Burning Bright
Stories
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4.3 • 33 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
“A gorgeous, brutal writer.”
—Richard Price, New York Times bestselling author of Lush Life and Clockers
In Burning Bright, Pen/Faulkner finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Serena, Ron Rash, captures the eerie beauty and stark violence of Appalachia through the lives of unforgettable characters. With this masterful collection of stories that span the Civil War to the present day, Rash, a supremely talented writer who “recalls both John Steinbeck and Cormac McCarthy” (The New Yorker), solidifies his reputation as a major contemporary American literary artist.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The latest from Rash (Serena), a collection, begins with "Hard Times," in which a struggling farmer in the midst of the Great Depression tries to discover who's stealing eggs from his henhouse without offending the volatile pride of his impoverished neighbors. The present-day stories are also situated in poverty-plagued small towns whose young citizens are being lost to meth addictions: in "Back of Beyond," a pawnshop owner has to intervene when he learns his nephew Danny has kicked his parents out of their house and sold off their furniture to support his habit; in "The Ascent," a young boy lovingly tends to a couple of corpses victims of a small plane crash. Rash's stories are calm, dark and overtly symbolic, sometimes so literal they verge on redundant: in "Dead Confederates," when a man falls into the Confederate tomb he's looting, the graveyard caretaker notes: "I'd say he's helped dig his own grave." With a mastery of dialogue, Rash has written a tribute and a pre-emptive eulogy for the hardworking, straight-talking farmers of the Appalachian Mountains.
Customer Reviews
Insightful
Ron Rash has done it again. An incredible collection of riveting stories about the human condition, especially as it pertains to the cultures of Carolinas and neighboring states.
Although life experiences across the world have certain elements in common, this author does a remarkable job in revealing how these experiences often unfold in southern societies and traditions. Ron Rash must be a keen observer and listener to have gathered and crafted the experiences and characters of the stories he creates.
You will not put it down!!
What a great book. That's all that needs to be said.