonard is listening to Handels Messiah. "Even the words proclaimed an order, "he thinks. "The crookedness of the wthink has the author chosen this as the title?