Customer Reviews

Angel's Rest

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In 1967 eleven-years old Charlie York loves living in aptly named Sunnyside, Virginia near Angel's Rest in the Allegheny Mountains. However, the sunshine turns torrential in a nanosecond when his mom Hadley apparently kills his father John. Though she insists her spouse John accidentally shot himself while cleaning his shotgun, she is arrested for the homicide, her preadolescent son moves in with an elderly black man Lacy Albert Coe, who "worked" for his dad at the TV and radio repair shop instead of her white in-laws who live nearby.

Lacy, known as the "Storyteller", tells his young white charge lyrical tales of the good and the bad in people even as Charlie fears he lied in court when he affirmed his mom's tale under oath though he feels he saw something else. However, law enforcement has found a tie between Hadley's former high school boyfriend crazy Korean Veteran Hollis Thrasher and John that is a strong motive for murder and witnesses claim the former was near the latter's home. At the same time the white folks are fuming and humiliated that Hadley left her white son with a black man; they take out their rage on the octogenarian Storyteller and any other black who is available.

ANGEL'S REST is a terrific historical mystery and character study that grips the reader as narrator Charlie tells his tale of lost childhood when his mom supposedly killed his dad near where the angels took respites while building the mountain range. The cast is fully developed so that the racial tension of 1967 is vivid with hate crimes being acceptable by pious folks. The mystery of John's death is cleverly tied together with another mystery that reveals plenty about the relationships between the key players. Charles Davis provides a strong tale of growing up overnight as Charlie finds allies in the intrepid, caring and loving Storyteller at a time he needs nurturing.

Harriet Klausner

I really enjoyed this first novel by Charles Davis. I was hooked right from the beginning. The book was easy to read, the characters were fully developed and kept me in suspense until the end. I anxiously await Mr. Davis' next book.

Charles Davis pulls off a nearly impossible feat in his first effort -- to tell a story as compelling, mysterious, charming, and moving as Harper Lee's classic.

I was entirely captivated throughout the book, and wept openly on my commuter train as the story closed. It would be hard to improve upon it, and I sincerely hope a director with Robert Mulligan's skill and sensitivity is selected to direct the film so likely to be derived from this wonderous work.

This book starts a little slow but before you know it, you are completely absorbed and don't want to put it down. Great characters, great plot, great message of love and family - all set, amazingly, in the middle of murder, prejudice, infidelity and hatred in a small mountain town.

This book is from a new author who has proven talent which is shown throughout each page. The effects are visual, I had feelings as if I was that eleven year old and could relate to his lifestyle.
Congratulation Charles Davis!
I'll look forward to reading your next book!

I was pleasantly surprised by this new author. This book was easy reading with a great message. It kept you wondering how it was going to end from the very beginning. I look forward to Mr. Davis' next book.

I do agree with the other reviewers regarding the touching themes, the readability, the depth of characters. I enjoyed reading this book, and deeply felt for Charlie as he struggled through social ostracism, family upheaval, and emotional isolation in the extreme.

However, it didn't knock my socks off like other books I would rate 5 stars. I found it moved a little slowly, which is probably appropriate for the small-town setting and aged major character Lacy. The story was told from an 11-year-old point of view; this was both effective and frustrating for me as a reader. Effective in helping me see what he felt, but frustrating in that he missed certain things going on around him among the adults, that I would have liked to know more about. I also did not find the plot as suspenseful nor the ending as revelatory as some of the other reviewers did. It was a nice story, but did not make me cry or change my life.

As an avid reader, I am always on the prowl for a good book, but having read so much, I am picky. Angel's Rest was a gamble I'm glad I took; a gem of a book, beautifully written. The author gives his readers credit for intelligence and refuses to hammer his points home. The subtlety with which we discover the truth, piece by piece, while convincingly entering into the head of a young boy and seeing the story's events through his eyes, is masterful. The message never takes on preachy tones; it bypasses the brain and moves right into the heart. The book reminds me a bit of a modern day Dickens (a favorite author) with realistic situations and a quiet portrayal of the consequences of people's choices without the need to fall back on lurid details or graphic violence and , like Dickens, the fleshing out of the characters is excellent. Like other reviewers, I look forward to future offerings by Mr. Davis.

Themes of loss, grief, racial prejudice and the power of love resound throughout ANGEL'S REST, Charles Davis's debut novel. It's 1967 in Sunnyside, Virginia, and Charlie York's life is about to fall apart. The 11-year-old's father, a likable television repairman and mayor of the small town, has been shot dead in the family's kitchen. Traumatized, Charlie is unable to remember details of the killing, until time and his mother help him face the truth.

Set against the backdrop of Angel's Rest, an Allegheny mountain ridge, Davis paints a convincing portrait of a young boy's love for his parents and his struggle to make sense of a life suddenly gone awry. Angel's Rest is so named because it was believed that angels waited on the summit to come down and help those in need of God's assistance. For Charlie, the unlikely angel is the scarred African American octogenarian Lacy Albert Coe. When Charlie's "momma" is jailed for suspicion of murder, Lacy steps in and cares for the boy at her request --- and against the wishes of Charlie's prejudiced and vindictive grandfather. Lacy's selfless love and courage in the face of racial hatred is one of the strongest themes of the book.

