Cataloochee: A Novel
by Wayne Caldwell
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Book Summary Information
Author: Wayne CaldwellEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-06-10
ISBN: 0812973739
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Book Reviews of Cataloochee: A Novel
Book Review: Appalachia...
Summary: 3 Stars
Some nice insight into what life was like in an isolated Appalachian community in the late 19th/early 20th century.
This book seemed to be searching for some sort of focus--it covers a long time span, and there are many characters. The parts I enjoyed the most was when it slowed down, and dove into a story. Unfortunately there are some chapters where one paragraph would be about a character who jumped in age twenty years from we saw them last. It would say just a little more than "They got married". Then the next paragraph would be about another character dying that said little more "They died".
Still, it did slow down in a few places. There are some very enjoyable passages about the quirky characters and their daily life in the mountains. Unfortunately the author got a little carried away in ending these in weird deaths.
The characters are generally likable. Caldwell did seem to find focus in the end of the book, where it really zoomed in on a specific character and event. Plus it finally showed characters outside of Cataloochee, which helped establish context. It came together well.
For fans of Cold Mountain- besides the setting (Haywood County!), and a little bit of the history, there really isn't much in common. It's a completely different story, Caldwell's writing is much less descriptive, and the dialogue is flat in many places. However, there are very subtle references to characters/places in Cold Mtn. If anyone else noticed these, please comment!
Summary of Cataloochee: A Novel
?A brilliant portrait of a community and a way of life long gone, a lost America.??Charles Frazier
Against the breathtaking backdrop of Appalachia comes a rich, multilayered post?Civil War saga of three generations of families?their dreams, their downfalls, and their faith. Cataloochee is a slice of southern Americana told in the classic tradition of Flannery O?Connor and William Faulkner.
Nestled in the mountains of North Carolina sits Cataloochee. In a time when ?where you was born was where God wanted you,? the Wrights and the Carters, both farming families, travel to the valley to escape the rapid growth of neighboring towns and to have a few hundred acres all to themselves. But progress eventually winds its way to Cataloochee, too, and year after year the population swells as more people come to the valley to stake their fortune.
Never one to pass on opportunity, Ezra Banks, an ambitious young man seeking some land of his own, arrives in Cataloochee in the 1880s. His first order of business is to marry a Carter girl, Hannah, the daughter of the valley?s largest landowner. From there Ezra?s brood grows, as do those of the Carters and the Wrights. With hard work and determination, the burgeouning community transforms wilderness into home, to be passed on through generations.
But the idyll is not to last, nor to be inherited: The government takes steps to relocate folks to make room for the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and tragedy will touch one of the clans in a single, unimaginable act.
Wayne Caldwell brings to life the community?s historic struggles and close kinships over a span of six decades. Full of humor, darkness, beauty, and wisdom, Cataloochee is a classic novel of place and family.
From the Hardcover edition.
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