Book description
In 1995, Chris Holbrook burst onto the southern literary scene with
Hell and Ohio: Stories of Southern Appalachia, stories that Robert
Morgan described as "elegies for land and lives disappearing
under mudslides from strip mines and new trailer parks and
highways." Now, with the publication of Upheaval, Holbrook more
than answers the promise of that auspicious debut. In eight
interrelated stories set in Eastern Kentucky, Holbrook again captures
a region and its people as they struggle in the face of poverty,
isolation, change, and the devastation of land and resources at the
hands of the coal and timber industries. In the title story, Haskell
sees signs of disaster all around him, from the dangers inherent in
the strip-mining machinery he and his coworkers operate to the
accident waiting to happen when his son plays with a socket wrench.
Holbrook employs a native's ear for dialect and turns of phrase to
reveal his characters' complex interior lives. In "The Timber
Deal," two brothers -- Russell, a recovering addict recently
released from prison, and Dwight, who hasn't worked since being
injured in a coal truck accident -- try to convince their upwardly
mobile sister, Helen, to agree to lease out timber rights to the
family land. Dwight is unable to communicate his feelings, even as he
seethes with rage: "Helen can't see past herself, is what it is.
If John James had fractured his back in two places, it'd be a
different story. If he'd broke his neck, it'd be a different story
told." Written with a gritty, unflinching realism reminiscent of
the work of Larry Brown and Cormac McCarthy, the stories in Upheaval
prove that Holbrook is not only a faithful chronicler and champion of
Appalachia's working poor but also one of the most gifted writers of
his generation.
""Ever since the release of Chris Holbrook's HELL AND
OHIO, many of us have been impatiently awaiting another collection by
this master of the short story. UPHEAVAL is well worth the fourteen
year wait. There is not one false note in this entire book, where
Holbrook explores all the joys and faults and complexities of the
place he knows and loves and understands so well. Each sentence is a
tight and taunt poem, each story an intimate, perfect epic. Holbrook
is one of our best writers, and UPHEAVAL immediately takes its place
as one of the essential Appalachian books." --Silas House"
--
Chris Holbrook, a native of Knott County, Kentucky, received the
Thomas and Lillie D. Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writing for Hell
and Ohio: Stories of Southern Appalachia. A graduate of the Iowa
Writers' Workshop, Holbrook is associate professor of English at
Morehead State University.
