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A review by briandice
Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia by Dennis Covington
5.0
"There are moments when you stand on the brink of a new experience and understand that you have no choice about it. Either you walk into the experience or you turn away from it, but you know that no matter what you choose, you will have altered your life in a permanent way. Either way, there will be consequences."
-Dennis Covington, "Salvation on Sand Mountain"
I'll admit to being hardwired to loving journalist non-fiction books - the ones where the author can't help but become part of the story they are trying to objectively write as an outsider. Thompson's "Hells Angels", Wade Davis's "The Serpent and the Rainbow", or even the surprisingly entrancing "Positively Fifth Street" by McManus are all fantastic books and representative of the genre. Similar to Covington (and the fantastic paragraph I've quoted above), the author / journalist recognizes that they are on the precipice of life changing events brought about by their subject matter. Anthony Loyd's "My War Gone By, I Miss It So" (one of my favorite non-fiction books of the past few years) parallels Covington's experience in the American South; Loyd's time covering the Balkan conflagration in the '90s as a journalist transformed him permanently. In all of these great books we get to walk in the shoes of these authors and experience what they do in a down-the-rabbit-hole, scene by scene telling of a tale that results in something better than fiction.
Covington's writing style and word choice is simple, compelling and perfectly matched to the rhythmic story line of an American sub-culture that reads like a discarded Hollywood script. He never pulls any punches, but neither does he take cheap shots. His subject matter is so real to him that its pull is overpowering, even tripping an atavistic response in his character so deep that it sends him on soul searching quest through his genealogy to understand more about why he is sucked into the story of snake handling backwoods Christians.
Please, read this book - take the ride, and enjoy Covington's journey. It is worth the trip.
And thanks to Petra X for a fabulous recommendation!!
"Knowing where you come from is one thing, but it's suicide to stay there." - Covington
-Dennis Covington, "Salvation on Sand Mountain"
I'll admit to being hardwired to loving journalist non-fiction books - the ones where the author can't help but become part of the story they are trying to objectively write as an outsider. Thompson's "Hells Angels", Wade Davis's "The Serpent and the Rainbow", or even the surprisingly entrancing "Positively Fifth Street" by McManus are all fantastic books and representative of the genre. Similar to Covington (and the fantastic paragraph I've quoted above), the author / journalist recognizes that they are on the precipice of life changing events brought about by their subject matter. Anthony Loyd's "My War Gone By, I Miss It So" (one of my favorite non-fiction books of the past few years) parallels Covington's experience in the American South; Loyd's time covering the Balkan conflagration in the '90s as a journalist transformed him permanently. In all of these great books we get to walk in the shoes of these authors and experience what they do in a down-the-rabbit-hole, scene by scene telling of a tale that results in something better than fiction.
Covington's writing style and word choice is simple, compelling and perfectly matched to the rhythmic story line of an American sub-culture that reads like a discarded Hollywood script. He never pulls any punches, but neither does he take cheap shots. His subject matter is so real to him that its pull is overpowering, even tripping an atavistic response in his character so deep that it sends him on soul searching quest through his genealogy to understand more about why he is sucked into the story of snake handling backwoods Christians.
Please, read this book - take the ride, and enjoy Covington's journey. It is worth the trip.
And thanks to Petra X for a fabulous recommendation!!
"Knowing where you come from is one thing, but it's suicide to stay there." - Covington