Beasts of the Southern Wild and Other Stories by Doris Betts  (1)
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Heading West by Doris Betts  (3)
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Souls Raised from the Dead: A Novel by Doris Betts  (5)
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The Gentle Insurrection and Other Stories (Voices of the South) by Doris Betts (1)
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The Astronomer and Other Stories (Voices of the South) by Doris Betts (1)
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In Betts's novels, women tend to run away. The selfish mother in Souls Raised from the Dead abandoned her family to find glamour and excitement, but the heroine of this new novel more resembles the memorable protagonist of Heading West, who took advantage of a kidnapping to escape from her suffocating family and hide out in the Grand Canyon. Here, the heroine is medical/botanical illustrator Luna Stone, who impulsively flees from the gorgeous botany professor who wants to marry her, having suddenly realized that she's fed up with his overbearing and mendacious personality. She leaves him in a Reno hotel (they are traveling from North Carolina to California) and lights out for the area in the Sierra Nevada around the Donner Pass and the Desolation Wilderness. Camping in the woods, Luna encounters young Sam, another runaway, who is hiding from men who operate a child-porn ring. They are joined by yet another loner, Paul Cowan, who had planned to become a Lutheran minister until an accident rendered him deaf. Herself the victim of a martinet father who destroyed her low self-esteem, Luna has survived anorexia and a stay in the psychiatric ward; her mental equilibrium is shaken when she is visited by the ghost of Tamsen Donner, a member of the infamous 1846 party of settlers. When the pornographers find Sam and kidnap him again, Luna and Paul brave danger in the wilderness to rescue the boy. Betts is at her best in calibrating those fine blades of anxiety that eventually can sunder a relationship and in describing the obverse condition, the tentative explorations that can result in the discovery of a soul mate. But this narrative bogs down in her attempts to make meaningful connections between the Donner Party, the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Tex., and numerous theological questions. While Betts's novels are always good reading, this one does not live up to the high standards of her previous works.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Awkward, reserved scientific illustrator Luna Stone is traveling west from North Carolina with her gorgeous fiance, Steven, headed for his first academic job in Riverside, California. The trip is not going well at all; with each passing mile, the plan to stop and get married in Reno seems less and less of a good idea to Luna. When she finally ditches Steven, she ends up camping in the Donner Pass area. There she is haunted by the ghost of Tamsen Donner, of the ill-fated, cannibalizing wagon train, and comes across an abused young boy hiding in the park. Luna is an affecting, complex character whose ensuing adventures are tenderly realized although at times far-fetched. By the author of Souls Raised from the Dead (LJ 3/1/94), this is recommended for popular fiction collections.?Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
In Betts's novels, women tend to run away. The selfish mother in Souls Raised from the Dead abandoned her family to find glamour and excitement, but the heroine of this new novel more resembles the memorable protagonist of Heading West, who took advantage of a kidnapping to escape from her suffocating family and hide out in the Grand Canyon. Here, the heroine is medical/botanical illustrator Luna Stone, who impulsively flees from the gorgeous botany professor who wants to marry her, having suddenly realized that she's fed up with his overbearing and mendacious personality. She leaves him in a Reno hotel (they are traveling from North Carolina to California) and lights out for the area in the Sierra Nevada around the Donner Pass and the Desolation Wilderness. Camping in the woods, Luna encounters young Sam, another runaway, who is hiding from men who operate a child-porn ring. They are joined by yet another loner, Paul Cowan, who had planned to become a Lutheran minister until an accident rendered him deaf. Herself the victim of a martinet father who destroyed her low self-esteem, Luna has survived anorexia and a stay in the psychiatric ward; her mental equilibrium is shaken when she is visited by the ghost of Tamsen Donner, a member of the infamous 1846 party of settlers. When the pornographers find Sam and kidnap him again, Luna and Paul brave danger in the wilderness to rescue the boy. Betts is at her best in calibrating those fine blades of anxiety that eventually can sunder a relationship and in describing the obverse condition, the tentative explorations that can result in the discovery of a soul mate. But this narrative bogs down in her attempts to make meaningful connections between the Donner Party, the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Tex., and numerous theological questions. While Betts's novels are always good reading, this one does not live up to the high standards of her previous works.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Awkward, reserved scientific illustrator Luna Stone is traveling west from North Carolina with her gorgeous fiance, Steven, headed for his first academic job in Riverside, California. The trip is not going well at all; with each passing mile, the plan to stop and get married in Reno seems less and less of a good idea to Luna. When she finally ditches Steven, she ends up camping in the Donner Pass area. There she is haunted by the ghost of Tamsen Donner, of the ill-fated, cannibalizing wagon train, and comes across an abused young boy hiding in the park. Luna is an affecting, complex character whose ensuing adventures are tenderly realized although at times far-fetched. By the author of Souls Raised from the Dead (LJ 3/1/94), this is recommended for popular fiction collections.?Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
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10
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- Remapping Southern Literature: Contemporary Southern Writers and the West (Mercer University Lamar Memorial Lectures) by Robert H., Jr. Brinkmeyer in Front Matter, page 67, and Back Matter
- Southern Excursions: Views on Southern Letters in My Time by George P. Garrett on page 157, page 159, and Back Matter
- Write Your Heart Out by Rebecca McClanahan in Front Matter
- New Stories from the South 2002: The Year's Best (New Stories from the South) by Shannon Ravenel on page 145
- Miss Julia Throws a Wedding by Ann B. Ross in Front Matter
See all 10 books citing this book