This exceptional novel chronicles the adventures of a 20th-century wandering hillbilly.
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Buddy Don is the author of the blog Wandering Hillbilly (buddydon.blogspot.com). Born in the hills of eastern Tennessee, he now lives and works in the New York City area. He holds a master's degree from the University of Tennessee and is an avid photographer and poet. This is his first published novel.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hooked on Hillbilly,
This review is from: shoot the devil: life n pinions of buddy don, hillbilly, book one (Paperback)
A few days ago I finished reading "shoot the devil: life n pinions of buddy don, hillbilly: book one" by buddy don. I first came across this story from the author's blog reading it daily chapter by chapter. I later had the opportunity to read the manuscript as I became friends through the internet with the author and recently received a signed copy of the novel. This is a book that everyone will enjoy and be entertained by the brilliant writings of Mr. Buddy Don in the exquisite hillbilly dialect. You will follow buddy don as he leaves home at the age of 18 and discovers life through the eyes of a wandering hillbilly. Don't be afraid of the dialect; this book reads like the author is present and telling the story to the reader. Buddy don is wandering but he is not lost.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hillbilly Savant,
This review is from: shoot the devil: life n pinions of buddy don, hillbilly, book one (Paperback)
Buddy Don writes in a vernacular blend of syllabic and catch-phrase Tennesseeisms, almost as if he's speaking the book rather than writing it. At cursory glance this can be intimidating, but the prose quickly becomes charming, an extension of the likable character. In a fictitious memoir of sorts, our hero begins as a teen and meanders through his 20s, making 1970s-era Appalachian Tennessee sound like one of the finest places to have spent that dreary decade. Drugs, philosophy, music, women, occultism -- Buddy Don samples all and applies his "pinions" mostly to his own behavior. His picaresque adventures are told in linear form, with digressions here and there, in chapters that can easily stand alone as short stories or meditations. This is a great book for a reader who has only brief snatches of time at each sitting.
Buddy holds center stage throughout, but he's surrounded by a cast of characters who, one and all, challenge Appalachian stereotypes. Almost everyone's going to school or inventing something. Crazy brother Eli works the VA system rather than retreating to a shack. Buddy's first wife leaves him for one of her professors. The disciples of Aleister Crowley Buddy visits know less about Crowley than Buddy does. The overriding theme is one of spiritual and intellectual searching, done against a hippie backdrop that just happens to be in Appalachia. His hillbilly writing style notwithstanding, Buddy Don is highly literate, attending college, working the computers at Oak Ridge Laboratory, presiding over lively parties at his rural farm, pondering the Big Questions. This novel suggests -- as do so many others done in vernacular -- that there's no clear correlation between conversational idiom and intelligence level. "Shoot the Devil" is a fine piece of work. In quality paperback format, it will withstand multiple readings without blemish. Well worth the price of admission.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A uniquely entertaining achievement,
By Bishop Baker (LaLa Land) - See all my reviews
This review is from: shoot the devil: life n pinions of buddy don, hillbilly, book one (Paperback)
"Shoot the Devil!" Take arms agin a see-ya trubbles n by opposin end em! (as Buddy Don might put it). This first novel - but not first literary effort by any means - is a welcome event, and I am fortunate to be at ground zero to sound my trumpet and join the parade. This is an honest effort to chronicle a young man's search for relevance. Not a new topic, but one with a novel approach. Buddy Don apparently has based his narrative on a diary faithfully kept over the years. Recognizing the power of spoken expression in addressing the wonder of life experience, he presents his take on the cultural upheaval of the 1960's through a written interpretation of the dialect of his peers in rural Tennessee. This provides a dimension absent from other books I am aware of in this genre. In style, maybe relating to poets like Bobby Burns, Kipling, or our own Paul Lawrence Dunbar. In substance, a kinship with Steppenwolf? Well, kind of. You Can't Go Home Again? Getting warmer. In Tragic Life (Vardis Fisher)? This is pretty close, but without the vernacular. Prose written in dialect is usually shorter and often one funny gag (You Know Me, Al). In Shoot the Devil there are plenty of funny moments, but it is not a ha ha book. It chronicles his odyssey from puberty to manhood, his mind distracted but never governed by the juices coursing through his veins. He remains an honest reporter and seasoned storyteller, with appropriate tricks of the trade. Buddy Don narrates for us a geographical journey as well, as he migrates from Tennessee to California and back to his Tennessee roots, now more in tune with the mores and social experiments of the era. He perhaps inadvertently personifies an argument for the legalization of "theevil weed" due to his prowess as demonstrated in his ability to hold down a full time job as computer programmer, complete an academic program with honors, and at the same time party and entertain the ladies. Although I suspect genes were the prime enabler for this feat, the MaryJane experience obviously didn't hinder his spectacular efforts. I do not doubt the veracity of his story for a single moment. The quality of his narrative allows for no cynicism. Many characters (strictly fictional, of course) appear, some only briefly, and references to folks previously introduced could tax the memory, but Buddy Donn has anticipated this by including a helpful 14 page alphabetical glossary of names. The rhythm and poetry of his conversation illuminate the images he projects into our perception, as we eagerly follow his adventures into life and reflections on life. This is a uniquely entertaining achievement.
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