Serena: A Novel
by Ron Rash
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Book Reviews of Serena: A Novel
Book Review: Rash's Successful Bid for Literary Immortality
Summary: 5 Stars
Here is a list of books Serena has earned its place alongside:
King Lear, Shakespeare
The King James Bible
The Inferno, Dante
The Odyssey, Homer
Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy
The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down, William Gay
Sabbath's Theater, Philip Roth
The Assistant, Bernard Malamud
U.S.A. Trilogy, John Dos Passos
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Dead Souls, Nikolai Gogol
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez
Book Review: Who Is That Woman?
Summary: 5 Stars
I've never heard of Ron Rash until I tripped across this gem in my Amazon Vine list and decided to take a chance. I was not disappointed and this is one of the best books I've read all year. Serena Pemberton is a one woman ecological nightmare who will stop at nothing to get what she wants.
This was a quick, well written and easy to read quasi historical thriller with characters that won't be forgotten soon. I love a book with a good greek chorus filling the reader in on those small details, that chorus being the logger's who added so much character to this great story.
Highly recommened!!!
Book Review: Disappointing
Summary: 1 Stars
This book has been on my mind since finishing it several days ago--for all the wrong reasons. First, let me state that I have read all of Mr. Rash's novels, and, until Serena, I enjoyed each one. Along with Lee Smith, Silas House, and Charles Frazier, I consider him a top contemporary writer of Appalachia region novels. Unfortunately, Serena was stocked with comic book characters, comic book plotting, and mostly comic book dialogue. And the concluding coda tested even comic book credibility. Nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award? Mister Rash is certainly a deserving nominee, just not with this novel.Book Review: That's too bad, I was really hoping for more.
Summary: 2 Stars
All the five star reviews and the fact that it showed up on the Amazon Editors' list of top fiction books of 2008 had me hoping that this book would be great. I was severely disappointed. The main characters are evil cartoons, the plot is very predictable, and the writing is nothing special. Anyone who makes comparisons to Cormac McCarthy is way off. There is no poetry in this writing and the plot is so ridiculous it almost becomes funny. I hurried through it just to be done with it.
The setting, the idea, and the potential for a great story was all there, it just didn't happen.
Book Review: Serena Sleeps
Summary: 2 Stars
The Depression is looming as rich Mr. Pemberton travels to his North Carolina lumber camp with his new bride, Serena. Both are fully aware that upon arrival they will encounter the father of a young, sixteen year old who is carrying Pemberton's child. A fight ensues after which the young girl is not only unwed but an orphan. The remaining 350 pages of Serena are as predictable as the first ten. All attempts at creating believable characters and situations are half hearted and one-sided. Serena is a mundane book that could have been better.