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Loading... A Land More Kind than Home (2012)by Wiley Cash
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. A small southern town, an evangelical nutjob of a preacher with control issues, a marriage on the decline, an aging midwife and a sheriff who see that trouble may be coming, and two young boys who get caught up in the impending tragedy. A little darker than my usual fare, but I loved this novel for its excellent writing and its commentary on the abuses of fanatical religion. Great character studies, too. If I come across more of Cash’s stuff, I’ll very likely pick it up. I like Southern Lit, even took a class on it in college. Picked this one up when I saw the NYTimes bestseller, and "Reads like To Kill a Mockingbird rewritten" - Harper Lee's book is my favorite, but I gave this one a try. A good example of storytelling. Didn't think I would like the changes in perspective in the book (told as three diff main characters) but ended up liking that too!
A church committed to handling poisonous snakes is the catalyst for tragedy in this debut novel. Pastor Carson Chambliss has a small North Carolina congregation in his thrall. He decides that a laying on of hands will cure an autistic boy, but instead his efforts lead to the boy's death. Cash employs three characters as narrators: Jess, the nine-year-old younger brother; Adelaide Lyle, an aged local midwife; and the county sheriff. Jess' narration is limited by his age and innocence. The county sheriff is taciturn, but Adelaide is voluble, a true southern storyteller, and her narration burnishes a compelling sense of rural place.--Gaughan, Thomas Copyright 2010 Booklist AwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
Growing up in a small North Carolina town, Jess Hall is plunged into an adulthood for which he is not prepared when his autistic older brother, Stump, sneaks a look at something he is not supposed to see, which has catastrophic repercussions. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Mr. Cash, please tell me you are already working on another book.
I was first introduced to Wiley Cash last fall when my GR friend Angela M chose [b:This Dark Road to Mercy|17349104|This Dark Road to Mercy|Wiley Cash|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375670274s/17349104.jpg|25337516] as the monthly pick for a group read. I loved the characters and story development in that book, and this one is amazing too.
In "Home" Cash sets a dark tale in lightly populated rural North Carolina mountain village. The story is told through the eyes of three narrators -- the town midwife, the sheriff, and a 9 year old boy.
The essence of the book is about the danger of religious fanaticism. This setting is North Carolina, but the parallels to other situations -- across the country and across the world -- are not hard to see. The book succeeds due to the depth of the characters, terrific pacing, and Cash's storytelling prowess.
5 stars.
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