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A review by cnricochet
The Devil Amongst the Lawyers by Sharyn McCrumb
2.0
FIRST-READS REVIEW
This was my first Sharyn McCrumb novel, and it was a decent read with some intriguing story lines and gentle prose, but I have to be honest and say I don't feel too compelled to read any more McCrumb books.
The book did well to accomplish McCrumb's self-proclaimed goal of "making a point about cultural issues that concern me," (forward, Advanced Readers' Edition). I felt the same uneasiness and resentment that the local characters felt with the national journalists' biased reporting about mountain folk. Including the Sight as such an integral part of the story, however, probably did more harm than good in trying to dispel the idea that Appalachian people are fairy tale characters entrenched in myth and silly superstition.
As a novel, the book was a good read, but it had its weaknesses. There were too many characters and too many over-developed side stories. I believe McCrumb intended these to advance the main story line and provide context, but the side stories often spiraled out of control away from the main plot and became too much their own entities. What resulted was a decentralized novel, and to be honest, I became more interested in one of the side stories than the criminal trial.
The central conflict was also rather weak, and thus the climax and conclusion of the story were even more so. Again, I felt more connected to a side character and his struggles than I did to Carl Jennings and his quest to... prove the truth? Get ahead as a journalist? Be true to his roots? I can't quite decide what Carl wanted most, and so I didn't get the satisfaction of a good resolution to that quest.
Summary: McCrumb needed to trim the side stories and focus on the main plot for this to be the solid novel I think she intended to write. On the other hand, I did enjoy the side stories and characters, and she does have a pleasant written style. I actually would have liked to see a separate book or short story about the characters I was most interested in, but that would have been an entirely different novel far away from McCrumb's goal of illuminating Appalachian culture.
This was my first Sharyn McCrumb novel, and it was a decent read with some intriguing story lines and gentle prose, but I have to be honest and say I don't feel too compelled to read any more McCrumb books.
The book did well to accomplish McCrumb's self-proclaimed goal of "making a point about cultural issues that concern me," (forward, Advanced Readers' Edition). I felt the same uneasiness and resentment that the local characters felt with the national journalists' biased reporting about mountain folk. Including the Sight as such an integral part of the story, however, probably did more harm than good in trying to dispel the idea that Appalachian people are fairy tale characters entrenched in myth and silly superstition.
As a novel, the book was a good read, but it had its weaknesses. There were too many characters and too many over-developed side stories. I believe McCrumb intended these to advance the main story line and provide context, but the side stories often spiraled out of control away from the main plot and became too much their own entities. What resulted was a decentralized novel, and to be honest, I became more interested in one of the side stories than the criminal trial.
The central conflict was also rather weak, and thus the climax and conclusion of the story were even more so. Again, I felt more connected to a side character and his struggles than I did to Carl Jennings and his quest to... prove the truth? Get ahead as a journalist? Be true to his roots? I can't quite decide what Carl wanted most, and so I didn't get the satisfaction of a good resolution to that quest.
Summary: McCrumb needed to trim the side stories and focus on the main plot for this to be the solid novel I think she intended to write. On the other hand, I did enjoy the side stories and characters, and she does have a pleasant written style. I actually would have liked to see a separate book or short story about the characters I was most interested in, but that would have been an entirely different novel far away from McCrumb's goal of illuminating Appalachian culture.