Foggy Mountain Breakdown
by Sharyn McCrumb
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Book Summary Information
Author: Sharyn McCrumbEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-06-28
ISBN: 0345414942
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of Foggy Mountain Breakdown
Book Review: Wonderful!
Summary: 5 Stars
A long time ago, my parents and I went to hear McCrumb give a reading at a local college and we were hooked by her storytelling. She shared quite a few of these short stories with us that night and when I re-discovered them in my parents' bookcases over Thanksgiving, I made sure I brought this one home. I love every single one of these stories. They are fun, interesting and reminds me that she is a wonderful storyteller. Sometimes, I feel as if story-telling is becoming a lost art especially since I don't like short stories. They're usually drab, unsatisfying and short. Not McCrumb's. These are wonderful.
Here are a few samples: "Telling the Bees" where a young groom takes his bride to his grandparents' home in the mountains, only to leave the next day to accomodate his very spoiled bride. You could feel her disdain for the ramshackled (but clean) cabin and her poutiness at breaking the heel of her expensive designer boot. You could feel his sadness at time passing and his disappointment that she wouldn't share in some of his fondest memories of growing up at his grandparents' place.
Then there's "Gentle Reader" where an author corresponds with a fan who absolutely loves every single one of her books. There is a twist in the story as she reveals more of her problems to this "gentle reader" and how he helped her out.
These are just two of my favorites ~~ there are stories of a funeral and different memories of the deceased from different members of the family, there are stories of murder, rage, love, passion and leaving or returning back to the homestead. These are just reflections of life everywhere, not just in the mountains. And they are wonderful short stories ~~ real and true to people. They are not drab. They are short (and there were some I wish was longer ...) but they're definitely not like modern short stories where they write to be artistic, not realistic.
McCrumb has already gotten my heart with her other stories and this one cinches the deal even more. It's a great introduction to her writings and it's definitely a keeper in any serious bookworm's library.
1-1-07
Summary of Foggy Mountain Breakdown
"In an earlier life, McCrumb must have been a balladeer, singing of restless spirits, star-crossed lovers, and the consoling beauty of nature. . . . The overall effect is spellbinding."--The Washington Post
Bestselling author Sharyn McCrumb is "a born storyteller" (Mary Higgins Clark) who astonishes readers and reviewers with the power and scope of her talent, prompting the San Diego Union-Tribune to declare: "There is no one quite like her among present-day writers. No one better, either."
Foggy Mountain Breakdown, the first-ever collection of Sharyn McCrumb's short fiction, is a literary quilting of old and new, humorous and heartfelt, offering award-winning works--and two stories never before published, contrasting mountain childhoods past and present.
Chilling tales of suspense alternate with evocative character portraits and compelling narratives that embrace the southern Appalachian locales and themes of McCrumb's acclaimed Ballad Novels. Within this cornucopia of two dozen stories, Old Rattler, a mountain healer, skirmishes with a serial killer . . . Princess Di investigates long-kept secrets within the House of Windsor . . . A reincarnated murder victim seeks delicious revenge . . . And while honeymooning in the bridegroom's ancestral hilltop homeplace, two newlyweds harbor second thoughts.
The author's perfect-pitch ear for dialogue and ability to illuminate the dark side of human nature merge with her brilliant artistry to make Foggy Mountain Breakdown a virtuoso collection for devotees of Sharyn McCrumb--and for the legion of new readers who will find themselves caught under her spell.
From the Hardcover edition.
"I come from a race of stortytellers," writes Sharyn McCrumb in her introduction to the first complete collection of her wonderfully rich and mordant short stories. "My father's family--the Arrowoods and the McCourys--settled in the Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina when the wilderness was still Indian country." Like McCrumb's fine novels (She Walks These Hills and a dozen others), these 24 stories link the mysteries of the past with life in present-day Appalachia, using chains of words stronger than any steel.
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