A Country of Strangers (1989) by Susan Richards Shreve

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

A Country of Strangers (1989)

by Susan Richards Shreve

Elm Grove, Virginia

Virginia: 15/17

     Set in then-rural Virginia outside of Washington DC, A Country of Strangers is a work of historical fiction (World War II) about the intertwined fates of two families, one African-American and the other white.  Like many of the less succesful titles on the 1,001 Novels list (I had to buy a copy because the Los Angeles Public Library doesn't have one), A Country of Strangers has some interesting moments and take the notion of "place" seriously, but wasn't compelling as an overall work.   Author Shreve hints at some interesting subjects- the idea of an interracial, extra-martial affair between the Danish immigrant wife of the white couple and the husband of the African American family, but doesn't take it far enough to create real interest in the reader.   The plot line involving a pregnant 13 year old from a cadet branch of the African American family sparks interest but the character herself, named Prudential after the insurance company, does not. 

Let the Dead Bury the Dead (1992) by Randall Kenan

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Let the Dead Bury the Dead (1992)

by Randall Kenan

Tim's Creek, North Carolina

North Carolina: 16/20

   Let the Dead Bury the Dead is a book of (inter-connected?) short stories set in the fictional town of Tim's Creek, founded by an escaped slave on the model of the "Maroon" communities of Jamaica.  The final story in the collection gives some historical context, and this isn't the first book of short-stories in the 1,001 Novels project to be set in a similar environment.  Despite having stories with fantastical elements- the first story features an infant who can tell the future-  Let the Dead Bury the Dead has a realist vibe even when the subject matter is more like speculative fiction.  

  Probably the most unusual aspect of Let the Dead Bury the Dead is the LGBT themed story- rare for the rural south and even rarer for rural African-American communities, though editor Susan Straight has gone out of her way to include those viewpoints in the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America project.  Kenan was known as a member of the LGBT community before his death in 2020. 

Edisto (1984) by Padgett Powell

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Edisto (1984)

by Padgett Powell

Edisto Island, South Carolina

South Carolina: 10/14

   Edisto was the debut novel from Padgett Powell. It was nominated as a finalist in 1984 for the National Book Award and that was just about the peak of Powell's literary prominence despite five more novels over the years- including a sequel to this book, Edisto Revisited, published in 1996.  Edisto is a conventional bildungsroman written from the perspective of Everson Manigault, living with his eccentric, semi-single Mother, "The Doctor" (she's a professor) in a ramshackle model home of a beach house on the South Carolina coast.  The plot is coming-of-age 101, but Everson is a class above your normal teen, American narrator, with a wit and verve that bring to mind an 80's era hipster more than the struggling son of a (well-educated) single mom with a drinking problem.  Of course, where would the bildungsroman even be without inattentive parenting.

    I was also challenged by the modernist flourishes introduced by Powell- removing narrative guardrails and leaving the reader guessing about what was actually going on throughout large portions of the plot. "Challenging" describes almost none of the books in the 1,001 Novels project, so having to go back and re-read certain chapters really stood out to me during my reading experience.  

Gap Creek (1999) by Robert Morgan

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Gap Creek (1999)

by Robert Morgan

Gap Creek, South Carolina

South Carolina: 9/14

   Gap Creek is an "Oprah book," i.e. a book selected by Oprah Winfrey for her "Oprah's Book Club."  I would never openly mock Oprah Winfrey, but I've never been a fan of Oprah's club or any of the other celebrity book clubs which followed hers.  A couple hundred books into the 1,001 Novels project I can now say that I look forward to "her" books on the 1,001 Novels list for a couple reasons.  First, chicken or egg questions aside, Oprah picks hits- people actually read the books she likes, which makes her a person of significance in the world of literary fiction because;  second, Oprah and her team have genuinely good taste- it's a taste that clearly favors stories of struggle and adversity often featuring characters from the lower levels of the socio-economic ladder, but those are exactly the type of narrative I'm trying to access through this project, so that makes it a match.  

   Gap Creek was picked more or less from obscurity- it was published by a regional press (Algonquin Press of North Carolina) and half of the New York Times review- published two months before Oprah picked it for her club- spent half the review trying to convince readers not to ignore Gap Creek for a variety of reasons related to the marketing.  Julie Harmon, the narrator and protagonist is the middle daughter of a struggling Appalachian hill family.  Dad is permanently disabled, forcing Julie into the role of provider on the family farm (she is something like 15 when the action starts).  As will surprise no reader with any familiarity with how things go in this category of novel, Julie leaps to marry literally the first man who talks to her as a means of escape.

   Though she frequently bemoans her quick choice throughout the book, I, for one, thought she did just fine, since the husband she picks doesn't beat her up or abandon her, which is pretty rare behavior in this part of the country as far as literary fiction goes.  Julie and her husband re-locate to a shared "house" in Gap Creek and start building a life together.  Although there is less interpersonal drama than a reader might expect from the place and time of the book, the physical environment picks up the slack, providing a series of natural and man-made catastrophe's,

   I agree with the New York Times reviewer and presumably Oprah's selection team that Robert Morgan is a rare American author who can write convincingly about manual labor.  Unlike many of the narrators/protagonist in this part of America, I actually liked Julie Harmon: give me a plucky American broad any day of the week.