Customer Reviews

Serena: A Novel

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Serena is an expansion of a long short story by Ron Rash. Pemberton's Bride is the longest and the best of the tales in Chemistry. A second short story from that book, Speckled Trout, was expanded into the novel The World Made Straight. Not many short stories--even long short stories such as Pemberton's Bride--can be made into successful full-length novels. Too often the result has a padded feel to it, as with Edgerton's Bible Salesman, which would have worked best as a novella. But Pemberton's Bride had a power to it, and was intense, compact, dark, and strongly character-driven. There are two central figures--George Pemberton and his new wife Serena--who arrive in western North Carolina to oversee operations on Pemberton's logging operation. A few of the main parts of the plot are altered when the 46-page short story was expanded into a 370-page novel, but the novel is deeper, richer, and darker--there's never a sense of padding.

The very first paragraph of the novel (and short story) quickly set the lasting tone: in 1929 a backwoods father waits on the station platform for the arrival of the Pembertons. He is accompanied by his 16 or 17-year old daughter, pregnant by Pemberton, and carries a freshly-honed bowie knife to plunge into Pemberton's heart. After the Pembertons arrive, some words are exchanged, Harmon draws his bowie knife and approaches Pemberton. "'We're settling this now,' Harmon shouted. 'He's right,' Serena said, "Get your knife and settle it now, Pemberton.'" Which Pemberton indeed does. So you immediately see that Serena is no shrinking violet. She's tough--tougher than Pemberton--and brutal--more brutal than Pemberton. People who stand in the Pembertons' way have an unfortunate tendency to die, usually unpleasantly. Sheriff McDowell is the only one who can stand up to the Pembertons, and this is only because of toleration on the Pembertons' part. Logging during the Depression is hard and dangerous work: accidents, debilitating and fatal, are all too common, and there is always a group looking for work, for whom accidents to the logging crews mean possible job openings. There's the frightening Galloway, who does Serena's bidding and who brings death in his wake. For some authors, carefully-drawn characters are rare (usually compensated for with action). But with Rash, even unimportant people are carefully drawn. You feel as if you've come to know people well--you may not like them, but you know them.

There are two other Southern writers that this novel brings to mind. First is Cormac Mccarthy. Some of Mccarthy's works have the same lyrical dark depth that Serena has, particularly the brooding Child of God. Child of God has a wonderful phrase in it "The provinces of night" which was used as the title of a novel that the second writer used. William Gay's novels have the same dark nature that Child of God and Serena have. All three authors have a lyrical quality to their writing, an ease with words and phrases. "Southern Gothic" might describe their work. Serena is a strong work indeed, and one that you'll look forward to rereading.

One of Ron Rash's early short stories relates the tale of a Chinese potter who in despair, having failed to produce the perfect glaze and color for his pots, flings himself into the oven. The result, of course, is pottery that bears the glaze and tone that he sought. To a certain extent, this is what Rash has done with SERENA. Years of near maniacal labor have produced what is clearly his finest work of fiction to date. The story is epic; the female protagonist is like nothing in American literary fiction; and as the early sale of film rights would indicate, the novel is all but screen-ready.

What makes this a really fine novel, however, is not just character development or plot or neo-Elizabethan convention. It is the line-by-line attention that a reader might ordinarily expect from poetry. Page after page, in SERENA, I got the same feeling that I get when reading McCarthy or Faulkner, the feeling that every word matters, the feeling that when Rash revised this novel, he didn't just try to fix what might have appeared awkward or out of tune. He did his best to make it as seamless and "perfect" as his sanity would allow. In the process he produced a balance between tension and humor, grimness and grit, destruction and reclamation while creating a role that will likely accelerate some lucky actress's career.

Ron Rash's previous books got better as they came along, but I don't know how he'll top this. This is the best American novel I have read of the 21st century, and in many ways it tells a uniquely American story.

Even with the main characters' Macbethean megalomania, manipulation, and murderousness, Rash is far too gifted a writer to create two-dimensional villains. Like the other characters in this novel, the protagonists are complex, reacting to conflicting motives and second-guessing all those around them. Serena Pemberton is the most powerful, unforgettable character I have encountered in years.

This is a novel that achieves what only the best do: a mesmerizing story, indelible characters, and gorgeous writing. If you doubt that Ron Rash is the best writer in America, pick up Serena.

