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. 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.
