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A review by kimberly_b
A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash
5.0
I was initially drawn to this book, because I'm fascinated by the fine line between being religious or just plain crazy. A Land More Kind Than Home focuses on the goings on in a snake charming church, which a lot of people would deem as crazy, in backwoods Appalachia. Carson Chambliss, the pastor of the church, could aptly be described as a false prophet. The tragedies that take place in the novel are all directly or indirectly related to the fact that parishioners follow Chambliss as though he is speaking the word of God and not serving his own self-interest. But, does Chambliss see himself as divine, or does he know that he isn't entirely holy? That's where lines start to become less clear.
Cash gives you A LOT to consider in this book. The discussion questions at the back of my edition are thought-provoking and deep. This is a book that will stick with me for a long time. Here is my favorite passage, the prologue, from Thomas Wolfe's You Can't Go Home Again:
Something has spoken to me in the night...
and told me I shall die, I know not where.
Saying:
"[Death is] to lose the earth you know, for greater knowing;
to lose the life you have, for greater life;
to leave the friends you loved, for greater loving;
to find a land more kind than home, more large than earth."
It's a beautiful passage to start a rich, atmospheric story with a lot of depth. I'll definitely be reading more of Cash's work. This is the sort of story that becomes a modern day classic.
Cash gives you A LOT to consider in this book. The discussion questions at the back of my edition are thought-provoking and deep. This is a book that will stick with me for a long time. Here is my favorite passage, the prologue, from Thomas Wolfe's You Can't Go Home Again:
Something has spoken to me in the night...
and told me I shall die, I know not where.
Saying:
"[Death is] to lose the earth you know, for greater knowing;
to lose the life you have, for greater life;
to leave the friends you loved, for greater loving;
to find a land more kind than home, more large than earth."
It's a beautiful passage to start a rich, atmospheric story with a lot of depth. I'll definitely be reading more of Cash's work. This is the sort of story that becomes a modern day classic.