Ron Rash has melded richly developed characters,the type that I thought passed with the masters of old, and encased them in a highly readable, interesting, yet, unusual setting. I've always read a lot of fiction, but recently, I've found much of it formulaic and lacking satisfaction. This book changes my opinion. I must not have been looking in the right places. The storyline is set in the Depression Era in the Asheville, North Carolina area in a lumber camp with a cast of characters that you constantly struggle to understand whether you like them, admire them or just downright despise them. Some will become your strength, some your mortal enemies, some your alter ego and still others are just bit players used to enhance the narrative - a very unique way to do this.

There are several subplots taking place and one is told from a perspective that I've not seen before - how the purchase of land for a National Park (The Great Smoky Mountains) could cause such hardship for so many.

I found myself struggling through the first twenty-five pages trying to find a rhythm with the author, as my first inclination - as it is with so many of today's fiction dramas - was to blow through this book: reading through the descriptive phrases and latching onto the quotations in and effort to read it without much time being spent. That would have been a tremendous mistake. The writing is so beautiful, that I was finding myself going back to re-read many sentences just for the beauty of the descriptions and metaphors. So I settled into a little slower rhythm, extending my reading time based on the number of words per minute, but allowing the richness of the story to take me into its world. I was missing the dynamics of the writing and the flow of the description designed by the author at the faster reading speed. And with this book, making it last longer is a good thing.

Never having heard of Ron Rash, I was surprised by the style and fullness of the characterizations. This is one fine book that carries the reader's interest throughout the entire book right up to the last page. I compare this to "Cold Mountain" in the way the story is told and how well it is written. It had the same feel to me.

Highly recommended to the discerning tastes.

History, greed, blood and hubris, not to mention insightful portraits of Appalachian culture, abound in Serena. Macbeth comes to the Depression-era Great Smoky Mountains in the finest novel yet by North Carolina writer Ron Rash (The World Made Straight, One Foot In Eden). Ambitious newlywed timber moguls George and Serena Pemberton ravage the mountain landscape while savaging their competitors and fiercely resisting allies of the budding conservation movement led by Teddy Roosevelt. Rash's story is as fast, deep and mesmerizing as his setting's ancient rivers. Filled with Shakespearean levels of deception, cruelty and retribution (mountain-style), Serena speaks to current times with its portrait of modern business greed colliding with a very old land and its inhabitants. Rash has written some very fine novels before Serena, but it's as if those books were mere training for the heavy lifting he performed for this terrific novel.

Have you ever bought a book because it sounds great when you read the side flap but then when you read it it is either just ok or not even that? I chose Serena because the description was intriguing but the quality did not meet my initial expectations, it exceeded them. This is another book I've picked off the vine and been blown away by. It is a dark story and when you're done you can't just pick up another book because you're still busy pondering this one. And it's not the kind of pondering where you're wondering what happened or what it all meant, its the kind of pondering where all the characters are still living in your head along with the story. Another great thing about this book is that it's not predictable. It dosen't exactly have you on the edge of your seat but it never gives away what it's going to do next.
The book is powerfully good. The writing quality is that of a master. And as I said the story will linger with you for a while. This is a book you will not lend out freely or give away upon completion. It will become a treasured part of you're library.
The description offered is all you need to decide if you would be interested in this book or not. Describing anymore would spoil reading it.
This is a must read and I recommend it to anybody with any literary taste.

Much of this book was very enjoyable -- the vivid descriptions of the land; the local dialects and the banter among the loggers; some (but not all) of the character development. I would repeatedly find myself getting sucked into this book; but too often I would find myself rolling my eyes by either a turn in the story that was just too implausible to overlook or the use of characters who were far too one-dimensional to be believable.

I don't want to give too much away, but here are a few examples. The inclusion of the logger's mother with psychic powers was just silly, and struck me as a rather lazy way to create more tension and sense of danger by making it nearly impossible for the Pemberton's victims to hide and get away. I found Pemberton's unwavering devotion to his wife to be implausible - or at least never adequately explained. The conversation among the loggers near the end in which they suddenly realized the environmental devastation they wrought was just a bit over the top in that it practically sounded like they were about to stand up and organize a chapter of Greenpeace. The conclusion of the story felt both unrealistic and unsatisfying.

The most well-developed character was Rachel Harmon, and I found those parts of the book that focused on her, and her struggle to care for and protect her child, to be the most enjoyable. As noted above, the dialog among the local loggers was a lot of fun to read in most cases. But the parts of the story that focused on the ambition and greed of the Pembertons and their resulting killing spree felt shallow, predictable, and at times just a bit ridiculous.

This book is like watching the train wreck - you know it's going to happen, but you are glued to the scene. "Serena" grabs the reader from the first two pages and propels you forward through absolutely flawless writing.

