Customer Reviews

In an Uncharted Country

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Raw and rainy days, a warm fire, and a good book seem to go well together. In that spirit, I recommend IN AN UNCHARTED COUNTRY by Clifford Garstang, a Shenandoah Valley author. You can easily read the dozen short stories in a morning while listening to rain pecking on the window and rising to occasionally stoke the fire.

Garstang has written short stories about everyday folks in and around the fictional town of Rugglesville located in western Virginia. Several connected directly to my life, my experiences, my hopes and dreams... I think I've even been to Rugglesville. I suspect many of these stories will relate to your world as well. In others I heard echos of neighbors or family dealing with all the twists and turns of life. While all the stories are compelling and thought-provoking, I was most moved by "Flood, 1978" and "The Clattering of Bones."

It wasn't until I got into the second half of IN AN UNCHARTED COUNTRY that I began to realize how these seemingly unrelated stories were interconnected in a way that brought a deeper richness and meaning to all of the characters and their experiences. It all came rushing together in the last story, "Red Peony."

Okay, I'll admit I read one story a day over a couple weeks. But, if you read IN AN UNCHARTED COUNTRY in one sitting by the fire or over a couple weeks matters little. Either way, Garstang will take you on an emotional, geographical, and psychological journey where you may just discover a little more about yourself and your own town.

Usually, I like to savor short story collections - read a story here or there and make the book last. With "In An Uncharted Country" I couldn't put the book down. Some of the characters and stories are loosely linked and that may be one reason I had to keep going. Another reason - the book is damn good. The writing is tight, the characters well-done and unpredictable, the the settings rich. "In An Uncharted Country" the book is complete. Garstang has done quite an admirable job.

At last, a collection of short stories that speaks authentically to the depth of longing in every man or woman's heart. These stories, which link the residents of the fictional small town of Rugglesville, Va., are deceptively expansive in the way they explore the "uncharted country" of grief, disappointment, and loneliness. And yet this book is far from depressing -- there's plenty of humor, as well as the kind of dead-on insight that causes you to nod your head in agreement as you read. I highly recommend this collection to lovers of the traditional short story, to residents and escapees of "quiet" country towns, and to anyone who appreciates fine literature of the human condition.

In each story, Cliff's prose is chiseled and dead-on. This is the work of a dedicated artist who intensely cares for the craft of fiction as much as he does for the sanctity and depth of the human spirit. It's no stretch to say his characters literally walk the room for you - they are that well-formed and real. Get this book for your nightstand, coffee-shop, Kindle, classroom, wherever you go.

Garstang takes us to many countries and tackles many issues. His characters are rich, and the depth of detail such that you feel plopped into the middle of each crises. It's a wonderful collection.

Captivating descriptions of place and wonderful use of language draw the reader into each of these short stories. The author's insight into the intricacies of the human heart and soul make the reader glad to have come along on this trip through rural Virginia.

I could easily take each story and sing its praises. Whether you live in rural Alabama or in rural Uzbekistan, you'll recognize the plot lines, the characters, the conflicts. They don't end. They never end. The only variation in this theme of grief is how one tells it.

A matryoshka is a Russian objet d'art. At the same time, it's a tinker toy for tots. Is there a larger metaphorical value to a matryoshka? If there is one, I suspect that tots will discover it only by manipulating the layers. And so it is with Clifford Garstang's stories. They don't reveal themselves at first glance.

I'd like to focus on just one story for purposes of this review: "Saving Melissa." Believe me: this single story will justify your purchase.

If the sadness resulting from ignorance could be captured in a title, "Saving Melissa" would be it. Clifford no doubt tells this story from his imagination. And yet, one can't simply conjure up a story like "Saving Melissa" out of nothingness.

Melissa, at some level, is every woman. Melissa is every woman in miniature - just like the doll within a doll within a doll of a Russian matryoshka.

I'll leave it at that. Saying anything more would spoil the prize.

I've read a few linked short story collections in the past. Some were very good and others, not so much. As I looked back at what qualities made the difference, I realized that it could be illustrated using what is called "coupling" in computer science. (The computer geeks can read the Wikipedia entry, for others I'll give my higher-level definition.) In simple terms, coupling is low if different modules or sections of a computer program mostly stand alone with a minimum number of links to other sections. Generally, low coupling is good, high coupling bad.

Those linked short story collections I didn't like had too many things linking any one module (or story in this case) to many others. The stories were all clearly happening in the same short period, shared many of the same events and characters. In the worst cases, the reader ends up feeling as if they are reading a poorly structured novel with too many points of view.

In contrast, "In an Uncharted Country" has few linkages between the stories. A minor character in one is sometimes the main character in another. One story might reference a past event detailed in another story earlier in the volume. But each story stands alone with just enough links from one story to another to give the reader a little more knowledge about the current happenings. As knowledge and different perspectives accumulate, the reader immerses himself into the fictional town of Rugglesville, VA (where all the stories take place) and gets to know the people of the town a little better. By the time you finish the final story, you'll feel like an honorary Rugglevillian.

**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **

Clifford Garstang's stories are masters of the fresh phrase, the accurate depiction of small town and rural life in the Shenandoah Valley--or any small town place surrounded by dead-end unpaved roads that lead to trailers and shacks. As someone who has visited those hills and valleys annually to visit family for 50 years, I recognize the small town that is central to these stories. Garstang has the gift of sharp observation of the human spirit and body and all its ways--dumb, drunk, young, wise, heartsick, brave, hopeful. Although each story has its own distinctive insights, my favorites of the bunch are two: "William & Frederick," the story of a young survivor of a small town gay relationship, trying to make a go of it as an antiques dealer, the narration invoking and busting stereotypes right and left like so many cracked Ming vases as it travels through grief and desperation to a hopeful conclusion. Then there's the final story: "Red Peony," where Garstang has miraculously arranged for just about all of his diverse cast of characters to come together and celebrate Fourth of July, as if they were some large, damaged, deeply American family--which, of course, they are, as any community is. Bravo. And more, please!

I took Clifford Garstang's In An Uncharted Country with me to Maine and I couldn't stop reading it. At first delve, it's a collection of short stories linked by location (Virginia's Blue Ridge) but the wonderfully canny thing is that as you read through, you realize the characters walk across each other's stories. Garstang has the ability to put the reader right inside the location--whether the location is a gift shop, a flooded river lit by police lights, or in the front yard of a man who has just shot his dog. I don't think the reader needs to know the Blue Ridge to love these stories. Garstang's writing is clean and sharp and draws both characters and location with a clarity that cuts through the sticky nostalgia and sentimentality that can sometimes accompany mountain stories. A good book for travelling.