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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
This is the last novel published by William Gay but possibly the first novel he ever wrote.
Told in a series of vignettes, the novel is about a young man who has been a grave disappointment to his family back home along the Cumberland Plateau in Far Eastern Tennessee, just released from the Navy or maybe just the brig and hitch-hiking home to Monteagle, Tennessee from Long Beach, California.
The book itself starts out in 1955. In Memphis and from there all points east.
It's by turns mournful, humorous, and exciting.
People pass through the main character's life if he's not busy passing through theirs.
He aligns himself with an unlikely pair of scoundrels, cards right out of a crazy deck. Their get-rich-quick cons and resulting misadventures make up the majority of the book.
If you enjoy Larry Brown or Tom Franklin, you'll have a fine time with this.
Hell, I'm not going to beg you to read this novel.
Do what you want.
I don't get paid for recommending the books I've enjoyed.
Update: in Stories From The Attic there is a wonderful closing section written by various friends, fans, and editors about how they collectively reassembled William Gay’s novels published posthumously.
This novel is one of those. An amazing task as Gay’s novels & stories were handwritten-mostly in spiral bound notebooks and required a great deal of endless scrutinizing.
Man. I can’t believe I have to reread this. It will be worth the trip. I look forward to it.
Told in a series of vignettes, the novel is about a young man who has been a grave disappointment to his family back home along the Cumberland Plateau in Far Eastern Tennessee, just released from the Navy or maybe just the brig and hitch-hiking home to Monteagle, Tennessee from Long Beach, California.
The book itself starts out in 1955. In Memphis and from there all points east.
It's by turns mournful, humorous, and exciting.
People pass through the main character's life if he's not busy passing through theirs.
He aligns himself with an unlikely pair of scoundrels, cards right out of a crazy deck. Their get-rich-quick cons and resulting misadventures make up the majority of the book.
If you enjoy Larry Brown or Tom Franklin, you'll have a fine time with this.
Hell, I'm not going to beg you to read this novel.
Do what you want.
I don't get paid for recommending the books I've enjoyed.
Update: in Stories From The Attic there is a wonderful closing section written by various friends, fans, and editors about how they collectively reassembled William Gay’s novels published posthumously.
This novel is one of those. An amazing task as Gay’s novels & stories were handwritten-mostly in spiral bound notebooks and required a great deal of endless scrutinizing.
Man. I can’t believe I have to reread this. It will be worth the trip. I look forward to it.
3.5
William Gay is who i go to for prose that tears out my heart, lifting it up up up in its spiraling beauty from the darkness of men.
Still, it is hard to read the women in this novel. And Gay's propensity for stories about essentially nothing starts to grate. But when you get to those passages where words are all there is, where the description just utterly devastates you in its perfection, it's worth it.
William Gay is who i go to for prose that tears out my heart, lifting it up up up in its spiraling beauty from the darkness of men.
Still, it is hard to read the women in this novel. And Gay's propensity for stories about essentially nothing starts to grate. But when you get to those passages where words are all there is, where the description just utterly devastates you in its perfection, it's worth it.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a treat to ride this slow burn. William Gay was the poetic painter of prose, the sommelier of simile, the indubitable master of inimical moments. With those who deem this his masterpiece, I concur.
It was interesting to see some crosstalk with his other books, even the also-posthumously-published Little Sister Death.
It was interesting to see some crosstalk with his other books, even the also-posthumously-published Little Sister Death.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
If you love Southern Gothic, look no further than [b: The Lost Country|3336575|The Lost Country|William Gay|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1509129561s/3336575.jpg|3374692]. Gritty, dark with characters that you would go out of your way to avoid. But as always, with an underlying hope. This is a posthumously published book from William Gay and it's fantastic.
Billy Edgewater is trying to get home to his dying father. He has no money and no means of travel so he's depending on his legs and the kindness of strangers to get him halfway across the country. Unsavory is the generous term to use for the people he comes across. But perhaps I should be more generous, they're all people trying to get by in life - even if their methods are by screwing other people over.
The prose is beautiful, but the story meanders along as Edgewater meanders to his destination. I can see how it can get tedious to people, but for me, you are living with the characters for a few chapters of their lives. Similar to the book of short stories I reviewed previously, [b: Barrelling Forward|30119109|Barrelling Forward|Eva Crocker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1489887104s/30119109.jpg|50544525] it's a window into the lives of a few people while they're just doing what they do. It just goes on for a longer period of time. Maybe too long a period of time with not much going on? My understanding is that they were able to put this story together via manuscripts and maybe [a: William Gay|62659|William Gay|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1316108313p2/62659.jpg] would have changed some things up?
