Burning Bright by Ron Rash
My rating: 4/5 cats
chris wilson owes me some child support.
and it looked bigger on the internet; like an actual baby, i was surprised at just how tiny it was. it is wonderful wonderful, and i have no complaints about my book-son, but i just wish it had about a hundred more stories in it. i read it in a day, despite all efforts to “hold back” a little. but for a tiny book, it rocked my world in a huge way.
my favorite story was The Woman Who Believed in Jaguars, mostly because i think the description of jaguar as “muscled water” is a perfect way of describing rash’s writing. he manages to be spectacular and brutal but also fluid and sinuous at the same time. he is sleek without being slick, and he does not retract his claws.
the first story is, yes, probably the best in the collection, writing-wise. it is both the punch in the face and the caress afterward. remorseless situations, just the way i like ’em.
but remorseless is what rash does best; estranged spouses trying to rekindle affection and need through crime, families overlooking cruelties inflicted because of the bond of blood, a girl five years out of high school pawning the last of her possessions to feed a crippling meth addiction, “free bird” played over and over—these are little tableaus of hell, appalachia-style.
rash is amazingly skilled at depicting the harsh realities of people whose lives are perilous but still have moments of great beauty, but make no mistake, these aren’t “overcoming life’s obstacles and finding the silver lining and everything is all right at the end” stories. dogs will be killed, lies will be told, people will be left bleeding to death in barns, it ain’t no chicken soup for the soul, this. they are simply vignettes, starkly, vividly, beautifully told “this-is-how-it-is-here” stories, like it or lump it.
Return was the only story i didn’t really care about—it was too short and lacked dimension to me, it read like the way a Short Story should be written. also, The Ascent was a little treacly. but every other story was pretty much perfect. it is a short little book that really packs a wallop.
and it is ready for its next feeding.
thank you, chris wilson.
thank you, ron rash…
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