Serena: A Novel
by Ron Rash
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Book Reviews of Serena: A Novel
Book Review: This is a "must read" suspenseful story!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Ron Rash has beautifully written a compelling tale of greed, murder and destruction. Set in a Smoky Mountains logging camp during the Great Depression, he tells the story of ruthless lumber baron, George Pemberton and his brutally ambitious bride, Serena. The book opens as the newlyweds arrive at the Waynesville, North Carolina train station. They are met by a pregnant former tryst and her vengeful father. Their encounter ends violently, with Serena providing a glimpse of her violent, cruel nature. Greedy for more land and wealth, they will do anything, including murder, to expand their vast lumber empire. Aggressively competing for the land is the U.S. government, eager to preserve it as a national park. As the story unfolds, Serena grows even more vicious, ultimately attempting to murder her husband's young son. Mr. Rash has brilliantly woven real-life historical figures and events with his intriguing fictional characters. His magnificent writing brings the spellbinding story to life. I was truly captivated by the vivid descriptions of the land, the era and the overall feeling of the times. Fascinating Appalachian folklore and insights into the local culture enhance the storyline. The hardships and dangers of a logging camp, and its brutal impact on the environment, are explicitly depicted. I found the complex debate over land use to be very thought-provoking. I absolutely loved this engrossing masterpiece and I highly recommend it!Book Review: Violent, Bold, and Complex
Summary: 5 Stars
One of Ron Rash's early short stories relates the tale of a Chinese potter who in despair, having failed to produce the perfect glaze and color for his pots, flings himself into the oven. The result, of course, is pottery that bears the glaze and tone that he sought. To a certain extent, this is what Rash has done with SERENA. Years of near maniacal labor have produced what is clearly his finest work of fiction to date. The story is epic; the female protagonist is like nothing in American literary fiction; and as the early sale of film rights would indicate, the novel is all but screen-ready.
What makes this a really fine novel, however, is not just character development or plot or neo-Elizabethan convention. It is the line-by-line attention that a reader might ordinarily expect from poetry. Page after page, in SERENA, I got the same feeling that I get when reading McCarthy or Faulkner, the feeling that every word matters, the feeling that when Rash revised this novel, he didn't just try to fix what might have appeared awkward or out of tune. He did his best to make it as seamless and "perfect" as his sanity would allow. In the process he produced a balance between tension and humor, grimness and grit, destruction and reclamation while creating a role that will likely accelerate some lucky actress's career.
Book Review: 4 minus - Not Rash's best
Summary: 4 Stars
I have long been a fan of Ron Rash's fiction and have read every one of his books. Even though I did not like SERENA as much as some of his other books, it still is better than much of what is out there.
I finally finished SERENA last night. I had to put it down for a while as it was just so heavy (and I do not mean weight-wise).
Was the title character the personification of evil or what? I cannot remember when I disliked/hated a character so much. I was just sorry she was 75-ish before she got her just desserts, but then again, some people never do. What she did to Pemberton was beyond the pale, not to mention what she did to others.
I feel that the book was not as "tight" as some of Rash's others. I was a bit bored with all the writing about the logging business....I thought he went on a bit too much about it. Too much info. But I did appreciate the info about how the National Parks were put together. And the character development of some of the secondary characters was just not up to Rash's par.
Lest you think that a novel about logging is not my cuppa, I read and loved Paul Watkins's ARCHANGEL ten years ago. BUT...that was about logging and SERENA was about evil.
Book Review: Fell Flat
Summary: 1 Stars
This story had a very promising premise as far as I was concerned. I loved the idea of a strong woman making her way through a mans world, Lady Macbeth in Appalachia. I was expecting a rich characterization, shades of grey and a woman that challenged the stereotypes of her time. I didn't expect necessarily to like Serena but I was expecting to have a grudging respect for her. What I got instead was a bland caricature, a purely evil character with not a single redemptive quality and no depth. I read the book through but I still have no idea what made Serena the way she was or even forgetting that what was going through her head as she was acting. I got no sense of passion, purpose or anything from any of the characters. The magical realism and attempts to channel Shakespeare were horrific additions. If you're going to channel Shakespeare and the likes of Marquez your characters and plot had better be able to back that up. Finally there was preachy, infantile environmentalism laced throughout that for me, defined the idea of "show, don't tell" in literature. A well drawn picture of a mountain barren of trees, animals and the sounds that accompany wildlife would have made that point well enough.Book Review: Expected More
Summary: 2 Stars
I had high hopes for this book from the glowing recommendations found here, but it fell short of my expectations. Rash created characters that were too dark and too evil, therefore making it hard to care about most of them. Set in 1929 in North Carolina, the story centers on Mr. Pemberton and his new bride Serena controlling a logging company with the intent of raping as much land as possible in the states before heading to South America. While Serena is a strong character and would make an excellent study for a literature course, she did little to hold my interest and I kept marveling at how dark a character she actually was. This was my first reading of Rash, and while this may be typical of his work, I got bored with the many details of the daily logging and descriptions of landscape. While some claim this to be a mystery, I anticipated every move that the characters were going to make because they were so one dimensional in my opinion. The book is very well written and I appreciate Rash's talent, but it simply wasn't my cup of tea and I'm glad to be done with it and moving on to hopefully better novels.