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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Tore through this. Most definitely a worthwhile read.
The author of this book, Silas House, has said he believes the south is just a a mirror or microcosm of the rest of the country. I loved his deceptively simple story of Asher, a southern preacher and father, straight and conservative, confronting his homophobia in a journey of self-discovery. Living in a community of white evangelicals in rural America, he begins to doubt everything he’s been taught, particularly questioning his faith and ideas about masculinity. He really doesn’t know who he is anymore. Asher is also a very devoted and protective father with self-destructive flaws, so he makes a terrible decision out of that love and begins a downward spiral that puts him on the run even as he evolves in his spirituality. He’s a complex character: he so wants to open his heart and mind but he is also honest with himself about his judgement and reservations about change, and we inhabit his mind for his transition from confidence in his beliefs toward accepting people as they are. There’s also a thread of reconciliation running through Southernmost, quite welcome in our troubled times today. Highly recommend!
Asher Sharp is an evangelical preacher in Tennessee. His community experiences a terrible flood and “More than one of his congregants . . . blamed this new flood on the Supreme Court’s ruling [in favour of gay marriage].” A decade earlier, Asher rejected his brother Luke when he announced that he was a homosexual; Luke has been feeling guilty about turning his back on his brother and now welcomes two gay men into his church. That decision results in his being dismissed as pastor. Asher also clashes with his wife Lydia because of her religious intolerance and ends up taking his 9-year-old son Justin with him to Key West where he thinks Luke might be living.
This is not an action-filled novel. Its pace is slow, with a focus on Asher’s self-reflections. He thinks a great deal about his beliefs and decides he does not want to be the type of person he was: “Judging and preaching and telling others how to live, filled up with the weight of thinking he knew what God wanted.” He tells his parishioners, “’For years I’ve preached to you that you should judge others, and lead them to change their ways. But I’ve changed my way of thinking. What I’m telling you right now is that the only one who can judge any of us is God above.’” He tells his wife, “’You’ve gotten belief confused with judgment. We’re not to judge. You’ve let all this judgment from the church take you over. It’s taken the joy out of you.’”
The evangelical church in Tennessee is not portrayed in a very positive light. Congregants seem to be very narrow-minded; in fact, the impression is that they want no outside influences. Asher, for example, mentions that he “had devoted all of his reading to the Bible, of course. That had been expected of him, to read the Bible and nothing else. His congregation had hired him because he had not been to seminary.” A man whose daughter is saved by a gay man is still not willing to welcome him to his church. Lydia is so fearful that Justin could be a homosexual that she takes him to therapy because of his sensitivity.
As a contrast to this rigid belief system, the author offers Justin’s all-inclusive beliefs. He is sensitive to the divine in everything: “Everything That Is, Is Holy.” At one point he mentions that “he didn’t believe in God. Not really. This was what he believed in. The Everything.” While sitting on the beach by the ocean, “Justin can see nothing but ocean, and that is Everything. And Justin can feel the Everything beneath his hand where he is resting his palm on [his dog’s] chest . . . He can feel the Everything under himself in the gritty sand. He can smell it in the seaweedy smell smoothing over his face. He can hear it in the laughter of teenagers down the beach . . . The ocean is God but so are we all.”
Though Asher grows as a person, he is not always likeable. His decisions concerning his son are well-intentioned but he gives little consideration to the consequences for himself and others. Sometimes he is also downright stupid, as in not using fake names. Above all, he is selfish. He focuses on his love for his son without considering his son’s love for others and on what he has lost by not being in contact with Luke without thinking about what Luke has lost and must feel. Asher sees himself as a victim of injustice but doesn’t realize that his actions are often unjust towards others. He does take measures to take responsibility and make amends but he could have saved himself and others from so much suffering.
The diction is noteworthy: “a sky groaned open from a black night” and “he saw the massively swollen river supping at the edges of the lower fields” and “He maneuvered his Jeep across two bridges whose undersides were being caressed by the river and by the time he got to her house the water was nipping at her porch.”
Some of the events stretch the reader’s credulity. Asher gets a job without revealing his surname? For three months, Asher and Justin manage to avoid being discovered? A woman who has lost a child would be so forgiving of Asher’s behaviour towards Justin’s mother?
The book does offer food for thought, but its slow pace and predictability make it less enjoyable.
Note: I received a digital galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
This is not an action-filled novel. Its pace is slow, with a focus on Asher’s self-reflections. He thinks a great deal about his beliefs and decides he does not want to be the type of person he was: “Judging and preaching and telling others how to live, filled up with the weight of thinking he knew what God wanted.” He tells his parishioners, “’For years I’ve preached to you that you should judge others, and lead them to change their ways. But I’ve changed my way of thinking. What I’m telling you right now is that the only one who can judge any of us is God above.’” He tells his wife, “’You’ve gotten belief confused with judgment. We’re not to judge. You’ve let all this judgment from the church take you over. It’s taken the joy out of you.’”
