Where Trouble Sleeps [Hardcover]

Clyde Edgerton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 9, 1997

A New York Times Notable Book. For his seventh novel, Clyde Edgerton returns to the setting of his own childhood--rural North Carolina at mid-twentieth century. This beguiling novel tells the story of a tight-knit crossroads community and what happens when a quick-change artist stops for gas and an oil check, sees opportunities, and decides to stop there for a while. "You'll spend a lot of time laughing and wiping your eyes and reading passages aloud to anyone who'll listen."--Boston Globe; "This may be Edgerton's best novel ever. I say that each time I finish one of his books."--Newark Star-Ledger ; "Edgerton, evoking Flannery O'Connor, composed chatty, tone-perfect tales of small town life that illuminate the knife edge between satire and nostalgia." --Entertainment Weekly; "A slyly satiric and artful story . . . Edgerton reveals the innocent, the deluded, and the hypocritical with an unerring sense of humor and truth."--Publishers Weekly; "In the pitch-perfect tradition of Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner, Edgerton spins things wildly, masterfully, hilariously out of control."--Maxim.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Edgerton returns to his native stomping grounds, small-town North Carolina, for his latest humorous portrayal of the irrationalities and peculiarities of human nature. In 1950, the community of Listre is not much more than a meager assortment of houses and businesses that have sprung up around a crossroads; a blinking traffic light was installed a while back (after a mule and a truck collided), which at least represents a certain amount of modernization. In yarn-like fashion, Edgerton perambulates around town from one citizen to another, establishing in the reader's mind who is who and what the ambience is like. Then about a third of the way through the book (up to this point, it reads more like a series of short stories than a novel), the real action begins, when a stranger arrives. Jack Umstead starts hanging around town; people notice him right away--he wears a yellow shirt every day. He begins ingratiating himself with the townsfolk, but the reader immediately knows what the town does not know, that Jack is up to no good, that he's here for his own benefit, not anyone else's. But it doesn't take long for the town to learn this, too, and in the process, we have been treated to a delightful tale of innocence and betrayal. Brad Hooper

From Kirkus Reviews

As amiable and charming as all his novels, Edgerton's latest about small-town life brings together his usual cast of drunks, church-going Baptists, and southern eccentrics, all of whom encounter the Devil in the form of a traveling ne'er-do-well. This devilish Jack Umstead (a.k.a. Rusty Smith, a.k.a. Delbert Jones, etc.) even dares to pretend he's Jesus--the true sign of the Antichrist--in deceiving the sick and elderly Dorothea Clark. Neither Dorothea nor her two sisters (who never married and are thus known as the Blaines), who run a chicken- and ice-store, were ever quite right, and they still can't understand why Dorothea went off and married that vulgar Clark fellow, Claude T. of the gold ring and Cadillac. Most of what we learn is through the eyes of little Stephen Toomey, the coddled and asthmatic son of Harvey and Alease, Alease herself a righteous and pretty woman not immune to Umstead's blandishments. Everyone in little Listre, a town that ``looked settled, ripe, timid, kind of stupid,'' is touched by Umstead's evil presence. He seduces the dreamy-eyed Cheryl Daniels, the sister of Stephen's best friend, Terry (Terry is additionally providing a spiritual crisis for the married preacher, Mr. Crenshaw). Umstead also pals up with Stephen's drunk Uncle Raleigh, a vet who lost an arm during WW II. But Umstead bides his time for his big score--he hopes to rob the Blaine Sisters when the next lightning storm comes, since that's when they abandon their home for their sister Dorothea's. Little Stephen, who wants to cuss, drink, and smoke like the men of Listre, is lucky enough to witness Umstead's bloody end. And he discovers that it's a lot more enjoyable than the readings from Aunt Margaret's Bible Stories, a volume that provides parallel texts throughout the novel. Jokes about breasts and flatulence punctuate a lighthearted treatment of good and evil and the simple world of those who are weak but seek salvation. An always enjoyable read. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1st edition (January 9, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565120612
• ISBN-13: 978-1565120617
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,041,594 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Clyde Edgerton is the author of ten novels, a memoir, short stories, and essays. He is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers and teaches creative writing at UNC Wilmington. He lives in Wilmington, NC, with his wife, Kristina, and their children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN AFFECTIONATE LAMPOON OF FOIBLES AND SPOOFS, September 22, 2000

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Where Trouble Sleeps (Hardcover)

Clyde Edgerton is a first-rate story teller. With well honed wit at the ready he lampoons foibles and spoofs the self-righteous. All of this is done with affection and bemused understanding.

In Raney, his debut novel, Mr. Edgerton displayed a remarkable ability to capture the Southern voice. He continues to do so, much to the delight of his ever growing readership.

