The World Made Straight: A Novel [Hardcover]

Ron Rash (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 4, 2006

In an Appalachian community haunted by the legacy of a Civil War massacre, a rebellious young man struggles to escape the violence that would bind him to the past

Travis Shelton is seventeen the summer he wanders onto a neighbor's property in the woods, discovers a crop of marijuana large enough to make him some serious money, and steps into the jaws of a bear trap. After hours of passing in and out of consciousness, Travis is discovered by Carlton Toomey, the wise and vicious farmer who set the trap to protect his plants, and Travis's confrontation with the subtle evils within his rural world has begun.
Before long, Travis has moved out of his parents' home to live with Leonard Shuler, a one-time schoolteacher who lost his job and custody of his daughter years ago, when he was framed by a vindictive student. Now Leonard lives with his dogs and his sometime girlfriend in a run-down trailer outside town, deals a few drugs, and studies journals from the Civil War. Travis becomes his student, of sorts, and the fate of these two outsiders becomes increasingly entwined as the community's terrible past and corrupt present bear down on each of them from every direction, leading to a violent reckoning--not only with Carlton, but with the legacy of the Civil War massacre that, even after a century, continues to divide an Appalachian community.
Vivid, harrowing, yet ultimately hopeful, The World Made Straight offers a powerful exploration of the painful conflict between the bonds of home and the desire for independence.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rash's finely wrought third novel (after Saints at the River) follows the wayward trajectory of high school dropout Travis Shelton, who stumbles on a neighbor's crop of marijuana while out fishing in Madison County, N.C. He steals a few plants to sell to Leonard Shuler, a divorced and disgraced former high school teacher, who is living in a trailer and selling drugs. Travis has a violent run-in with the father-and-son Toomeys, who own the crop, and is left hospitalized and homeless. He moves in with Leonard and his pill-popping girlfriend. There, Travis and Leonard study the Civil War ledgers and journals of a Dr. Candler, and learn of the county's seismic upheaval during the Shelton Laurel Massacre and its aftermath. Meanwhile, the Toomeys, who do business with Leonard, are not finished exacting their pound of flesh, this time from Leonard. Rash's vivid prose depicts his characters' dependence on drugs, alcohol and hell-raising with sympathy, rendering their shared sense of futility and economic entrapment without sentimentality or easy answers. The Civil War sections are less successful, but they convey the past's hold on the present and ground Rash's Appalachian wanderers in a shared vision of American immobility.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

High-schooler Travis Shelton steals one too many marijuana plants from vicious tobacco-farmer-turned-drug-dealer Carlton Toomey and ends up caught in a bear trap, his foot so mangled he needs surgery. Travis' stern father kicks him out, and he ends up bunking at the rundown trailer of bookish Leonard Shuler, a low-level drug dealer and former schoolteacher who lost his job and his family because of false charges. Leonard sees in Travis something of himself in his youth, when he used his intelligence to outrun the fate that lies in store for so many of the region's poverty-stricken residents. He bonds with the boy over their shared fascination with a local Civil War incident, a massacre that divided the town. Just as Leonard starts to get his own life in order and talks Travis into making plans for college, he becomes enmeshed in a confrontation with Toomey. Part melancholy historical novel and part high-voltage thriller, this third novel from the talented Rash will appeal to readers who like their suspense done with literary flair. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; First Edition edition (April 4, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805078665
• ISBN-13: 978-0805078664
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #815,400 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ron Rash is the author of the novels One Foot in Eden and Saints at the River, as well as three collections of poetry and two of short stories. He teaches at Western Carolina State University.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A book about real people and their hard knocks, April 4, 2006

By 

Robert Busko (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The World Made Straight: A Novel (Hardcover)

I've been a big fan of Ron Rash since I accidently discovered One Foot in Eden. I've tried hard to get my library patrons to sign on the Rash bandwagon with some success. Saints at the River was a wonderful book about mountain people as they really are. The World Made Straight is another book about real people; the flesh and bone of people caught up in the realities of life in 2006.

Travis, a modern teenage high school drop-out living in Madison County North Carolina discovers a field of marijuana while fishing. Taking a few plants, he sells them and makes enough money to pay his insurance on his truck. Enjoying his new found liquidity, he returns a second time with an equal bonus to his cash position. Going back a third time spells disaster, however and nearly costs him his leg.

Travis also has a falling out with his father and takes up with Leonard, an interesting character. Their relationship develops in a unique way and adds much to the novel.

This story flirts with the Civil War as it was fought in the North Carolina mountains, where brother against brother was far truer than perhaps anyother place. Leonard, an educated man, directs Travis' natural curosity and manages to teach the young man the value of an education. Interesting.

Ron Rash, a native of the mountains of the Carolina's has the people of that area down cold. The characters and their situations come to life on the page. Anyone who has lived in the area will recognize it immediately through Rash's masterful descriptions of the area and the way he develops his characters.

The World Made Straight is a good read, but not quite up to One Foot in Eden. Still, Ron Rash is rapidly developing into a marvelous storyteller.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars haunting powerful, May 8, 2006

By 

Shipley (LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The World Made Straight: A Novel (Hardcover)

I couldn't put this down, from the first fishing trip that turns into a life-changing trap, to the final decisions two young men--and older men--have to make about their history, their lives and their role in re-living or changing history. Powerful book. Highly recommended.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars all the right moves, May 18, 2006

By 

S. Lee "Shannon" (Birmingham, AL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The World Made Straight: A Novel (Hardcover)

Personally, I think this book was Rash's best. It may have not been as fast-paced as his other fiction, but I don't think it made it any less compelling. In fact, his hold on pace and the power of the moment are some of his greatest gifts, and made 'A World Made Straight' a wonderful read.
I appreciated Travis Shelton's honesty, and love for the land. Even with the harsh world around him, and the misfortunes into which he was born, he doesn't seem to be affected by it to the point that he loses that youthful hunger for knowledge.
To me, the characters were living breathing beings that really caused me to immerse myself in the story; the same with his other fiction. You could feel their pain as well as their accomplishments, and the reader wants to stay with them long after the last page is turned.
Similar to Silas House with his astounding detail for nature, and to Ira Levin with his ability to make his characters as familiar as your own next door neighbors, Ron Rash will long be an important voice for Southern Lit, for a very long time.
With heart, fairness, and an uncomplicated prose, his novels are the perfect way to remind ourselves of the standard of truly exceptional writing. Don't miss this book!