As much as I did enjoy this story, it took me almost 4 months to read. That is an unnatural amount of time for me to finish a book, but sometimes it just dragged for so long I had to put it down and come back to it weeks later. 3/5
If you love Southern Gothic, look no further than [b: The Lost Country|3336575|The Lost Country|William Gay|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1509129561s/3336575.jpg|3374692]. Gritty, dark with characters that you would go out of your way to avoid. But as always, with an underlying hope. This is a posthumously published book from William Gay and it's fantastic.
Billy Edgewater is trying to get home to his dying father. He has no money and no means of travel so he's depending on his legs and the kindness of strangers to get him halfway across the country. Unsavory is the generous term to use for the people he comes across. But perhaps I should be more generous, they're all people trying to get by in life - even if their methods are by screwing other people over.
The prose is beautiful, but the story meanders along as Edgewater meanders to his destination. I can see how it can get tedious to people, but for me, you are living with the characters for a few chapters of their lives. Similar to the book of short stories I reviewed previously, [b: Barrelling Forward|30119109|Barrelling Forward|Eva Crocker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1489887104s/30119109.jpg|50544525] it's a window into the lives of a few people while they're just doing what they do. It just goes on for a longer period of time. Maybe too long a period of time with not much going on? My understanding is that they were able to put this story together via manuscripts and maybe [a: William Gay|62659|William Gay|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1316108313p2/62659.jpg] would have changed some things up?
As much as I did enjoy this story, it took me almost 4 months to read. That is an unnatural amount of time for me to finish a book, but sometimes it just dragged for so long I had to put it down and come back to it weeks later. 3/5
Aside from a few too many similes in long, ropey sentences, this novel is near perfect. It’s a tireless, bleak and violent picaresque about a drifter unable to face up to himself. It’s moody weight falls like a stone through spring to summer to winter, the trajectory of life without specific cause, although the author intimates that everything is preordained. This may be only an excuse for the lives of the characters lived without purpose, wayward and unmoored. The result is a portrait of a region and time realized with the exactitude of a photograph, one already fading in tone and curled at the edges.
4 brilliant, Southern Gothic stars to The Lost Country! 🌙 🌙 🌙 🌙
Thank you to my friend, Marialyce, for recommending William Gay’s books to me and telling me about this new release. I was not aware when I downloaded it that the author passed away several years ago, and this previously unpublished novel was discovered among other works.
Billy Edgewater’s father is terminally ill, and while Billy has been the black sheep of the family, he is desperate to travel home to see his father. He hitchhikes to East Tennessee, and along the way, he meets several wily, unsavory, predatory characters.
All the unfortunate things that could possibly happen along the way do. Billy wants nothing more than to make it home in time to have last words with his father, but is “home” a figment of his imagination, or a place long forgotten since he left?
The Lost Country is dark, as Southern Gothic tales are. It is gritty and grisly, and in contrast to that is the most alluring writing. I would read a sentence over and over again to absorb it all and admire the nuance. The prose manages to be sparse and so deliciously intense and descriptive at the same time. Highly recommend!
Thank you to Dzanc Books and Edelweiss for the complimentary copy. The Lost Country is available now.
My reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com
Thank you to my friend, Marialyce, for recommending William Gay’s books to me and telling me about this new release. I was not aware when I downloaded it that the author passed away several years ago, and this previously unpublished novel was discovered among other works.
Billy Edgewater’s father is terminally ill, and while Billy has been the black sheep of the family, he is desperate to travel home to see his father. He hitchhikes to East Tennessee, and along the way, he meets several wily, unsavory, predatory characters.
All the unfortunate things that could possibly happen along the way do. Billy wants nothing more than to make it home in time to have last words with his father, but is “home” a figment of his imagination, or a place long forgotten since he left?
The Lost Country is dark, as Southern Gothic tales are. It is gritty and grisly, and in contrast to that is the most alluring writing. I would read a sentence over and over again to absorb it all and admire the nuance. The prose manages to be sparse and so deliciously intense and descriptive at the same time. Highly recommend!
Thank you to Dzanc Books and Edelweiss for the complimentary copy. The Lost Country is available now.
My reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It doesn't really have much of a plot, but the writing is exceptional.