Bloodroot
by Amy Greene
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Book Reviews of Bloodroot
Book Review: Visit Bloodroot Mountain -- A Magical & Mysterious View of Life.
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
'I tried to send her a message in case mind reading was one of her powers. I love you, I shouted without words across the rushing creek and the rocky ground and through the walls that kept me out.' [Page 33]
In `Bloodroot,' Amy Greene demonstrates a keen and commanding voice. This is most evident when she speaks about life on Bloodroot Mountain. Clearly, Greene is intimately knowledgeable about nature, and any reader who appreciates the wonders of nature is bound to be transfixed by Bloodroot Mountain.
`Bloodroot' is divided into three parts excluding the epilogue. I loved Part One [Byrdie Lamb and Douglas Cotter]. Greene demonstrates some potent writing skills when describing these characters and their lives. Whenever Byrdie and Macon were present, the writing seemed thoroughly authentic, magical, and lyrical. Their life together on Bloodroot Mountain, their loves, losses and resiliency were heartfelt.
We learn a great deal about Byrdie and Macon's granddaughter, Myra Jean. Her life becomes almost overly melodramatic -- especially when she is away from Bloodroot Mountain. That mountain, as well as her grandparents seem to provide Myra Jean with the balance, the love and contentment she so needs.
This is a huge landscape of a novel containing a number of different colorful characters and their narratives. If you enjoy Appalachian tales spanning generations and have not yet read any, you will, most likely, enjoy `Bloodroot.' If I sound less than overly enthusiastic, it is because I have read `Velva Jean Learns To Drive,' as well as `Sweeping Up Glass.' `Bloodroot' was too reminiscent of `Velva Jean...,' and I strongly believe that Greene has yet to establish a fully distinctive voice. While Greene can certainly spin a tale, `Bloodroot' lacks the patina and polish of a Kathryn Stockett [author of`The Help'] or a Hilary Jordan [author of 'Mudbound']. However, Amy Greene is undoubtedly a writer to watch.
Book Review: Gorgeous Character Creation Gives Voice to Compelling Story
Summary: 4 Stars
The title for this family saga comes from the mountain on or around which all of its characters live. Bloodroot Mountain is home to the Lamb and Cotter families, and close by, to the Odoms, most of whom have roles and speaking parts in this character-narrated tale that spans generations in poverty stricken Appalachia. This is the first book from Greene, and one can hope she has more stories to tell. Her characters are ornery and wise, evil and good, and more than a little infused with stubbornness, dreams, and rage.
Young Myra Lamb is Byrdie's granddaughter, being raised on the mountain by her grandma and Pap, free to explore and be the wild yet loving girl she is. Byrdie and Pap have lost all of their own children to everyday tragedies, yet they soldier on for the sake of Myra, who lights up their lives. Myra is loved by two boys, one a childhood neighbor whom she can't see as anything but a friend, and the strikingly handsome John Odom, who steals her young heart even though she sees both "the insidious and the beautiful" in his face. Byrdie knows from experience that a girl in their lineage will follow her heart, and tries to accept it when Myra finally marries John. Things quickly go wrong in that marriage, though, just as (and worse than) Byrdie fears.
The narrative jumps to the voices of Myra's children and their upbringing and growing up, and the sadness and madness that seem to stalk the Lambs is never far away. Johnny and Laura, Myra's twins, watch their mother's decline into madness and try to remain together even as fate takes them in different directions. From powerless children to troubled adults, we see the effects of the Odom and Lamb combination play out in the twins' lives.
When Greene takes us back to Myra and then to John, we hear the rest of the story. It is so worth it to watch things fall into place, even though there can be no pat,happy ending. At some points, the story is hard to read, whether it be because of its unflinching look at abject poverty, human cruelty, or the horrible consequences of desperate action. The characters' voices are all unique, and the way the story is woven together will propel you to its dark but thoughtful end.
Book Review: Incredibly engaging -- couldn't put it down
Summary: 5 Stars
It is such a rare pleasure to discover a book that just captures me from the first page, and keeps me captivated all the way to the end. And for the book to be by a never-heard-of-before author, the pleasure is even more rare. That is exactly the reading experience I had with Bloodroot.
