The Risen by Ron Rash

 

Ron Rash writing about Appalachian backcountry pain is one of the best bittersweet pleasures I find in relatively recent fiction. There's tension and sometimes agony, but often very little violence. This novel is a really good example of what Rash does really well. It has a historical thread, this time in 1969 with all the countercultural stress that comes with the time, though in a place about as connected to the rest of the US then as Mayberry. The novel has a lot to say about family--both how the elder generations abuse the younger and about the resentments and regrets of brotherhood. This is arguably another novel where someone is willing to set their family on fire rather than lose control of it, which seems a very human attitude, and sadly not uncommon., The dialogue here captures regionalism without trying to nail down accent/s, which I think it probably the way to do it, and it serves to drive the story and differentiate characters. Speaking of: The characters are all eminently believable. The pacing is quick like a knife to the ribs, and the ending is just an open space the reader can fill in or fall into, a beautiful void. Superb.