karen's Reviews > A Land More Kind Than Home

You show me a woman who calls herself a Christian up in these parts, and I'll show you a woman who knows how to heal. It ain't un-Christian to make do when you're poor, I can promise you that. You just show me a Christian woman up here, and I'll show you a woman who knows what to pick and where to find it. If you don't know how to heal yourself, then you don't know how to live when times are hard.

ahhhh, another "salt of the earth," "take care of your own business" kind of book.

and another great one, at that.

this definitely reminds me of that tom franklin brand of crime fiction, but this one is somehow even more grim than Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter.

in the best way, of course.

here we have a story of a preacher come to a small town in north carolina with a past full of sins and a hankering to form his own little cult of snake-handlers and affliction-healers; covering up the church windows with newspaper and ostensibly leading his congregation on the path to glory, speaking in tongues and laying on of hands.

except, sometimes, behind those newspaper-covered windows, people will die.

including a teenaged boy; mute and somewhere on the autism spectrum, who has seen something he just shouldn't have seen, and will be healed so hard he will end up dead.

the story is told through the narration of three characters; the brother of the deceased boy, the sheriff of madison county, and the elderly adelaide lyle, who knows what the preacher is, but is powerless against him. she has managed one small victory in taking the children out of the church and schooling them herself every week, but that is a small victory, and cold comfort when christopher/"stump" dies in that very church.

the most powerful element of this story is the transformation of the family after stump dies, particularly stump and jess' father's transformation. this is deep, heartbreaking stuff here.

it is a story of powerlessness, and the way that we rarely have the opportunity to do the right thing - because of lack of knowledge, or courage, or proof. it is about small-town clannishness,and old grudges, and the difficulties of seeing the big picture in the midst of a crisis.

eventually, it is about healing. but the healing comes at a great price, and leaves a permanent hurt.

definitely worth reading. and if penguin UK weren't so stingy, i would be reading his new one through netgalley right now.

dammit.

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