Set in the Appalachian region of Tennessee, Bloodroot is the story of several generations of a family, stretching in time from approximately 1913 to the present. There are several different narrators who each tell their part of the story in the first person, and every one of their voices is filled with the cadence, the feel, the mood of the rural hills of Tennessee. It is like listening to an old storyteller while sitting around a campfire.
I don't want to give anything away, so I will just say that the focus of the novel is Myra Lamb. She grows up in a family full of the superstition and folklore of Appalachia, and with more than its share of tragedy. In fact, the only criticism I have of the book -- and it's really not a criticism so much as a skepticism -- is that there seemed to be an overdose of superstition/mysticism. Every other person seemed to be given to visions, some strange empathic spirit, seeing haints, or even "curses." It just felt like too much. But then, I've never been to Appalachia or known anyone who lived there, so maybe every other person really does have some sort of second sight?
What I liked best about this book -- aside from the lyrical storytelling -- was that Greene never descended into the sordid or disturbing. There are no sex scenes and very little profanity. Myra's family was full of tragedy, and she married into a family that was plain evil, and yet Greene conveyed all of this without ever getting creepy or graphic. She writes in such a way that the reader gets the picture, even without it being spelled out in disturbing detail.
Bloodroot is not a happy tale, although Greene does end it on a surprisingly hopeful note. There is a degree of reconciliation that is unexpected but pleasing.
I highly recommend this book; it was incredibly well-written and captivating. I hope to see more by Amy Greene.
Book Review: Not the easiest story to get into
Summary: 3 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Amy Greene's Bloodroot is the story of Myra Lamb as seen through the eyes of the people who surround her.
Myra is the granddaughter of Byrdie who moved to Bloodroot mountain and loves it as if it were a person. Myra is a beautiful girl who may have inherited a magic last seen in Byrdie's grandmother's generation.
It is clear that Byrdie loves her granddaughter but Myra seems destined for conflict as she falls in love with the wrong kind of man.
My opinion of Bloodroot is that while it is a beautifully written novel, it isn't the easiest story to get into. It isn't the setting because to me, the strength of the novel is the description of the mountain. It is clear that the mountain is a beautiful place but it is tough on its inhabitants.
My problem with the novel is actually in the constant shifting of Points of View. The first section actually shifts almost every other page between Byrdie and Doug Cotter, the neighbor who loves Myra. The constant shift made it harder for me to latch onto a character, ANY character, as a reliable driver of the story. This unreliability may be why some plot points drop off and are never truly answered. Or just as I got used the 'voice' of one character, the narrative switched to another.
As such, the story, as beautifully told as it is, never really feels close or intimate. It kind of felt like i was speed dating and just moving from table to table. Meeting someone but not really getting to know them.
That said, it is a story that could resonate with another reader who likes this particular style. I didn't care for it when all was said and done and I found it distracting, but another reader might find the style interesting and intriguing.
Book Review: Too many characters with too much to say?
Summary: 3 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This is a tale told in many voices and heavy in Appalachian dialect.
I hardly know where to start, because this one was a chore for me to read.
The plot revolves around a family of "granny women" or healers. The main characters are mostly women belonging to this line. This is what prompted me to request the book from the Vine program to begin with. The book description sounded as if it would be just right for a weekend read. But..
I found it hard to care much about any of the characters, and believe me there were plenty to choose from. Myra and Byrdie Lamb, there was Laura, Doug and Johnny.And more. Perhaps if I was able to become more invested in the story, they would have meshed a little better for me. The story itself is rather heavy and dark. Children endure fear and suffering, and bad choices abound. The best thing about the story for me was a sprinkling of magics practiced by the granny women and others. For instance a case of Thrush is treated when a man who never met his father blows into the child's mouth. It worked. This appeals to me. Also appealing is the fact that these knacks...abilities..magics, call them what y ou will are taken for granted.
The story idea was a good one,and the place descriptions realistic. For me it would have been easier to enjoy were it told in one voice.
This description is getting to be as confusing as the book was to me. I would give it a three star rating. I am also going to put it aside, I believe and try it again when I am less distracted by things around me. I think the story may have been better over-all than my appreciation of it.
I will rate it three stars. Three stars in my rating system means that I am glad I read it. It didn't resonate with me, but I also don't feel as if I wasted my time with the read. I will pick it up again one day for a re-read, and amend my review if I see it differently.