The evangelical church in Tennessee is not portrayed in a very positive light. Congregants seem to be very narrow-minded; in fact, the impression is that they want no outside influences. Asher, for example, mentions that he “had devoted all of his reading to the Bible, of course. That had been expected of him, to read the Bible and nothing else. His congregation had hired him because he had not been to seminary.” A man whose daughter is saved by a gay man is still not willing to welcome him to his church. Lydia is so fearful that Justin could be a homosexual that she takes him to therapy because of his sensitivity.
As a contrast to this rigid belief system, the author offers Justin’s all-inclusive beliefs. He is sensitive to the divine in everything: “Everything That Is, Is Holy.” At one point he mentions that “he didn’t believe in God. Not really. This was what he believed in. The Everything.” While sitting on the beach by the ocean, “Justin can see nothing but ocean, and that is Everything. And Justin can feel the Everything beneath his hand where he is resting his palm on [his dog’s] chest . . . He can feel the Everything under himself in the gritty sand. He can smell it in the seaweedy smell smoothing over his face. He can hear it in the laughter of teenagers down the beach . . . The ocean is God but so are we all.”
Though Asher grows as a person, he is not always likeable. His decisions concerning his son are well-intentioned but he gives little consideration to the consequences for himself and others. Sometimes he is also downright stupid, as in not using fake names. Above all, he is selfish. He focuses on his love for his son without considering his son’s love for others and on what he has lost by not being in contact with Luke without thinking about what Luke has lost and must feel. Asher sees himself as a victim of injustice but doesn’t realize that his actions are often unjust towards others. He does take measures to take responsibility and make amends but he could have saved himself and others from so much suffering.
The diction is noteworthy: “a sky groaned open from a black night” and “he saw the massively swollen river supping at the edges of the lower fields” and “He maneuvered his Jeep across two bridges whose undersides were being caressed by the river and by the time he got to her house the water was nipping at her porch.”
Some of the events stretch the reader’s credulity. Asher gets a job without revealing his surname? For three months, Asher and Justin manage to avoid being discovered? A woman who has lost a child would be so forgiving of Asher’s behaviour towards Justin’s mother?
The book does offer food for thought, but its slow pace and predictability make it less enjoyable.
Note: I received a digital galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
I could not put this book down, and basically read it in one evening, forgoing sleep to finish it. Beautiful writing, lovely relationship between Asher and his son, Justin. And there are 2 journeys in this book - one of transformation of faith (religious) and belief (about what is right and wrong), and the other journey of driving away from the tension between those two things. The sense of place is strong throughout, and it is hard for me to believe that these characters aren't real and living out the rest of their stories. I look forward to reading more by this author. Highly recommended.
I wanted to love this book so much. It fell flat for me. I couldn’t get into Asher’s head; if the book hadn’t TOLD me he was a fire and brimstone preacher, I never would have gotten that from anything his character said, thought, or did (when he wasn’t actively preaching at the pulpit). I kept forgetting he was supposed to be a preacher. None of the major events in the book happen on the pages, other than the opening flood, which gave me a left-out feeling as a reader. The plot feels listless, with no urgency to actually find the missing brother or do much of anything. I couldn’t muster up any sympathy for Asher’s plight since his character was so flat. Justin’s character was flat as well - the author TOLD me this kid has such bad anxiety, but the chapters from Justin’s POV were all rather calm without much hint of that anxiousness. When the ending came, I just kept wondering what was the point. The reader experiences no satisfaction after all that buildup of looking for Luke, the kid goes back to his former homophobic environment…I just wanted more. More dynamic character arcs, more (or any) action, a takeaway message other than this bleak and limp outcome. For an LGBT+ category novel, I didn’t come away with any strong message beyond how hopeless everything is in the south.
I did enjoy the writing, especially the descriptions of the people and places of Tennessee. As a native of the area, that all rang very true. I just wish the characters were stronger and the plot had actual on-screen action.
I did enjoy the writing, especially the descriptions of the people and places of Tennessee. As a native of the area, that all rang very true. I just wish the characters were stronger and the plot had actual on-screen action.
Beautifully written: great characters and relationships, and no easy answers.
Not a perfect book but a great story, told at a fast pace that sucks you in and leaves you constantly questioning your own judgement. Hard to think of anyone who could resist wanting to know more about these characters.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I like that the ending didn't tie everything up nice and neat and still it ended on a hopeful note.
“Lord, help us to love one another as you have loved us, without question, without judgement, without persecution. Amen”
“You can use the Word to judge and condemn people or you can use it to love them”
“You can use the Word to judge and condemn people or you can use it to love them”