Gap Creek: A Novel by Robert Morgan – Oprah’s Book Club Selection #32

Sharing is caring...

Gap Creek: A Novel
By Robert Morgan
Oprah Book Club® Selection #32, January 2000

Editorial Review:

Robert Morgan’s Gap Creek opens with one wrenching death and ends with another. In between, this novel of turn-of-the-century Appalachian life works in fire, flood, swindlers, sickness, and starvation–a truly biblical assortment of plagues, all visited on the sturdy shoulders of 17-year-old Julie Harmon. “Human life don’t mean a thing in this world,” she concludes. And who could blame her? “People could be born and they could suffer, and they could die, and it didn’t mean a thing…. The world was exactly like it had been and would always be, going on about its business.” For Julie, that business is hard physical labor. Fortunately, she’s fully capable of working “like a man”–splitting and hauling wood, butchering hogs, rendering lard, planting crops, and taking care of the stock. Even when Julie meets and marries handsome young Hank Richards, there’s no happily-ever-after in store. Nothing comes easy in Julie Harmon’s world, and their first year together is no exception.

Throughout the novel, Morgan chronicles Julie’s trials in prose of great dignity and clarity, capturing the rhythms of North Carolina speech by using only the subtlest of inflections. Clearly the author has done his research too–the descriptions of physical labor practically leap off the page. (Suffice to say, you’ll learn far more about hog slaughtering than you ever dreamed of knowing.) Yet he resists the temptation to make his long-suffering characters into saints. Julie simmers with resentment at being her family’s workhorse, and Hank flies into a helpless rage whenever he feels that his authority is questioned. In novels like The Truest Pleasure and The Hinterlands, Morgan proved his ability to create memorable heroines. In Gap Creek, he writes with great feeling–but not a touch of sentimentality–about a life Julie aptly calls “both simple and hard.

Read first chapter FREE – Click right and left arrows or scroll mouse.

Sharing is caring...

The following two tabs change content below.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Susan

I created this blog just so I could write about anything and everything that comes to mind, whatever I feel like saying, whenever I feel like posting. This is not a Christian-only site or a political board filled with propaganda and rhetoric. I want my blog to be fun and interesting, offering people helpful tips and information, as well as thoughtful and entertaining content. Thanks for visiting!

Latest posts by Susan (see all)

• My Second 5-Gallon Bucket Garden – Tomatoes, Red Bells, Green Beans and Herbs - June 25, 2016
• Roasted Eggplant Parmesan – Plus a couple of simple low carb recipes with Eggplant! - September 16, 2015
• Cauliflower Mac & Cheese - August 21, 2015