Serena: A Novel
by Ron Rash
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Book Reviews of Serena: A Novel
Book Review: A Great Book and a Message for Appalachia
Summary: 5 Stars
I had just finished this book when I read in our local newspaper that Ron Rash would be guest lecturing at our nearby college, UVA-Wise. I was thrilled to be apart of the group gathered to hear this Appalachian writer of SERENA speak to us Appalachians. As a born and bred Appapacian, I have often looked on our mountain landscapes where clearcutting has given the appearance of mountains with a bad case of the mange. Great clumps have dissappeared over the past 10 years, and no, there is no replanting.
It takes 75 years for a hardwood forest to replenish itself.
SERENA tells the story of the first mass clearing in the late 1920s and early 30s around the Smoky Mountain National Forest and the battle between the logging barons and the conservation efforts of that time to develop the Smokey Mountain region as a protected National Park.
The logging barrons ended up taking nearly everything they could in Appalachia, leaving polluted streams, and a severly upset ecological balance. The wildlife was left virtually homeless.
Now, 85 years later, the forests have been replenished. Guess what? The logging barrons are back, and with them have come the coal barrons, completely removing the tops of mountains to get to the coal.
We in Appalachia are left with nothing but death, destruction,the removal of our wealth, pride, dignity, and beauty.
Ron Rash tells the story of how this all began. I think he is leaving it up to us to tell the story of how it ends. Please Rise Up Appalachia.
Regina Warren
Pennington Gap, Virgina
Book Review: The Vilest Female Villian Since Cathy Trask In East of Eden
Summary: 4 Stars
This dark tale set in an Appalachian logging camp during the depression is the story of a mad woman's obsession. Even after reading the book I am not sure whether the obsession is for money, or power, or what, but Serena is clearly a driven woman unfettered by common morality or sentiment. In the annals of ruthlessness, she deserves an honored place.
The book chronicles Serena's marriage to Pemberton, who she always calls by his last name. Pemberton is a lumber baron who lets nothing stand in the way of his logging. Serena comes from someplace out west where she learned the lumber business. She finds Pemberton, marries him and becomes his business partner. Her past is obscure but past doesn't matter for Serena. She observes of her father that he is of no consequence because he is dead now.
One of my favorite parts of the novel was a literary device. The logging camp has a group of loggers who regularly take breaks from their work and discuss religion, politics and the goings on with Serena and Pemberton. They make up a depression age Greek chorus to comment upon the protagonists as the plot unfolds and it is one of the more entertaining aspects of the book.
The starkness of this simple plot contrasts with the rich descriptions of life and death in the logging camps during the depression. Serena and Pemberton battle the elements, their partners, and an incipient conservationist movement along the way. Morality falls before the power of madness, making for dark and entertaining read right up to the end.
Book Review: A literary gem.
Summary: 5 Stars
Ron Rash is one of the best American authors writing today. His novels, all four of them, are refreshing in that they are not formula based. He writes for the story and characters. Serena, his fourth novel, is laced with characters that are of the region; true to their time and their place.
George Pemberton, a North Carolina lumberman, marries Serena, a woman originally from Colorado who is even more knowledgeable about the lumber business than her husband, and certainly more ruthless. The novel opens with a knife fight and at the risk of being accused of a "spoiler" Pemberton wins the fight. Serena picks up the bowie knife of the loser and hands it to the dead man's unwed daughter who, by the way, is carrying Pemberton's child. Serena tells the young woman, "This is all you'll ever get from us." What a character! What a book! Even as Serena trains an eagle to hunt we see what an original character she is.
Set during the earliest days of the depression, the story reveals much about the location and the people that eked out a living no one alive today can fully appreciate. We have it too good.
Ron Rash, a poet first, a short story writer second, and a novelist third, has an ear for dialogue and a sensitivity toward the people he writes about. This was true in his first novel, One Foot in Eden (still my favorite) and his next two efforts, Saints at the River, and then The World Made Straight.
I can't recommend this literary gem enough.
Peace always.
Book Review: Stunning
Summary: 5 Stars
This book will stay with the reader in much the same was as Steinbeck holds onto you and won't let you go.
Harsh realties abound in this stunning book when George Pemberton, the timber baron, disembarks from the train in North Carolina with his new wife Serena and are greeted by an angry father and a very pregnant young girl. What ensues sets the tone for this often brutal and very greedy look into the depression era timber industry.
Serena is no prim and proper lady, she is just as determined as any man and when she sets her sights on Pemberton, she got what she wanted even if he wasn't so sure that it should be taken at no cost.
When Serena begins to see a person getting into her way, there is no problem tracking them down and having the problem dealt with, this isn't just other businessmen, this is anyone. Anyone that Serena sees as a threat to her plans. A little too late Pemberton see what type of monster he has helped to create but his need for money and power allows him to turn a blind eye to the destruction of both forest and humanity.
The visuals that Rash gives you in both character and setting are truly amazing, you fall into this book and lose your own surroundings and time. He draws such a complete picture that you truly feel that you are there and that these people are real. The ending is beyond a doubt stunning and leaves you breathless and with more questions. Truly a great find and one that you will want to pass on to your friends.
Book Review: intriguing look at the Depression
Summary: 4 Stars
During the Depression in Appalachia, wealthy lumber baron George Pemberton returns from Boston to Waynesville, North Carolina accompanied by his new wife, the orphan Serena. Waiting for him to disembark from the train is his sycophant partners, pregnant teenage kitchen hand Rachel Harmon and her outraged father. A drunken Harmon demands Pemberton take care of the child he sired. Instead encouraged by Serena, George kills him as he knows he is above the law.
Pemberton destroys the land and its people and his wife Serena is as evil and avaricious as he is. She insures Rachel is scorned by everyone and that the brat once born remains the bastard he or she is. Meanwhile Serena also obtains the undying loyalty of foreman Galloway whose life she saved; he becomes her slave willing to kill anyone if she asks; however George actually likes having a son adoring Jacob and angering his wife.
This is an intriguing look at the Depression from various perspectives. Especially fascinating is the poignant glimpse at horrific working conditions that make a case for a strong OSHA and yet in spite of the danger of death and maim the workers have forged a club like solidarity (mindful of soldiers in war conditions). Although the key cast is stereotyped; the Pembertons especially Serena are evil caricatures of the abuse of wealth while in contrast poor single mom Rachel is kind and noble, fans will appreciate this powerful 1930s drama.
Harriet Klausner