Where Trouble Sleeps , Mr. Edgerton's seventh story, returns to Listre, a fictional name for the author's hometown. Inhabited by unforgettable eccentrics, Listre is a North Carolina bump in the road recently bisected by a blinking red and yellow light. The eccentrics come with Edgerton territory; the light is the result of a mule-truck head-on.

With Wednesday evening church meetings and 25 cent Friday night movies, Listre, in 1950, is viewed by its fundamental Baptist citizens as a good place to settle. Their spiritual guide is Preacher Crenshaw, a staunch believer who is sorely tested. First, his young son, Paul, is tempted by the devil. The boy "has misused his sex....in ways that do not respect his body." A pious yet practical man, Preacher Crenshaw leads Paul in prayers of repentance, then orders, "Now son, stand up, pull down your pants and turn around."

Next, his devout secretary, Mrs. Claude T. Clark, who has sprained her ankle, takes up residence in the church office, where she over medicates, thanks God for all His blessings, including the Milky Way, and is visited by Jesus, who needs a little money for "a fruit pie and Pepsi."

These vexations are nothing compared to the specter of lust aroused in Preacher Crenshaw by teenaged Cheryl Daniels. When he prays for release from this temptation, an unresponsive deity does not shake his faith: "He'd not felt an answer from God in the middle of the night, but he expected one the next morning." Listre is a God-fearing town and prayer will prevail.

This crossroads community is seen differently by Jack Umstead who arrives in a stolen Buick Eight. To him, "Whole place looked settled, ripe, timid, kind of stupid. Just right." Deciding to stay for a few days, Jack begins to ingratiate himself with the townspeople, hoping to discover where money might be hidden.

Sitting on a bench outside the gas station called "Train's Place," Jack hears of the Blaine sisters, proprietors of a chicken and ice store. Frightened by thunder storms, the aging spinsters flee their store during heavy rains to seek safety with their married sister. That's an ideal set-up for this mustachioed conman.

As he waits for dark clouds to gather, Jack becomes acquainted with others. He seduces the naive Cheryl, and is attracted to Alease Toomey, 6-year-old Stephen's mother. At her house, in addition to the asthmatic spoiled Stephen, he finds drunk Uncle Raleigh, a World War I veteran, who tears a medicine chest off the wall while battling a bath.

Mr. Edgerton's smooth segues from one narrator to another enrich his story's tapestry. He not only echoes their voices, he inhabits their minds and hearts. There is Mrs. Toomey taking her son and his friend to see the electric chair "so you all can see what will happen if you ever let the Devil lead you into a bad sin." Without seeing the chair with straps on its arms, young Stephen already has things pretty well figured out - after all, his mother reads to him every night from "Aunt Margaret's Bible Stories."

There are more colorful characters who could only spring full-blown from the mind of this greatly gifted author. Mr. Edgerton couples their voices with his considerable narrative skills as he builds to a tragicomic denouement. He has a musician's ear, an artist's eye, and a generous heart. Clyde Edgerton is quite simply superb.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Humorous scenes illuminate small town story, December 8, 2000

By 

Cathy A Belben - See all my reviews

This review is from: Where Trouble Sleeps (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

Of all of Edgerton's novels I've read so far, this was my least favorite, although there are portions that entertained me. In small town Listre in the 50's, 7 year old Stephen's life is unremarkable except for occasional oddities, such as his mother taking him and a friend to see the electric chair (for a deterrent) and the arrival of the mysterious "gypsy man," Delbert Jones (re name: Jack Umbaugh) whose slealth gets him into town but can't get him out.

Edgerton's live reading from this book was the most entertaining author reading I have been lucky enough to attend--he read in character, played the banjo, and made the scenes he presented come to life. I was a bit disappointed that the whole novel didn't live up to the promise of the portions he shared aloud.

For a better sample of his work, read Walking Across Egypt, Raney, and The Floatplane Notebooks.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Listre Feels Like Home, December 26, 1997

By 

Librarian (Southfield, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Where Trouble Sleeps (Hardcover)

Clyde Edgerton, author of the homey, feel-good novels "Raney" and one of my all-time favorites "Walking Across Egypt" has penned another sweet story set in the North Carolina town of Listre. It is the early 1950's, when towns still had one blinker light, one gas station and a general store, and were peopled with religious yet often hypocritical citizens.

Into this setting comes Jack Umstead, driving up with a stolen Buick 8, an alias, and a well rehearsed plan on how to fleece the good people of Listre. But Jack doesn't count on the resolve of the folks he meets, or the spunk of one old gal with a nasty looking shotgun and a good aim.

"Trouble" took a little while to lure me in. My liking for the folks of Listre grew slowly, but when it hit I was hooked - I was thoroughly engrossed in their lives and situations. Like the slow pace of life in that long-ago southern town, this novel took its time but eventually won my heart.