Bloodroot
by Amy Greene
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Book Reviews of Bloodroot
Book Review: Engaging Story
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I ordered this book because it is set in the part of Appalachia where I grew up. I even lived on a mountain, now a ski resort much like the one described. The story is well told but I can't really connect the characters with the people I knew growing up. I was there in the 1940's and 1950's. Life was indeed hard but people were more in touch with the world and I can remember lots of singing, music making and "frolicking". The characters in Blood Root seem like characters more suited to the 1800's than the 1900's. Never the less they come alive from this author's skillful writing.They are truly backwoods folk with no insight at all into evolving into modern times. In the period the story is set in the romantic idea of "wise women" was pretty much over. Public health nurses hunted us down vaccinated us and made sure we attended school.In school anyone who used old English words or "hill billy" talk got a our hands smacked with a ruler! To be sure there were many unplanned pregnancies and poor judgment in getting married young. The church was active and gave counseling to young men and women.This story follows one family in which each generation seems to go downhill until the very end when there may be some hope for the last mother and two children. It is a story that will hold your attention. The author really creates characters who come alive.Book Review: Magical Mystical Mountain
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The Smokey Mountains of east Tennessee are themselves, a character in this beautiful debut novel. The story of Myra, her family and her children is heart-rending. Greene uses just enough mountain grammar in the dialog to give the flavor without it becoming overwhelming to read. Her descriptive phrases will make the reader see smell, taste and feel the places. Greene uses 5 different voices juxtaposed against each other to tell the story spanning several generations as she weaves a tragic tale that is at times mysterious and mystical, and at other times a realistic story of hard times. The book is just the right length, with a satisfying, though not too happy, ending.
This story gives a small window into the misery of domestic abuse, mental illness, the strong loyalty of families and their stubborn desire for privacy. It has a sense of timelessness, as the people seem to be living as they did a hundred years ago.
I lived in East Tennessee for a few years and we did lots of hiking not just in the national park but north of the park. I feel I have seen the places in the book. Greene fills in the blanks beyond the cluttered yards, rickety houses, and the barefoot children seen in the yards.
This should be on every book club's reading list. There is lots of food for thought and discussion.
Book Review: Excellent Storytelling
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
One of the most enjoyable things about Amy Green's Bloodroot is that is it that rare novel that gets better as it goes along. While I admit that the first section of the novel is a bit slow at times and some of it seems extraneous, Greene pulls the disparate parts of the novel together at the end, but never too neatly, into a satisfying conclusion. The novel revolves around Myra, an Appalachian woman born into a slightly troubled, slightly magical, perhaps, family. The opening section of the novel is narrated by two people who love her, whom she has left--her grandmother and a neighbor, Doug, who has loved her as they have grown from childhood to young adulthood. Myra has left them both to marry a man who appears to be trouble. While the opening is a bit slow, the narrative slowly builds and draws the reader in, raising questions, some of them never truly answered about Myra and those in her life. This novel is quite an enjoyable read, ultimately compelling and a bit surprising. The characters are never of a type and develop in believably unpredicatble ways. I think Bloodroot would make an excellent choice for a book club. There is much to discuss--while the major questions are resolved for the reader, there is enough left for the readers imagination that I think would lead to a lively discussion. Enjoy!Book Review: engaging Appalachia family drama
Summary: 5 Stars
On Bloodroot Mountain in Eastern Tennessee, Byrdie Lamb raises her grandchild Myra, whose mother and father died when a train hit their vehicle while they were carousing. Byrdie loves Myra who is more a daughter to her than her daughter Myra's mom Clio ever was. She also knows Myra has the "touch" skill that runs in the family though Byrdie never displayed this ESP talent. In fact, Myra's boyfriend Doug not only realizes it, he knows he will never win her love because of it.
He is proven right when she meets John Odom, son of the hardware store owner. He is also "touched" and they passionately fall in love. However his violence pushes her from his valley home back up the mountain where she raises their twins Laura and Johnny. The siblings have issues as their mom is placed in an asylum. Laura marries and has a child, but when her spouse dies his family takes away her kid. Johnny burns down his paternal side's store. The next generation seems destined to repeat the same mistakes as the previous generations on Bloodroot Mountain.
This is an engaging Appalachia family drama that looks deep inside the souls of the cast with Myra being the link between five generations of mountain people. Although the subplots are straighter than the Bonneville Salt Flats and some key characters just vanish, readers will appreciate the depth of life on Bloodroot Mountain as even a finger with a ring on it becomes symbolic of dreams broken and breathing in Amy Greene's profound harsh slice of Appalachia.
Harriet Klausner
Book Review: A Fascinating Entry in Appalachian Literature
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Written in firm, simple prose that breathes life into the characters, "Bloodroot" is the fascinating debut by author Amy Green. Set in the moody greens of the beautiful Appalachian mountains, the author brings to life a memorable cast of characters tied together by the bloodroot flower in the depths of the south.
The story focuses around Myra Lamb, a beautiful girl with blue eyes who is the inheritor of a family legacy of magic and madness, hand in hand. Told through the eyes of others, the simple beauty of Myra's story flows with verve when compared to the stark realities of the setting. The supernatural elements of the plot were handled well and realistically, lending "Bloodroot" a simplicity and a subtle power that too many southern books lack.
The decision to write each character in his or her own prose, their own wording, was an interesting decision that brought the reader closer to whose perspective they were reading from; this also advances the masterful use of setting as a plot device by reminding a reader "where they are" in terms of the novel. Compared favorably to "Wuthering Heights," "Bloodroot" holds its own in the world of modern literature.
Amy Green's first novel was an engrossing success, and I'll be eagerly anticipating her next project.