Having never read Ron Rash before, I was pleased to find another writer whose use of the English language is so literate. The imagery creating the atmosphere in which "Serena" takes place draws the reader into each scene. The characters' personalities and reactions to one another seem as if one is standing in the same room watching the scene unfold. There are both sympathetic characters and dispicable characters peopling the story. In "Serena", Ron Rash has created one of the most horrifying, cold women written about in literature. Serena is evil incarnate, a black widow waiting to pounce on whomever gets in her way.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a satisfying, intelligent read. The story is not for the faint-hearted, however, so if you are squeemish about murders and unscrupulous dealings, you may want to skip this book. If you want an outstanding book in which you can immerse yourself and lose track of time, this book is for you. I read it in two days - the only reason it took that long was that I fell asleep at midnight on the first day.

Rash has crafted a truly stunning novel, a clash of beauty and violence as ambition and greed run unchecked in the western North Carolina wilderness, where the mountains are rich with timber and men are desperate for work in 1929's depression economy. Against a pristine background systematically destroyed by an avaricious lumber company, the workers ply a dangerous trade where fatalities are frequent as a newly-married couple gobbles opportunity and uncut timber with insatiable urgency, leaving behind a scarred landscape. The Boston Lumber Company is thriving when George Pemberton and his new bride, Serena, step from a train in Waynesville, North Carolina, the Colorado-bred Serena primed for the next phase of her life in boots and pants, clearly not intimidated by the country or the fact that she is a woman. In fact, it is Serena's character that drives the narrative, a woman so ruthless that she astonishes the rough-hewn men of the camp with her first interaction.

Waiting at the station is an outraged, inebriated father, his clearly pregnant daughter at his side. When the angry Harmon challenges Pemberton for his daughter's honor, brandishing a knife, Serena encourages her new husband to "finish this now". Harmon soon vanquished, Serena coldly informs Rachel Harmon, "That's the only one of his you'll have." Embarking on their married life and business enterprises, the Pembertons are inseparable, George bending to his wife's will as she deals expediently with every challenge and anyone who opposes their goals. The rangy Mrs. Pemberton rides around camp, supervising the crews on her Arabian white stallion, a tethered eagle on a perch on the saddle, much like the gyrfalcons of medieval times. Indeed, Serena is like a Nordic goddess, intractable and determined. Soon the company name changes to the Pemberton Lumber Company. Awed by his wife's spirit and vision, Pemberton is a willing accomplice to even the most heinous of decisions, a study in rationalization in the name of love.

Rash's prose is filled with contrasts, the beauty of a wilderness daily destroyed, the Pembertons invincible with their money and powerful contacts, controlling anyone who would hamper their ambitions. The camp is peopled with eccentrics, men who endure daunting conditions, knowing that death stalks the careless as accidents erase one life after another. These laborers have an innate wisdom, watching the Pembertons, exchanging opinions of the fates of those who stand in opposition, simple men hoping to escape each new tract alive. For no one crosses these people without repercussions. After a tragic childbirth, when Serena learns she cannot have more children, she turns her wrath on Rachel Harmon and her baby, Jacob, the final obstacle. What ensues is harrowing, a penniless young woman desperate to escape Serena's vengeance, like a small, wild animal pursued by Serena's raptor. This is the territory of nightmares, but Rash is no nihilist, drawing his reader into that hopeful state where- occasionally- good does triumph over evil. Luan Gaines.

I loved this book! Set during the depression years in the North Carolina Mountains, this book faultlessly captures the period and place. I felt like I was actually taken back into history to become an observer of the events depicted.

Serena and George Pemberton create a timber empire. Greedy for power and wealth they seize any opportunity to expand their influence. The beautiful and treacherous Serena is the driving force behind the enterprise and George is besotted and beguiled by her. Even though he becomes aware of her narcissism and cruelty he is so in love with her that he never attempts to reign her in nor stand in her way - except once.

This book is set against the majestic backdrop of a beautiful mountain range that was left fully plundered and spoiled. Jobs were scarce and life had little value. Men died felling the trees but there was always someone else eager to fill the newly vacated position. This was also during the period when land for the National Parks and Forests were being created under Teddy Roosevelt's administration. There was great conflict between the lumber barons and the conservation groups. Violence was the order of the day.

Serena, though, saw this as only the beginning. Her larger goal was to get the investor backing needed to run a huge operation down in the Central American forests. This was her dream and she was determined that she and George would do whatever it took to make her dream reality.

This was a story to savor. The characters were believable and well-developed. There were plenty of twists and I just kept turning the pages wondering what was going to happen next. I loved this book from the first page to the very last word. Highly Recommended!