Customer Reviews

Bloodroot

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

One of the most enjoyable things about Amy Green's Bloodroot is that is it that rare novel that gets better as it goes along. While I admit that the first section of the novel is a bit slow at times and some of it seems extraneous, Greene pulls the disparate parts of the novel together at the end, but never too neatly, into a satisfying conclusion. The novel revolves around Myra, an Appalachian woman born into a slightly troubled, slightly magical, perhaps, family. The opening section of the novel is narrated by two people who love her, whom she has left--her grandmother and a neighbor, Doug, who has loved her as they have grown from childhood to young adulthood. Myra has left them both to marry a man who appears to be trouble. While the opening is a bit slow, the narrative slowly builds and draws the reader in, raising questions, some of them never truly answered about Myra and those in her life. This novel is quite an enjoyable read, ultimately compelling and a bit surprising. The characters are never of a type and develop in believably unpredicatble ways. I think Bloodroot would make an excellent choice for a book club. There is much to discuss--while the major questions are resolved for the reader, there is enough left for the readers imagination that I think would lead to a lively discussion. Enjoy!

The danger of Appalachian fiction is that the stories will become quaint, set as they are in a mountain world that exists like a magical and lost kingdom; isolated, unbelievably beautiful, dangerous and somehow enchanted. Bloodroot takes place partly in the mountains and partly in the world of foster homes, pool halls, cities and reform schools. That sense of Appalachia's isolation and enchantment runs like lifeblood or creekwater through this multi-generational tale of women who cannot be tamed.

The first section of the story is the most confusing, alternating between two narrators whose thankless job it is to set the stage for the mysterious story that will follow. By the time Byrdie Lamb and Douglas Cotter finish telling their stories, I was completely bewitched by the characters and the plot, but the second section, narrated by twins Johnny and Laura, is that much more powerful. The twins' story follows the dark currents of genetic inheritance, the curse of blood, how nature emerges despite any counteracting nurture.

The writing in this novel is stunning. I could smell, see, touch and taste the world of the characters, whether it was the green cool of the mountain or the dirt and rocks of a gravel yard. I could hear the scream of a baby rabbit or the scrabbling wings of a trapped bird. To have such a dark story told so beautifully makes for a wrenchingly painful tour-de-force that thankfully leaves the reader with the true possibility of redemption and hope.

Very highly recommended.

Plot Summary: Passing back and forth among multiple points of view, this story is about rural families living in the mountains of Tennessee. The crux of it all revolves around Myra Lamb, a special girl who draws people in, which is both her blessing and curse. Tragedy strikes every generation of the Lamb family, who are either slightly magical or maniacal, depending on your point of view.

A few weeks back I made a vow to break my addiction for books that have `happily ever after' endings, and try to read some sad, but worthwhile stories. I would just like to state that with Bloodroot I've met my `sad' quota for a month or two at least. I was persuaded to try this book by a rave review in Entertainment Weekly magazine. I figured if the purveyors of popular culture liked it, then there's a good chance that I would too.

Some books like to save up the sadness, and spring it like a trap at the end. Bloodroot was different in that it was fairly sad at the beginning, middle, and end. Actually I take that back - the one ray of hope and sunshine came at the very end. As sad as it was, I didn't cry. Not once. I suppose I was too angry with the characters to express any maudlin sentiments. As I read story after story about these poor, ignorant people, I kept wondering where is that American grit we're so famous for? I kept waiting for someone to pull herself up out of the muck, but it's like they were all destined to fail.

The setting was vivid and lush, with beautiful descriptions. The speech rhythms got under my skin, and I found myself wanting to slip into the same patterns after spending all afternoon within the story. There is much to admire here, but it was too unrelenting when it came to the sour mood. This book deals with domestic violence, mental illness, and the failures of the foster care system, and there wasn't enough `magic' to balance the scales. I wasn't given a chance to hope for a better outcome for most of the characters. It was made all too clear that their story arc pointed down, down, down.

BLOODROOT

This book was popping up all over the place -- magazines, the VINE program where I was smart enough and lucky enough to be able to obtain a copy, advertisements, word of mouth -- I was eager to get my copy and dive right in. What a first novel! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new voice in literature.

We are taken up to Bloodroot Mountain, located in Tennessee. It's a magically quiet place, an area where time seems to stand still, a location the world doesn't seem to know even exists. Living in the beautiful terrain are mountain folk who, for generations, have lived, loved, dealt with many heartaches and hardships. Yet, through love, hard work, and perseverance, they carry on.

The story is told my very favorite way, in the voices of several different characters. We meet Byrdie Lamb, living on the mountain forever and a day, who has a way with herbs, roots, and some say is quite magical. She is known as a 'granny woman' and people rely on her heavily for her special ways and gifts.

Byrdie births and raises many children, but it's her grand-daughter, Myra Lamb, who is her heart child. Myra is special too and has what many call 'haint blue eyes'. Myra loves her Granny and her life on the mountain. She runs wild and free, has her family and friends, and most of the boys that know her come to fall in love with her.

We meet many characters, each adding their own story into the stories of the other characters whose lives are all entwined together -- some in good ways, others in horrible ways -- through each other. There's the Cotter men, handsome John Odom, his brother, Hollis, the twins, Johnny and Laura. We meet Carolina, Ford, Clint, Sunny, Zelda; all the characters have their own and distinct personality and add so much to the story. The names are wonderful and fit in perfectly with the mountain genre.

This book catches the reader from page one and quickly turns into one of those books that you just can't put down. When not reading, I was thinking about the book and what was going to happen next. The author spins the tales of all the very well fleshed out characters so perfectly that you just cannot stop thinking about this book. These characters will stay with me for a long, long time. Honestly, I neglected EVERYTHING just so I could read, along with staying up until the wee hours of the night reading, turning pages way too fast, not wanting this book to ever end.

But end it does, and we can only hope that Amy Greene's first novel will not be her last. She has a bright and promising future for herself.

This book is highly recommended.

Thank you!

Pam

'I tried to send her a message in case mind reading was one of her powers. I love you, I shouted without words across the rushing creek and the rocky ground and through the walls that kept me out.' [Page 33]

In `Bloodroot,' Amy Greene demonstrates a keen and commanding voice. This is most evident when she speaks about life on Bloodroot Mountain. Clearly, Greene is intimately knowledgeable about nature, and any reader who appreciates the wonders of nature is bound to be transfixed by Bloodroot Mountain.

`Bloodroot' is divided into three parts excluding the epilogue. I loved Part One [Byrdie Lamb and Douglas Cotter]. Greene demonstrates some potent writing skills when describing these characters and their lives. Whenever Byrdie and Macon were present, the writing seemed thoroughly authentic, magical, and lyrical. Their life together on Bloodroot Mountain, their loves, losses and resiliency were heartfelt.

We learn a great deal about Byrdie and Macon's granddaughter, Myra Jean. Her life becomes almost overly melodramatic -- especially when she is away from Bloodroot Mountain. That mountain, as well as her grandparents seem to provide Myra Jean with the balance, the love and contentment she so needs.

This is a huge landscape of a novel containing a number of different colorful characters and their narratives. If you enjoy Appalachian tales spanning generations and have not yet read any, you will, most likely, enjoy `Bloodroot.' If I sound less than overly enthusiastic, it is because I have read `Velva Jean Learns To Drive,' as well as `Sweeping Up Glass.' `Bloodroot' was too reminiscent of `Velva Jean...,' and I strongly believe that Greene has yet to establish a fully distinctive voice. While Greene can certainly spin a tale, `Bloodroot' lacks the patina and polish of a Kathryn Stockett [author of`The Help'] or a Hilary Jordan [author of 'Mudbound']. However, Amy Greene is undoubtedly a writer to watch.

It is such a rare pleasure to discover a book that just captures me from the first page, and keeps me captivated all the way to the end. And for the book to be by a never-heard-of-before author, the pleasure is even more rare. That is exactly the reading experience I had with Bloodroot.

Set in the Appalachian region of Tennessee, Bloodroot is the story of several generations of a family, stretching in time from approximately 1913 to the present. There are several different narrators who each tell their part of the story in the first person, and every one of their voices is filled with the cadence, the feel, the mood of the rural hills of Tennessee. It is like listening to an old storyteller while sitting around a campfire.

