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Summary: Reader from Vista, CA
Review: Ron Rash has written a beautifully told story about desire, heartbreak, cunning, murder and justice. He's done it in simple language and in a riviting style. Broken into 5 sections, each character tells the story from their own perspective. Ron lays out each section in such as a way that the story never becomes repetitive and the book is riviting. The Apalachian language with colloquialisms is delightful, making me want to read lines over again for their color and style, as well as content.I hope Ron Rash is currently working on a second novel because I will be looking for it every day until I can purchase it!
I gladly give this book a 5 star rating.
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Summary: perfect book club book
Review: Ron Rash has written an extraordinary first novel. The language and descriptions are flawless. His story is consuming. As a resident of Oconee County the references stirred up vivid pictures of the area now and how it must have been in the past. I shall never again look at the beautiful lakes of the region in quite the same way. PEBlais - Author Resurrecting Paul.
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Summary: A Genuine Page-Turner
Review: Ron Rash has written an extraordinary first novel. The language and descriptions are flawless. His story is consuming. As a resident of Oconee County the references stirred up vivid pictures of the area now and how it must have been in the past. I shall never again look at the beautiful lakes of the region in quite the same way. PEBlais - Author Resurrecting Paul.
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Summary: Utterly gripping
Review: Ron Rash is one of North Carolina's finest poets. Set in the Jocassee Valley in the southern Appalachians, One Foot in Eden is a taut, compelling story of infidelity and revenge killing that has the feel of archetypal mountain legend, a sort of "Lord Randall" updated by a psychological realist. A nifty and quite cunning murder mystery plot is parceled out to readers, Roshomon-style, from the cross-angled, and occasionally contradictory, first-person testimonies of the major players: the high sheriff, who knows murder has been done and who has done it, but can't find a body; the murderer himself; the adulterous wife for whom he kills; the bastard son of the illicit union; the deputy, a sort of Everyman, who serves as the reader's proxy and comes on, like Horatio in Act V, to wonder over the principals' unraveled fates. (There's also a witch!) For me, in some ways, the most compelling character is the Appalachian landscape, which Rash delivers tersely, with a poet's exacting eye and speech. Ultimately, One Foot in Eden is a parable about the pursuit of justice-its elusiveness at the human level, its certainty from the divine. True statement: I read the book-which is only 200 pages-- in a single sitting and couldn't (didn't) put it down.
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Summary: Excellent first effort
Review: Ron Rash is one of SOUTH CAROLINA's finest poets and has now proven that he is one of its finest young novelists as well. This first effort brings to gripping life the South Carolina upcountry of the post-WWII years. His descriptions of the once pristine Jocassee Valley and now-lost parts of Oconee County are are as tangible and poetic as Conroy at the top of his game. You will become entangled in the dramatic lives of his simple, mountain folk who are at the crossroads of a world that is changing much too fast.
While I love his verse, I can't wait for Rash's next prose effort. If this novel is a harbinger, we have a great new novelist in our midst.
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Summary: A dark and powerfully written novel
Review: Set in the Appalachian South, One Foot in Eden by Ron Rash is a dark and powerfully written novel of love, secrets, and murder. An unsolved killing remains covered up for years until one day the power company forces people off their land and floods their farms. Terrible hidden motives beneath a closely bound rural community pervade this fascinating and engaging literary study showcasing the turns and twists of human nature.
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Summary: Everyday life
Review: The book is a little slow to get going, but once you are into it, it's hard to put down... and you want more. It's a story set in the past, but has a lot of today values and problems. The characters had some tough decisions to make. It's a good mystery and even I was fooled, which I am usually not. Life... goes on.
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Summary: Southern genre murder mystery
Review: This book is an amazing look at a time since past in southern Appalachia. It's a true piece of classic southern genre literature, but it's also an artfully woven murder mystery. I tore through it in one afternoon. Rash's eloquent writing style is matched by his unparalleled story-telling. I could not recommend this book more. And, by the way, I am not "city folk". I grew up within 10 miles of where this book is set.
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Summary: Book Club loved it
Review: this was a wonderful book. it starts out a little bit slow but you cant put it down. it is a quick read and leaves you wanting more. its so sad but so great!
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Summary: what a great book
Review: this was a wonderful book. it starts out a little bit slow but you cant put it down. it is a quick read and leaves you wanting more. its so sad but so great!
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