Customer Reviews

Lick Creek: A Novel

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
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How do you smell? might be a subtitle for this poetically tactile first novel by the grandson of a main character, not a man personally related to the wonderfully real and tragically human Appalachian maid Emily Jenkins, whose story this is. Her short life moves from one great loss to another, but she endures and does not exhibit, rather embodies, the fierce loyalty and spiritual beauty so much a part of her people. Like her West Virginia homeland Emily is partly wild, knowing how to survive and what is right, the laws of civilization notwithstanding. That civilization and its profit motive violate her family, her home, and her body, urging her to a vengeance that becomes her undoing. Vindicated from the grave, she speaks using Kessler as her vessel. Deeply symbolic and true to the Appalachian manner of speech and humor, Lick Creek is, at last, the great American novel.

Lick Creek is the best book I've read in a long time. The author has created a fully drawn world, where sights, sounds, smells and feelings are beautifully evoked. The characters are absolutely real, vividly portrayed, and the reader can't help but be drawn in. I was delighted all the way through this book.

I was delighted by the language, the story, the characters, especially Emily, the female lead. I liked the atmosphere and the beautiful descriptions of the mountains. I would recommend this book to anyone who cares about good writing and a good story. Once I got passed the first 50 pages, I couldn't put it down.

Lick Creek is a rich mixture of love, electricity and life poetically told by one practiced in the art of alchemy. The story is woven with such vivid and etherial description I finished the novel feeling as though I had just watched it on the sliver screen.

Although comparisons are never quite fair, Kessler's style brings to mind shades of Robert Penn Warren, Cormac McCarthy, Michael Ontaatje and Alan Lightman. His descriptive metaphor bring all five senses into the reading of this novel. The characters step off the page with a realism that is nearly tactile.

Though the setting of the action is cheifly the "hollows" of rural West Virginia during the electrification of the US, the novel also takes you along wonderfully descriptive tours of select ethnic settings including New York and Russia. As you can tell, I really liked this book. Give it a lick . . . . I think you too will find it tasty.

I really enjoyed Brad's book, thought there were times when I found his descriptions lacking. I would try to picture what he was describing in my mind and found that he had not given enough detail for me to form a complete picture. On the whole, though, I loved the story. Emily and Joseph are compelling characters that I found myself really caring about. I was moved to tears at one point. It was a very enjoyable, fast and easy read that I would highly recommend. I found the information about electricity and running the electric lines very interesting and it added depth to the novel. I loved the "twist" at the end.

I enjoyed this literary novel in spite of the subject not being anything that I've ever invested time or energy in before. The prose quality was the first thing that struck me. It is an extremely well written book, particularly the expository chapters which boast prose so lyrical it occasionally borders on poetry. However, it would damn the core story with faint praise to label this work just a 'well crafted' first novel. There are plenty of authentic and interesting characters as well as plot twists to keep the action flowing. Kessler obviously did his homework/research about the birds, bees, flora and fauna, not to mention coal mining and electricity. There's even a sort of recipe for one particular type of 'hillbilly food'. Kessler has a way of touching up a scene with just the right amount of idiosyncratic detail. His main character (Emily) is female and (to me) utterly realized. Some female friends of mine report not liking her much (I did) but they also admitted the reading was compelling enough that they pressed on late into the night to discover her (ultimate) fate. His evocations of New Orleans only left me wanting for more in the end...but the author went his own way with this novel. If I could change one thing, it would be the close out, but I'm perhaps more 'commercially minded' than most readers of literary novels. All in all, I highly recommend it.

I read this book in 3 evenings; I usually don't enjoy books with so much suspense because they interrupt my normal life ... but his writing is captivating and his descriptions put you right there with the sounds & smells. I felt the people in the book were realistic and there were sad parts of the book. I enjoyed it very much; I would recommend not starting it unless you have time to just read it through.

I first read Brad Kessler's bookGoat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese and I absolutely loved it!

The author got carried away with many of his metaphors and descriptions . . such as comparing cow pies to paper. Has he never seen a cow pie? The ending made no sense. A grandchild of Emily's husband who only appears on the last page of the book sums up her life? It appears that the author was at a loss for an ending and tried to wrap it up with something external to both of the protagonists, but it was transparently bogus. The book was an easy read, but it was a disappointing read.

The author got carried away with many of his metaphors and descriptions . . such as comparing cow pies to paper. Has he never seen a cow pie? The ending made no sense. A grandchild of Emily's husband who only appears on the last page of the book sums up her life? It appears that the author was at a loss for an ending and tried to wrap it up with something external to both of the protagonists, but it was transparently bogus. The book was an easy read, but it was a disappointing read.