I don't want to give anything away, so I will just say that the focus of the novel is Myra Lamb. She grows up in a family full of the superstition and folklore of Appalachia, and with more than its share of tragedy. In fact, the only criticism I have of the book -- and it's really not a criticism so much as a skepticism -- is that there seemed to be an overdose of superstition/mysticism. Every other person seemed to be given to visions, some strange empathic spirit, seeing haints, or even "curses." It just felt like too much. But then, I've never been to Appalachia or known anyone who lived there, so maybe every other person really does have some sort of second sight?

What I liked best about this book -- aside from the lyrical storytelling -- was that Greene never descended into the sordid or disturbing. There are no sex scenes and very little profanity. Myra's family was full of tragedy, and she married into a family that was plain evil, and yet Greene conveyed all of this without ever getting creepy or graphic. She writes in such a way that the reader gets the picture, even without it being spelled out in disturbing detail.

Bloodroot is not a happy tale, although Greene does end it on a surprisingly hopeful note. There is a degree of reconciliation that is unexpected but pleasing.

I highly recommend this book; it was incredibly well-written and captivating. I hope to see more by Amy Greene.

On Bloodroot Mountain in Eastern Tennessee, Byrdie Lamb raises her grandchild Myra, whose mother and father died when a train hit their vehicle while they were carousing. Byrdie loves Myra who is more a daughter to her than her daughter Myra's mom Clio ever was. She also knows Myra has the "touch" skill that runs in the family though Byrdie never displayed this ESP talent. In fact, Myra's boyfriend Doug not only realizes it, he knows he will never win her love because of it.

He is proven right when she meets John Odom, son of the hardware store owner. He is also "touched" and they passionately fall in love. However his violence pushes her from his valley home back up the mountain where she raises their twins Laura and Johnny. The siblings have issues as their mom is placed in an asylum. Laura marries and has a child, but when her spouse dies his family takes away her kid. Johnny burns down his paternal side's store. The next generation seems destined to repeat the same mistakes as the previous generations on Bloodroot Mountain.

This is an engaging Appalachia family drama that looks deep inside the souls of the cast with Myra being the link between five generations of mountain people. Although the subplots are straighter than the Bonneville Salt Flats and some key characters just vanish, readers will appreciate the depth of life on Bloodroot Mountain as even a finger with a ring on it becomes symbolic of dreams broken and breathing in Amy Greene's profound harsh slice of Appalachia.

Harriet Klausner

I lived in Appalachia 40 yrs ago and this book returned me there via well written words. I hadn't read the authors biography until I finished the book and wondered at her vast knowledge of how the hill people thought and acted. No wonder she knows: she lives there.

It's a novel, but is true to life in the valleys of the highlands in Kentucky, West Virginia and onward throughout Appalachia. They settled in secluded areas and got somehow lost as life became more complicated elsewhere.

This is true poverty and the people making the best they can of it. I lived the lives of these people as I read the book and recommend it to anyone who has lived in that area or is interested in the culture. This is one of those books that stays with you for several weeks after you've finished reading it.

I feel like after reading this book that I am the one that survived all of the anguish, abuse, heartache, death, sadness, fear, and poverty. I can't remember reading a book that had so much hell in it! Each generation has a sad story. So many tragedies. I hated the Odom's as if I knew them. When John Odom kills that baby bunny, I cried and felt despair right along with Myra. When she was trapped under the house, I felt trapped. I finished the book because I hoped there would be some kind of nice ending where maybe the last generation in the book would have improved their fate, but there's no telling for sure how they would have played out. There's always hope.

An enchanting yet dark tale, Amy Greene's "Bloodroot" endeavors to tell the story of one family line across multiple generations struggling through abject poverty, familial / spousal abuse, magical incantations, and a host of other Southern Gothic conceits.

From a storytelling perspective, Greene's prose is spare throughout the book and even haunting in places, perfectly evoking the Tennessee Smoky Mountain setting while fleshing out the characters backstories through differing points of view. The narrative jumps across generations while not employing a standard time frame thru-line. To be frank, at times I felt as if I was watching an episode of "Lost" as the author flips ahead and back throughout the characters lives which I felt was a somewhat cheap storytelling device taking into account the relatively simple tale being told here.

That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it to lovers of dreamy fiction who enjoy reading stories that speak to lost loves, family dysfunction, and crazy mountain witch madness.