Lacy's wisdom is evinced through his dialogue with Charlie. After his house is burned down and he suffers other indignities at the hands of those angry about him taking care of Charlie, he tells Charlie: "You just can't take much away from an old feller who ain't got nothing left. The folks who do all the mistreating and hating against black folks who ain't done a dang thing to them...their times is ending, you see. Some of them just don't know it yet." He cautions Charlie, "...hating folks is learned young. It's hard to get it out of a man if he grows up in it....Easiest thing in the world to do is to hate. Don't take no effort at all, you see." The tension increases. "Die, nigger" is spray-painted in snow in the front yard. Mysterious threatening phone calls and letters disrupt their lives. Two state troopers are stationed at Charlie's house to guard him and Lacy from harm.

But who killed John York? The troubled war veteran, Hollis Thrasher, is a likely suspect, and Davis sows seeds of his possible guilt throughout the novel. Townsfolk say Charlie's mother killed his dad, others pin the deed on Charlie. Few accept his mother's explanation of John accidentally shooting himself while cleaning his shotgun.

Charlie's cute neighbor, Mary Elouise, offers eyewitness insights that make Charlie sick to his stomach and raises more questions. What was his mother's relationship to Hollis? Did his mother murder his father? It's not until the epilogue that all of the loose ends are tied up for the reader.

The faith themes are subtle. In one passage, Lacy ties religious intolerance to racial intolerance: "Now the truth is if those same folks were born somewheres else, they'd be taught some other religion and they'd be shaking their fists the same way they do now but then they'd be saying that other religion is the one true religion and if you don't believe in it you're wrong." Charlie's own conflicts about faith are shown in one scene as he pretends prayers he no longer offers to God at the dinner table.

Davis convincingly shows the rollercoaster emotions of an 11-year-old boy who loves his father, mother and grandparents, yet is confused over the circumstances of his beloved father's death and his grandfather's racist ways. Although the end of the story, with its shift of scene to Maine, is not quite as strong as its beginnings, ANGEL'S REST is a solid debut novel from a promising author.

--- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby

Themes of loss, grief, racial prejudice and the power of love resound throughout ANGEL'S REST, Charles Davis's debut novel. It's 1967 in Sunnyside, Virginia, and Charlie York's life is about to fall apart. The 11-year-old's father, a likable television repairman and mayor of the small town, has been shot dead in the family's kitchen. Traumatized, Charlie is unable to remember details of the killing, until time and his mother help him face the truth.

Set against the backdrop of Angel's Rest, an Allegheny mountain ridge, Davis paints a convincing portrait of a young boy's love for his parents and his struggle to make sense of a life suddenly gone awry. Angel's Rest is so named because it was believed that angels waited on the summit to come down and help those in need of God's assistance. For Charlie, the unlikely angel is the scarred African American octogenarian Lacy Albert Coe. When Charlie's "momma" is jailed for suspicion of murder, Lacy steps in and cares for the boy at her request --- and against the wishes of Charlie's prejudiced and vindictive grandfather. Lacy's selfless love and courage in the face of racial hatred is one of the strongest themes of the book.

Lacy's wisdom is evinced through his dialogue with Charlie. After his house is burned down and he suffers other indignities at the hands of those angry about him taking care of Charlie, he tells Charlie: "You just can't take much away from an old feller who ain't got nothing left. The folks who do all the mistreating and hating against black folks who ain't done a dang thing to them...their times is ending, you see. Some of them just don't know it yet." He cautions Charlie, "...hating folks is learned young. It's hard to get it out of a man if he grows up in it....Easiest thing in the world to do is to hate. Don't take no effort at all, you see."

The tension increases. "Die, nigger" is spray-painted in snow in the front yard. Mysterious threatening phone calls and letters disrupt their lives. Two state troopers are stationed at Charlie's house to guard him and Lacy from harm.

But who killed John York? The troubled war veteran, Hollis Thrasher, is a likely suspect, and Davis sows seeds of his possible guilt throughout the novel. Townsfolk say Charlie's mother killed his dad, others pin the deed on Charlie. Few accept his mother's explanation of John accidentally shooting himself while cleaning his shotgun.

Charlie's cute neighbor, Mary Elouise, offers eyewitness insights that make Charlie sick to his stomach and raises more questions. What was his mother's relationship to Hollis? Did his mother murder his father? It's not until the epilogue that all of the loose ends are tied up for the reader.

The faith themes are subtle. In one passage, Lacy ties religious intolerance to racial intolerance: "Now the truth is if those same folks were born somewheres else, they'd be taught some other religion and they'd be shaking their fists the same way they do now but then they'd be saying that other religion is the one true religion and if you don't believe in it you're wrong." Charlie's own conflicts about faith are shown in one scene as he pretends prayers he no longer offers to God at the dinner table.

Davis convincingly shows the rollercoaster emotions of an 11-year-old boy who loves his father, mother and grandparents, yet is confused over the circumstances of his beloved father's death and his grandfather's racist ways. Although the end of the story, with its shift of scene to Maine, is not quite as strong as its beginnings, ANGEL'S REST is a solid debut novel from a promising author.

--- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby