Eventide

by Evan Haruf

Did not read his first book Plainsong which this book is a continuation of the town and the caharacters....I suspect that only the outlines and smoke shadows of the characters of the last book are here.

A very sad book. One that I read hoping for an ending that would be satisfying and give hope for the lives of those who begin to matter to us.

But, like real life, there are no truly happy endings. People do not learn from their mistakes and children get raw deals.

My heart broke and every time the chapters were about the two children of the seemingly mentally challenged parents I held my breath. Nothing good ever happened for them. They ended up in a foster home, maybe with better haircuts, but with nothing.

How empty and sad.

I realize a whole lot of people compare this type/style of writing with Hemingway...sparce bare boned. But the hoplesness of the children left me empty at the end.

Bastard out of Carolina

by Dorothy Allison

It seems I am reading a certain kind of formula book these days. Or perhaps I am just seeing the pattern finally. Have a protagonist and then then have one hateful character the reader can focus on. The villain. It's the perfect formula.

I have read two books with similar themes, the sexual abuse of children, incest and out and out child abuse. It makes my stomach ball up in a knot and I want to choke the stupid characters who allow this kind of cruelty to go on.

The Bastard out of Carolina did not satisfy in a way that made the ride worthwhile. I wanted justice and justice was not given. I want to know what happened to the mother, why the mother did not pick up the butter knife after witnessing the step father raping her 12 year old daughter. I don't care. I just don't care. I would have killed him. I just don't care.

I did not find it sitting well with me that he was not beat within an inch of his life for what he did. The uncles beat the hell out of him when he beat her, why not kill him for raping her?

the mother should have gone to jail for her part of it.

I read it with anxiety building hoping that I would feel redeemed in the end, but it just made me sad.

A Parchment of Leaves

by Silas House

Beautiful prose that wind around you like a spiders web spinning the story. This was his second novel...I did not read the first, but have read one after this. I love any novels about Kentucky. The especially good ones are always written by and about Eastern KY and the mountains.

Just gives itself to stories of ghosts, the supernatural, family, unspoken secrets.

Long live Silas House.