Jack Catcher's parents are dead—his mom died of sickness and his dad of a broken heart—and he has to get out of Oklahoma, where dust storms have killed everything green, hopeful, or alive. When former classmate Jane and her little brother Tony show up in his yard with plans to steal a dead neighbor's car and make a break for Texas, Jack doesn't need much convincing. But a run-in with one of the era's most notorious gangsters puts a crimp in Jane's plan, and soon the three kids are hitching the rails among hoboes, gangsters, and con men, racing to warn a carnival wrestler turned bank robber of the danger he faces and, in the process, find a new home for themselves. This road trip adventure from the legendary Joe R. Lansdale is a thrilling and colorful ride through Depression-era America.
All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky
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About the Author
Joe R. Lansdale is the author of more than a dozen novels for adults, including five Hap and Leonard novels, as well as Sunset and Sawdust and Lost Echoes. He has received the British Fantasy Award, the American Mystery Award, the Edgar Award, the Grinzane Cavour Prize, and seven Bram Stoker Awards. He lives with his family in Nacogdoches, Texas. All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky is his first novel for young adults.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The wind could blow down a full-grown man, but it was the dust that was the worst. If the dust was red, I could figure it was out of Oklahoma, where we were. But if it was white, it was part of Texas come to fall on us, and if it was darker, it was probably peppering down from Kansas or Nebraska.
Mama always claimed you could see the face of the devil in them sandstorms, you looked hard enough. I don't know about that, it being the devil and all. But I can tell you for sure there were times when the sand seemed to have shape, and I thought maybe I could see a face in it, and it was a mean face, and it was a face that had come to puff up and blow us away.
It might as well have been the devil, though. In a way, it had blowed Mama and Daddy away, 'cause one night, all the dust in her lungs--the dirty pneumonia, the doctor had called it--finally clogged up good and she couldn't breathe and there wasn't a thing we could do about it. Before morning she was dead. I finally fell asleep in a chair by her bed holding her cold hand, listening to the wind outside.
When I went to look for Daddy, I found him out in the barn. He'd hung himself from a rafter with a plowline from the old mule harness. He had a note pinned to his shirt that said: I CAN NOT TAKE IT WITH YOUR MAMA DEAD I LOVE YOU AND I AM SORRY. It was not a long note, but it was clear, and even without the note, I'd have got the message.
It hadn't been long since he done it, because there was still a slight swing to his body and his shadow waved back and forth across the floor and his body was still warm.
I got up on the old milking stool and cut him down with my pocketknife, my hand trembling all the while I done it. I went inside and got Mama, managed to carry her down the porch and lay her on an old tarp and tug her out to the barn. Then the sandstorm came again, like it was just waiting on me to get inside. It was slamming the boards on the outside of the barn all the time I dug. The sky turned dark as the inside of a cow even though it was midday. I lit a lantern and dug by that light. The floor of the barn was dirt and it was packed down hard and tight from when we still had animals walking around on it.
I had to work pretty hard at digging until the ground got cracked and I was down a few inches. Then it was soft earth, and I was able to dig quicker. Digging was all I let myself think about, because if I stopped to think about how the only family I had was going down into a hole, I don't know I could have done it.
I wrapped Mama and Daddy in the tarp and dragged them into the hole, side by side, gentle as I could. I started covering them up, but all of a sudden, I was as weak as a newborn kitten. I sat down on the side of the grave and looked at their shapes under the tarp. I can't tell you how empty I felt. I even thought about taking that plowline and doing to myself what Daddy had done.
But I didn't want to be like that. I wanted to be like the heroes in books I had read about, who could stand up against anything and keep on coming. I hated to say it about my Daddy, but he had taken the coward's way out, and I hadn't never been no coward and wasn't about to start. Still, I broke down and started crying, and I couldn't stop, though there didn't seem to be much wet in me. The world was dry, and so was I, and all the time I cried I heaved, like someone sick with nothing left inside to throw up.
The storm howled and rattled the boards in the barn. The sand drifted through the cracks and filled the air like a fine powder and the powder was the color of blood. It was Oklahoma soil that was killing us that day, and not no other. In an odd way I found that worse. It seemed more personal than dirt from Texas, Kansas, or the wilds of Nebraska.
The lantern light made the powder gleam. I sat there and stared at the blood-colored mist and finally got up the strength to stand and finish covering Mama and Daddy, mashing the dirt down tight and flat with the back of the shovel when I was done.
I started to say some words over them, but the truth was I wasn't feeling all that religious right then, so I didn't say nothing but "I love you two. But you shouldn't have gone and killed yourself, Daddy. That wasn't any kind of way to do."
I got the lantern and set it by the door, pulled some goggles off a nail and slipped them on. They had belonged to my granddaddy, who had been an aviator in World War I, and though I hadn't knowed him very well before he died, he had left them to me, and it was a good thing, 'cause I knowed a couple fellas that got their eyes scraped off by blowing sand and gone plumb blind.
I put the goggles on, blew out the lantern. Wasn't no use trying to carry it out there in the dark, 'cause the wind would blow it out. I set it down on the floor again, opened up the barn door, got hold of the rope Daddy had tied to a nail outside, and followed it through the dark with the wind blowing that sand and it scraping me like the dry tongue of a cat. I followed it over to where it was tied to the porch of the house, and then when I let go of it, I had to feel my way around until I got hold of the doorknob and pushed myself inside.
I remember thinking right then that things couldn't get no worse.
But I was wrong.
Mama always claimed you could see the face of the devil in them sandstorms, you looked hard enough. I don't know about that, it being the devil and all. But I can tell you for sure there were times when the sand seemed to have shape, and I thought maybe I could see a face in it, and it was a mean face, and it was a face that had come to puff up and blow us away.
It might as well have been the devil, though. In a way, it had blowed Mama and Daddy away, 'cause one night, all the dust in her lungs--the dirty pneumonia, the doctor had called it--finally clogged up good and she couldn't breathe and there wasn't a thing we could do about it. Before morning she was dead. I finally fell asleep in a chair by her bed holding her cold hand, listening to the wind outside.
When I went to look for Daddy, I found him out in the barn. He'd hung himself from a rafter with a plowline from the old mule harness. He had a note pinned to his shirt that said: I CAN NOT TAKE IT WITH YOUR MAMA DEAD I LOVE YOU AND I AM SORRY. It was not a long note, but it was clear, and even without the note, I'd have got the message.
It hadn't been long since he done it, because there was still a slight swing to his body and his shadow waved back and forth across the floor and his body was still warm.
I got up on the old milking stool and cut him down with my pocketknife, my hand trembling all the while I done it. I went inside and got Mama, managed to carry her down the porch and lay her on an old tarp and tug her out to the barn. Then the sandstorm came again, like it was just waiting on me to get inside. It was slamming the boards on the outside of the barn all the time I dug. The sky turned dark as the inside of a cow even though it was midday. I lit a lantern and dug by that light. The floor of the barn was dirt and it was packed down hard and tight from when we still had animals walking around on it.
I had to work pretty hard at digging until the ground got cracked and I was down a few inches. Then it was soft earth, and I was able to dig quicker. Digging was all I let myself think about, because if I stopped to think about how the only family I had was going down into a hole, I don't know I could have done it.
I wrapped Mama and Daddy in the tarp and dragged them into the hole, side by side, gentle as I could. I started covering them up, but all of a sudden, I was as weak as a newborn kitten. I sat down on the side of the grave and looked at their shapes under the tarp. I can't tell you how empty I felt. I even thought about taking that plowline and doing to myself what Daddy had done.
But I didn't want to be like that. I wanted to be like the heroes in books I had read about, who could stand up against anything and keep on coming. I hated to say it about my Daddy, but he had taken the coward's way out, and I hadn't never been no coward and wasn't about to start. Still, I broke down and started crying, and I couldn't stop, though there didn't seem to be much wet in me. The world was dry, and so was I, and all the time I cried I heaved, like someone sick with nothing left inside to throw up.
The storm howled and rattled the boards in the barn. The sand drifted through the cracks and filled the air like a fine powder and the powder was the color of blood. It was Oklahoma soil that was killing us that day, and not no other. In an odd way I found that worse. It seemed more personal than dirt from Texas, Kansas, or the wilds of Nebraska.
The lantern light made the powder gleam. I sat there and stared at the blood-colored mist and finally got up the strength to stand and finish covering Mama and Daddy, mashing the dirt down tight and flat with the back of the shovel when I was done.
I started to say some words over them, but the truth was I wasn't feeling all that religious right then, so I didn't say nothing but "I love you two. But you shouldn't have gone and killed yourself, Daddy. That wasn't any kind of way to do."
I got the lantern and set it by the door, pulled some goggles off a nail and slipped them on. They had belonged to my granddaddy, who had been an aviator in World War I, and though I hadn't knowed him very well before he died, he had left them to me, and it was a good thing, 'cause I knowed a couple fellas that got their eyes scraped off by blowing sand and gone plumb blind.
I put the goggles on, blew out the lantern. Wasn't no use trying to carry it out there in the dark, 'cause the wind would blow it out. I set it down on the floor again, opened up the barn door, got hold of the rope Daddy had tied to a nail outside, and followed it through the dark with the wind blowing that sand and it scraping me like the dry tongue of a cat. I followed it over to where it was tied to the porch of the house, and then when I let go of it, I had to feel my way around until I got hold of the doorknob and pushed myself inside.
I remember thinking right then that things couldn't get no worse.
But I was wrong.
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More About the Author
Joe R. Lansdale is the author of over thirty novels and numerous short stories. His work has appeared in national anthologies, magazines, and collections, as well as numerous foreign publications. He has written for comics, television, film, newspapers, and Internet sites. His work has been collected in eighteen short-story collections, and he has edited or co-edited over a dozen anthologies. He has received the Edgar Award, eight Bram Stoker Awards, the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Grinzani Cavour Prize for Literature, the Herodotus Historical Fiction Award, the Inkpot Award for Contributions to Science Fiction and Fantasy, and many others. His novella Bubba Hotep was adapted to film by Don Coscarelli, starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis. His story "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" was adapted to film for Showtime's "Masters of Horror." He is currently co-producing several films, among them The Bottoms, based on his Edgar Award-winning novel, with Bill Paxton and Brad Wyman, and The Drive-In, with Greg Nicotero. He is Writer In Residence at Stephen F. Austin State University, and is the founder of the martial arts system Shen Chuan: Martial Science and its affiliate, Shen Chuan Family System. He is a member of both the United States and International Martial Arts Halls of Fame. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas with his wife, dog, and two cats.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I'm a big fan of Joe Lansdale's fiction, and I prefer his books where he writes about the past and small town life (The Bottoms, A Fine Dark Line, Sunset and Sawdust). Joe's also a friend and I respect his view of life a lot. You get quite a bit of that in these books.
All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky is Joe's first young adult novel, and - as I'd expected - it's a doozy. The novel kept me nailed to the pages and I read it in two sittings only because I couldn't put it down. From the opening chapter where young Jack Catcher's mom dies and his has to cut down his daddy's body from the barn rafter so he can bury them together, Joe puts his readers inside the perspective of his young hero.
A lot of reviewers make a lot of the fact that any hero whose initials are JC must be some kind of Christ figure. The only JC that came to mind when I was reading this book was John Carter, the iconic hero created by Edgar Rice Burroughs that romped across the dead plains of Mars. John Carter's motto "I still live" resonates through the pages and is mentioned by Jack and Jane, the outstanding young heroine that seizes center stage so much of the time.
The book is set in the Great Depression, starting out in Oklahoma and wandering down to Texas, more specifically East Texas where Joe lives. Along the way our young characters cross paths with the dust storms, dead folks, bank robbers, and a swarm of grasshoppers that literally eats the shirt off Jack's back. Oh, and there are hobos and assorted villains as well.
The book is a coming of age tale in a lot of ways, but it's squarely centered in hard times and in the human heart. I love the character of Jack Catcher because he's the soul of every young boy that ever lived. He's innocent and wise at the same time, knowledgeable and naďve.
Jane, on the other hand, is more pragmatic, a natural con artist down to her bones, but a romantic who wants to believe in things that don't often exist in the real world. She's got a smart mouth and a fearlessness that I found distinctly appealing, but she also knows her limitations and shortcomings.
Joe has crafted this book with love, and it shows in the descriptions of people and situations. There's poetry in the words, in the dialogue, and in the emotions that rattle around in Jack as his world steadily gets bigger and more dangerous.
The novel contains a lot of truth as well, and it isn't really a historical novel, though it is set in a specific time period. The things Joe writes about - about friendship and love and wonder and the elements of youth and innocence - are timeless things that can be shared across generations.
All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky is Joe's first young adult novel, and - as I'd expected - it's a doozy. The novel kept me nailed to the pages and I read it in two sittings only because I couldn't put it down. From the opening chapter where young Jack Catcher's mom dies and his has to cut down his daddy's body from the barn rafter so he can bury them together, Joe puts his readers inside the perspective of his young hero.
A lot of reviewers make a lot of the fact that any hero whose initials are JC must be some kind of Christ figure. The only JC that came to mind when I was reading this book was John Carter, the iconic hero created by Edgar Rice Burroughs that romped across the dead plains of Mars. John Carter's motto "I still live" resonates through the pages and is mentioned by Jack and Jane, the outstanding young heroine that seizes center stage so much of the time.
The book is set in the Great Depression, starting out in Oklahoma and wandering down to Texas, more specifically East Texas where Joe lives. Along the way our young characters cross paths with the dust storms, dead folks, bank robbers, and a swarm of grasshoppers that literally eats the shirt off Jack's back. Oh, and there are hobos and assorted villains as well.
The book is a coming of age tale in a lot of ways, but it's squarely centered in hard times and in the human heart. I love the character of Jack Catcher because he's the soul of every young boy that ever lived. He's innocent and wise at the same time, knowledgeable and naďve.
Jane, on the other hand, is more pragmatic, a natural con artist down to her bones, but a romantic who wants to believe in things that don't often exist in the real world. She's got a smart mouth and a fearlessness that I found distinctly appealing, but she also knows her limitations and shortcomings.
Joe has crafted this book with love, and it shows in the descriptions of people and situations. There's poetry in the words, in the dialogue, and in the emotions that rattle around in Jack as his world steadily gets bigger and more dangerous.
The novel contains a lot of truth as well, and it isn't really a historical novel, though it is set in a specific time period. The things Joe writes about - about friendship and love and wonder and the elements of youth and innocence - are timeless things that can be shared across generations.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By R. Althouse
Format:Paperback
Many YA novels depend on slapstick humor, childish adventures and woefully ignorant adults to keep their audience engaged...not so with "All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky."
If I may be so bold, I'd say what Lansdale has done is create a "Grapes of Wrath" for and about young readers. "All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky" deals with the depression, dust storms and the American experience of the 1930s realistically and accurately. Sometimes bleak, often hopeful, the novel is rich in both atmosphere and depth of characters.
"All the Earth..." tells the story of three youngsters: Jack, Jane and Jane's little brother Tony. Recently orphaned, the trio sets out for East Texas in search of Jane & Tony's distant relatives. Along their journey the three youngsters meet a variety of people and have some amazing experiences (from run-ins with gangsters to hopping freights with hobos)...but it is the journey of self discovery and coming of age that makes this book stand out.
Joe Lansdale has written a book that may be listed as 'juvenile fiction' but is so beautifully written that adults will surely appreciate it as much-if not more-than his intended audience.
There are plenty of good 'young adult novels' out there, but few have the depth and heart of "All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky".
If I may be so bold, I'd say what Lansdale has done is create a "Grapes of Wrath" for and about young readers. "All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky" deals with the depression, dust storms and the American experience of the 1930s realistically and accurately. Sometimes bleak, often hopeful, the novel is rich in both atmosphere and depth of characters.
"All the Earth..." tells the story of three youngsters: Jack, Jane and Jane's little brother Tony. Recently orphaned, the trio sets out for East Texas in search of Jane & Tony's distant relatives. Along their journey the three youngsters meet a variety of people and have some amazing experiences (from run-ins with gangsters to hopping freights with hobos)...but it is the journey of self discovery and coming of age that makes this book stand out.
Joe Lansdale has written a book that may be listed as 'juvenile fiction' but is so beautifully written that adults will surely appreciate it as much-if not more-than his intended audience.
There are plenty of good 'young adult novels' out there, but few have the depth and heart of "All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky".
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
'I wasn't all that certain it was the right thing to do, but I was pretty certain it was the only thing to do.'
June 24, 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Joe Lansdale is a master storyteller. I have been a fan of his for years and two of his books are in my top ten of all time - The Bottoms and A Fine Dark Line. His stories linger in the mind and you repeat the sentences to yourself as you read, wishing you had been the one who wrote such lyrical prose.
"all the earth, thrown to the sky" is another fine Lansdale offering. He does especially well on coming-of-age stories and this one is a humdinger. It has been advertised as Lansdale's first Young Adult offering and teens on up will enjoy it but I don't know what differentiates it from other books he has written, especially the two I noted above. Maybe a little less harsh language but Lansdale puts people, even kids, into brutal situations, in all his books/stories and then writes them out of them.
Jack, Jane and Tony are parentless, stuck in some of the severest conditions, including sandstorms and grasshopper plagues, and they are unlucky enough to run across some real hard characters. But they also have each other and they find some people that are willing to help and Lansdale tells us their story.
I wish the book would have been longer but that is purely selfish. There is nothing left undone in "all the earth, thrown to the sky."
"all the earth, thrown to the sky" is another fine Lansdale offering. He does especially well on coming-of-age stories and this one is a humdinger. It has been advertised as Lansdale's first Young Adult offering and teens on up will enjoy it but I don't know what differentiates it from other books he has written, especially the two I noted above. Maybe a little less harsh language but Lansdale puts people, even kids, into brutal situations, in all his books/stories and then writes them out of them.
Jack, Jane and Tony are parentless, stuck in some of the severest conditions, including sandstorms and grasshopper plagues, and they are unlucky enough to run across some real hard characters. But they also have each other and they find some people that are willing to help and Lansdale tells us their story.
I wish the book would have been longer but that is purely selfish. There is nothing left undone in "all the earth, thrown to the sky."
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun and Suspenseful Ride Through the Depression
All the Earth, Thrown to the Sky follows three young survivors of the dust storms that plagued Oklahoma during the 1930s. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Carlyn Greenwald
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good read
I didn't notice this was a YA novel when I read the description, so I was expecting something a little more wild in the vein of other Lansdale's work. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Terry Coyle
4.0 out of 5 stars
surprising, interesting, and brilliant
I have to say, this book surprised me in the best way! I've always loved learning about the Great Depression . . . Read more
Published 4 months ago by Kayla
4.0 out of 5 stars
America grows up.
Another excellent offering by Lansdale. He accurately portrays life in small town America. The good , the bad & our blindness to the obvious inequieties. Well done, Joe.
Published 6 months ago by Will W.
5.0 out of 5 stars
All the earth, thrown to the sky
Riveting, delightful, too short but enjoy the author's brevity. Have really liked all his books thus far hope for more by this author Will read again.
Published 8 months ago by tory killam
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Tale for Young and Adult Readers
No one does coming of age like Lansdale. I was very excited for this one...and it didn't disappoint. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mark A. Gunnells
5.0 out of 5 stars
Impressive tale geared toward the young but.....
"All the earth, thrown to sky" is a must read for not only fans of Joe R that have been following his award winning short stories and novels but anyone looking for something out of... Read more
Published 17 months ago by J. Bilby
5.0 out of 5 stars
A young adult story for everyone
The only complaint I have about Joe Lansdale's new young-adult novel is it's too short. This is a story that could have kept on going and that would have been fine with me. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Chris M.
4.0 out of 5 stars
four stars
Good Lansdale. GOOD COURAGE MOTIF. First person narrative hard to bring off when speaker and many in plot suffer loss. Read more
Published 18 months ago by clefstick
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great story, wonderful author. Read this no matter your age.
I have always loved Joe Lansdale, even before everyone else found him. This guy gives a great variety of genres and never fails to entertain. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Judith Hartman
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