Auraria

Jul 25, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Delightful. Just delightful. I loved this world, the strange things that the residents of Auraria treat as commonplace, and the wonderful characters. I never read Big Fish, but I did see the film, and this book had that same kind of feel.

And the ending was extremely satisfying. This just might be my favorite read yet this year.

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Oct 12, 2012 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

See this post and other sci-fi/fantasy reviews at my blog www.lazerbrain.wordpress.com

Fundamentally this book is a "cityslicker" story. It follows the transformation of one James Holtzclaw from snobby city dweller of dubious moral quality to protector (sort of) and hotel entrepreneur in Auraria a small mining town in Georgia. However, this is not your ordinary cityslicker tale. It is steeped folklore and fantasy, from Great and Invincible and Harmless Terrapins, to gold covered moon maidens, to...more See this post and other sci-fi/fantasy reviews at my blog www.lazerbrain.wordpress.com

Fundamentally this book is a "cityslicker" story. It follows the transformation of one James Holtzclaw from snobby city dweller of dubious moral quality to protector (sort of) and hotel entrepreneur in Auraria a small mining town in Georgia. However, this is not your ordinary cityslicker tale. It is steeped folklore and fantasy, from Great and Invincible and Harmless Terrapins, to gold covered moon maidens, to mushroom hunting ghosts, to treasure finding will 'o the wisps, and all sorts of talking plants that moan or sing to varying degrees. The plot follows Holtzclaw, who is H. Shadburn's property acquisition agent, as he first seeks to purchase the town of Auraria, by hook or by crook, from its residents, only to find out that his boss is not actually interested in turning a profit in this particular deal. In the process Holtzclaw deals with all of the ghosts, and fairies with a matter of factness and determination that can only come from a person so besought with making money that everything can be taken in stride. The first section follows the progress of Holtzclaw's land purchasing, the second section follows the building and running of a resort placed on the shore of a man made lake which now covers old Auraria. The final section, well, I won't talk about it because it would spoil the book.

I found this book to be fun and amusing, although the style is extremely reminiscent of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I liked JS&MN very much, but it was never a thriller and never meant to be. I feel like Auraria falls into a similar category, where the prose is almost Austinesque. As soon as I recognized the similarities, I was actually a little off-put , because I felt like this kind of thing has already been done and done very well. Not that this was done poorly, I just think it is tougher to draw the reader into the story using the sort of old style voice, and since I have already read JS&MN, I felt this detracted from the reading experience.

On the other hand, Westover's world building is just spectacular. I loved the giant terrapin and his rumbly songs and stories, the ghosts who play piano, cook, hunt mushrooms, and hunt heads. I loved the house with infinite stories, and Ephraim and Flossie's trading game. I loved the fact that a refrigerator left open could freeze whole farms. I basically loved everything that Westover did with his world, and I kept turning the pages at some points in the book for no other reason than to see what quirky and ridiculous thing was going to happen next. He manages to capture the spirit of a backwater, washed up mining town, while still giving the reader a healthy dose of the fantastic.

In summary, I loved the world Westover made so much, that I enjoyed the read overall. However the plot dragged in places, and the voice of the book was such that I found it hard to really engage with the characters.(less)

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Jan 19, 2013 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

English teachers say that "most unique" is not proper English, which is a pity, because this is the most unique fantasy I have read in a long time. Perhaps I should say it is unusually excellent and excellently unusual. It owes almost nothing to conventional sword and sorcery fantasy, and though set in the Georgia mountains amid adaptations of real Georgia places (carefully explained in the "Note on Sources" at the end), it is not even very like other adaptations of Southern Appalachian folklore...more English teachers say that "most unique" is not proper English, which is a pity, because this is the most unique fantasy I have read in a long time. Perhaps I should say it is unusually excellent and excellently unusual. It owes almost nothing to conventional sword and sorcery fantasy, and though set in the Georgia mountains amid adaptations of real Georgia places (carefully explained in the "Note on Sources" at the end), it is not even very like other adaptations of Southern Appalachian folklore to fantasy fiction (such as Manly Wade Wellman's Silver John stories). It begins with a quintessential American activity (though one rarely used in fantasy) --a very conventional young man named Holtzclaw is going around buying up land in a very small Georgia town on behalf of a mysterious entrepreneur named Shadburn --just as the Marcellus shale operators are buying land in my little West Virginia town right now. But the town where Holtzclaw is operating is a former gold-mining town (Auraria) which is now a ghost town, and many of the inhabitants with whom Holtzclaw must negotiate are actually ghosts, from Mr.Bad Thing who plays the piano at the local restaurant (guests think it's a player piano, but it's not), to a sweet little girl named Emily who feeds Holtzclaw on wild mushrooms (one of which killed her long ago). There are other creatures who are odder than ghosts, like the Great and Harmless and Invincible Terrapin whose memories go back to the creation of that country, and the rabbit-eared moon maidens who wash gold from their fur into the local streams. (These last are not landowners but visitors, customers of the local Rain Princess Trahlyta.) After Holtzclaw somewhat unexpectedly succeeds in buying up the town property, it turns out that Shadburn (who grew up in Auraria) plans to build a dam and create a lake which will drown the source of the gold --he feels the local inhabitants' infatuation with gold is unhealthy. The dam is duly built and the town duly
drowned (like those under many TVA projects), with all the inhabitants moved to higher ground. There Shadburn builds a pretentious resort hotel , The Queen of the Mountains, managed rather ineptly by Holtzclaw, aided by Abigail (the lively and practical proprieter of the restaurant) and distracted by Lizzie Rathbun, a vamp and con artist who lures him into a scheme to run a glamorous lake boat which never truly gets finished. (Spoiler Warning) The climax of Holtzclaw's efforts at the hotel is a splendid society gala which dissolves into chaos when the guests riot to protest the performance of a singing tree instead of the expected human star. Meanwhile rains have brought on a flood; the lake boat is caught on the dam and dynamited by Holtzclaw under Lizzie's instructions (so she can collect the insurance). This destroys the dam, the lake is drained, the old town reappears, and Holtzclaw, after an unsatisfying brief return to the normality of Milledgeville (where he rejects Lizzie, now living well on the insurance money), returns to settle in Auraria with Abigail, and apparently lives happily ever after-- much more of a eucatastrophe than I actually expected. The beginning of this story is a marvellous exploration of the town's extraordinary inhabitants. The middle sequence with the dam and hotel sometimes has a bitter flavor, but the end is surprisingly satisfying. Apparently Tim Westover's only other work was a highly regarded collection of stories written in Esperanto. It might be worth learning Esperanto to read it. (less)

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Jan 15, 2013 Jenni Buchanan rated it 4 of 5 stars

In a Nutshell

Westover's Auraria is like having a great novel, a night of ghost stories around a campfire, and a college course in Appalachian folktales all rolled into one.

The Whole Enchilada

We all love fairy tales and legends when we're kids, but as we get older the fairy tales--and I'm talking about truly compelling fairy tales, not the simple, syrupy plotlines so many bad romantic comedies are based on--seem to dry up. Some might argue that the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre can satisfy th...more In a Nutshell

Westover's Auraria is like having a great novel, a night of ghost stories around a campfire, and a college course in Appalachian folktales all rolled into one.

The Whole Enchilada

We all love fairy tales and legends when we're kids, but as we get older the fairy tales--and I'm talking about truly compelling fairy tales, not the simple, syrupy plotlines so many bad romantic comedies are based on--seem to dry up. Some might argue that the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre can satisfy the grown-up desire for magic and wonder, but what you get from Sci-Fi/Fantasy isn't quite the same as what you get from Fairy Tales. Fairy Tales and Legends tend to be local rather than off-world (or alternate world), and the skeleton of the Fairy Tale is often familiar. In fact, it's this very familiarity which makes the Fairy Tale so alluring... The protagonist of the story could just as easily be ourselves--our house, our grandmother, our innocence, our own deep dark woods.

Tim Westover's Auraria is truly modern day Legend, a much-needed Fairy Tale for adults. Actually, I would argue that it's better than a Fairy Tale, because it takes storytelling to the next level. Westover takes time with his tale. This is no brief moral fable or cautionary tale peppered with obvious archetypes. His characters have depth, mystery, and motivation. His descriptions are so loving and vibrant that you can feel the moss between your toes, the icy wind on your fingers, and smell the moist, dark earth. But the most important ingredient of all is the awe and wonder. Auraria is filled with wonder.

Auraria's main character James Holtzclaw is a pragmatist, and certainly not someone susceptible to awe or wonder. As the book begins Holtzclaw has been sent by his mysterious employer (by the name of Shadburn) to the remote Appalachian town of Auraria. His mission is to buy up the town and all of its surrounding lands and farms. To accomplish this, Holtzclaw has been given, in addition to ordinary federal notes, "the strangest [gold coins] he had ever seen. Instead of eagles and shields, the coins were stamped with images of bumble-bees, terrapin, chestnut trees, and indistinct figures by a stream. The figures might have been bathing or even panning for gold; they were too small to tell. Shadburn had said the coins were minted in Auraria from local metal. The gold was returning to its source." But if Holtzclaw expects the purchase of Aurarian land to be quick and easy, he is sorely (and very luckily for the reader) mistaken.

Holtzclaw must spend weeks in Auraria in his effort to find each landowner. He walks miles each day, from farmstead to mine to mountaintop, unwittingly collecting the rich soil of Auraria in his shoes and his pants cuffs, in his hair and the creases on his face. Along the way he finds a frozen farm that never thaws, a never-ending house, fish that swim through a valley of mist; he eats dinner with a ghost, has conversations with the Great and Harmless and Invincible Terrapin, and meets the beautiful and mysterious Princess Trahlyta. During this time that Holtzclaw is methodically buying up all the land of Auraria, he is slowly but surely, if not exactly falling in love with the land, becoming inextricably bound to it. What happens when the land is all bought up, his job is done, and Holtzclaw finds he is unable to leave?

Tim Westover's writing style is a perfect complement to the story. He somehow manages to be fantastic and understated at the same time. The effect is that the prose is a joy to read, but in no way overshadows or distracts from the story or the characters. Additionally, Westover does a fantastic job of weaving what I imagine are actual old-Appalachian folktales seamlessly into the greater arc of his own unique story. The reader is left with a feeling of having read a great novel, listened to grandma telling ghost stories by the fire, and taken a college course in Appalachian folktales, all rolled into one delightful 390 page package.

I can promise that this book is like nothing else you've ever read. The names, the events, the characters and attitudes... All are a discovery and a delight. Westover's Auraria reminds us of why we fell in love with fiction in the first place: For the wonder and adventure that somehow seems both absolutely impossible, but also inevitably waiting just around the next bend in the road.
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Nov 24, 2012 Jo Butler rated it 4 of 5 stars

James Holtzclaw is sent to Georgia’s Appalachians on a special errand. He has a sack of money, and instructions to buy every property in Auraria. That shouldn’t be difficult, for the one-time gold mining town has gone bust. A few dozen families remain on their farms, sifting gold flakes from Lost Creek.

In theory, Holtzclaw’s employer wants to harvest scrap metal from the old mills. He actually has a dam across Lost Creek in mind. Those hardscrabble farms will be transformed to valuable lakeside...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Valerie rated it 3 of 5 stars

2 1/2 stars? While I enjoyed parts of this book, and the general concept/premise(and the ending was just right), I had a hard time with a couple things. All the amazing and phenomenal things that occur at and are a part of Auraria- they sometimes seemed to be exclusive of that place, but when outsiders come and visit, they aren't quite as in awe or blown away, etc, by it, as if they're used to such things in the outside world. So at times it seemed as if such things were part of the whole world,...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Danny rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-book

When Holtzclaw arrives in the town of Auraria he first meets a young boy sitting on the edge of a misty ravine, holding a fishing pole above the gap. When the traveler points out that most people have better luck fishing in places that are wet, the boy responds, "Mist is wet, isn't it?" When the boy hauls up his line with a gold-tinged fish attached to the end, Holtzclaw is at pains to point out how this defies all logic. The boy, unconcerned, continues fishing. Holtzclaw continues into Auraria,...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Johnny rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I got this book through First Reads.

The book starts off with the main character riding a stagecoach up into some misty mountains, which, call me crazy, reminded me of "Dracula." It quickly became clear his book was going to be more light-hearted, though still supernatural, tale.

The basic plot of this book is that James Holtzclaw is buying up the town of Auraria on behalf of his employer, Hiram Shadburn, for mysterious reasons. It later turns out the Shadburn is very familiar with the supernatura...more I got this book through First Reads.

The book starts off with the main character riding a stagecoach up into some misty mountains, which, call me crazy, reminded me of "Dracula." It quickly became clear his book was going to be more light-hearted, though still supernatural, tale.

The basic plot of this book is that James Holtzclaw is buying up the town of Auraria on behalf of his employer, Hiram Shadburn, for mysterious reasons. It later turns out the Shadburn is very familiar with the supernatural residents and gold-laden history of Auraria as it his hometown. We also quickly learn that Shadburn wants to cover the town in water and build a luxury hotel.

This novel's strength is its humor and dry wit. Many of the characters are absurd and the reader is in on this from the beginning. The best examples of this are the clueless members of the Billing, Cooing, and Wooing Society, a trio of matchmakers for the rich and famous. There were definitely a few moments where I actually chuckled while reading this book.

In spite of this, however, the book failed to sustain my interest. The few bright shining moments of hilarity were outweighed by pointless exposition and side stories. Reading Book 3 was a chore and the ending left me feeling mightily disappointed. I saw it coming about halfway through the book and I felt there wasn't a sense of mounting tension towards the climax...just more plodding on and on.

One reason I felt the book was hard to read is that the characters reactions to magical happenings were quite mundane. Holtzclaw fails to be shocked or even mildly surprised when he encounters a tundra created by an open ice box on one of the properties he examines. Basically, it seems as though the characters inhabit a fantasy world, when in fact, we are supposed to believe that they live in late 19th century Georgia.

As a side note, the copy of the book I received had a tiny font which sometimes made it physically difficult to read, so if you choose to buy the book, I would recommend getting a digital version with adjustable font size.(less)

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Jun 24, 2012 Laurie rated it 5 of 5 stars

‘Auraria’ is a fantasy story set in a real town and based on many of the local folklore and superstitions. Auraria, Georgia had a very brief gold rush in the mid-1800s; then most of the people left again. But some hung on, running pharmacies and bars and hotels. They farmed and were turkey drovers and, no matter what their regular work was, most of them sought gold. Holtzclaw has been sent there by his employer, Shadburn, a land developer who, it turns out, grew up in Auraria, although Holtzclaw...more ‘Auraria’ is a fantasy story set in a real town and based on many of the local folklore and superstitions. Auraria, Georgia had a very brief gold rush in the mid-1800s; then most of the people left again. But some hung on, running pharmacies and bars and hotels. They farmed and were turkey drovers and, no matter what their regular work was, most of them sought gold. Holtzclaw has been sent there by his employer, Shadburn, a land developer who, it turns out, grew up in Auraria, although Holtzclaw is not aware of this fact at first. Holtzclaw, it turns out, does not know a lot of things about his employer or the town of Auraria when he first gets there.

Sent to procure certain parcels of land from the locals, Holtzclaw finds things to be not quite normal from the minute he sets foot in Auraria. A boy fishes in mist rather than water. A watery princess appears and disappears. A phantom piano player amuses the patrons of a tavern. There is a singing tree, and a giant tortoise that talks. The townspeople regard this all as perfectly normal, rather like dwellers in Charles de Lint’s Newford regard fairies in the city, and so Holtzclaw does, too. That’s part of what I love about the story: that the supernatural is so accepted and normal in this place, and that a newcomer can do so, too. There are multiple plots taking place during the story; a lot of different people have plans of their own about Shadburn’s development, which involves building a damn and turning the valley into a lake.

It’s a tale of human greed and folly, and blindness to what is real and beautiful. It’s beautifully written; I wouldn’t change a single word. Despite the plot of land developer despoiling nature, the book is not a simplistic tale of evil greed vs nature & good folks; it’s more complicated than that, as life tends to be. The book has been compared to “Through the Looking Glass”, but I disagree. While fantastic things happen, it all hangs together with internal logic in a way that Carroll’s work doesn’t. I was sorry when I came to the end of this story.
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May 26, 2012 Grace rated it 4 of 5 stars

Author: Tim Westover
Title: Auraria
Description: Based on legends from rural Georgia, this book describes the efforts of James Holtzclaw to purchase land for his employer, a land developer who has a complex plan to build a dam, a hotel, and a center of industry near the tiny town of Auraria. Formerly known for its gold (which is still present, but makes no one rich), Auraria has an odd assortment of residents, including some ghosts, some recluses, and some eccentric folks looking to get rich. Holt...more

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May 19, 2012 Mallory Anne-Marie Forbes rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Mallory Anne-Marie by: Great Minds Think Aloud

Shelves: may-2012-reads, may-reading-challenge

A delightfully winsome and cozy historical fantasy, set in Northern Georgia; an alternate history of a factual locale, a near-ghost town which, like so many, was founded on the potential boom of a gold rush. Auraria, in this book, is not what one might expect to find, however; instead, it is something more akin to Faeryland: singing trees, fish that live in mist, and much, much, more.

Staid Mr. James Holtzclaw, right-hand man for a land acquisitions firm-a man who values order and symmetry-is ab...more

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May 18, 2012 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

I requested this book from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program because the description, of a place in Georgia where supernatural creatures abound, intrigued me. I was excited to learn that I had won it. When I got the book, however, I saw on the back cover that it had been compared to Alice in Wonderland and I was much less enthused. I really, really did not like Alice or Through the Looking Glass (please don't stone me!). Fortunately, though, I really did like this book.
I identified heavily...more

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Feb 19, 2012 April Steenburgh rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, historical-fiction

Holtzclaw is a respectable man, trying to conduct respectable business and purchase properties in the valley of Auraria for his employer Shadburn. He does not know what Shadburn want's the land for, but he has seen the man's magic touch when it comes to turning purchases into profit. Unfortunately, Auraria is not a laid back lady ready to give up her land and citizens easily. It is an unruly valley, filled with fish that can be fished out of thick mist instead of water, moon maidens, ghosts, an...more Holtzclaw is a respectable man, trying to conduct respectable business and purchase properties in the valley of Auraria for his employer Shadburn. He does not know what Shadburn want's the land for, but he has seen the man's magic touch when it comes to turning purchases into profit. Unfortunately, Auraria is not a laid back lady ready to give up her land and citizens easily. It is an unruly valley, filled with fish that can be fished out of thick mist instead of water, moon maidens, ghosts, an ethereal princess, and gold. The entire valley is haunted by gold, the potential for the next big strike. Holtzclaw will need every trick in his book to convince landowners to sell, all the while trying to decide whether to hold onto what he knows is real and sane or to fall into the wonder that is Auraria.

Auraria is a bit of historical whimsy, facts folded so neatly into folklore that it is impossible to pry one from the other. I loved the almost off hand manner in which elements of the fantastic were described to the reader- they were presented as a fact of life for Auraria, nothing remarkable. And as a reader, that air became infectious. Even as Holtzclaw became accepting of ghosts and moderately sentient fruit, the reader is drawn along with him into the brilliant madness that is Auraria. It is a wonderful meld of history with folk culture, ghost stories, and tales told grandparent to grandchild on cold nights before a warm fire.

The story itself is a thoughtful move through conflicts of mundane and mystical, of belief and what drives us to do the things we do on a daily basis. It is about loyalty and love and the roots we have to our hometowns. For the historically minded, it is an original look at the tourism industry that drove resorts to pop up across the country like weeds. I spent much of my childhood in the Adirondacks, where my family has it's roots, so reading Auraria was almost like visiting old neighbors. We didn't have the drive for gold, but we had some of the same quirky characters and were in an area obsessed with attracting tourists.

Whether your are a fantasy reader, a fan of historical fiction, or just looking for something new and brilliantly unique to read, give Auraria a shot.(less)

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Jul 09, 2012 Ron rated it 4 of 5 stars

I knew from the get-go that Auraria would be a different piece, and I have studied magical realism... I just haven’t read it; not before I was asked to review Auraria, anyway. I liked the experience, though it takes a special level of talent to make it truly enjoyable... Talent that Tim Westover does have.

There’s something that made this book hard to rate, hard to describe, hard to review. It’s definitely not the kind of book you’d want to read in a lazy afternoon or two, not the light read that...more I knew from the get-go that Auraria would be a different piece, and I have studied magical realism... I just haven’t read it; not before I was asked to review Auraria, anyway. I liked the experience, though it takes a special level of talent to make it truly enjoyable... Talent that Tim Westover does have.

There’s something that made this book hard to rate, hard to describe, hard to review. It’s definitely not the kind of book you’d want to read in a lazy afternoon or two, not the light read that will flee your mind as soon as it’s out of sight. Auraria is one of those books that stays afterward, that make you think really hard about important things and that doesn’t give you straight answers – but that makes you look for them yourself.

With the kind of plot above, it’d be easy to fall into the typical afternoon TV family flick cliché about nature and kind family reunions versus evil greedy businessmen, but that’s not Auraria. In here, everything is more subdued, more subtle, more nuanced. The bad guys are bad, but not impossible to understand. The lead character can come across as bland... but that’s because he’s the observer, really. Things happen to him and around him, and it takes ages for him to react and to do so with any conviction. Even when he does act of his own volition, sometimes you wonder if that was the right thing, or the right time, or...

You know why I liked that? Because really, how often is that the case if our lives? How often are we confronted with the mysterious, the magical, the unique, just to remain ensconced in our own corner of ordinary concerns, such as finding suppliers for the work underway or dealing with our bosses, with our duties? How often do we stop to think if, perhaps, we should be doing something differently?

Yeah, that’s exactly the beauty of this book. The characters are images, so perhaps they are not as deeply developed as you’d have wanted (then again, the cast is huge... there is literally no time to develop them all!) and the action might be slower. It’s not an action-packed adventure of good guy saves the day, or evil lord underling suddenly finds his moral points. It’s a story populated with Southern folklore, quirky and funny and strange, but it’s also a story we can – and should – take home.

Do I recommend Auraria? Sure thing; do pick it up as soon as you want to find a meaningful, enlightening read.
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Jan 24, 2013 Angela rated it 3 of 5 stars

Paperback Via Author free for honest review

What to say about this book? I must admit I really had a very hard time reading this book and continuing to read this book. The concept of the mysterious lands and people was great, but I just didn't find it to be that much of a mystery read as I had hoped to get out of it. I guess I was hoping for more supernatural encounters along with more action/mystery. After the first 100 pages of this book, I was ready to just pack it in and call it a day...I did...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Jaime Boler rated it 4 of 5 stars

It's a good thing I don't judge books by their covers or by their publishers; otherwise, I would have missed a gem. The cover of Tim Westover's novel Auraria is embossed with the faint outline of mist-covered woods and mountains. Nothing special. Nothing really concrete as to what the story will be about. Westover's publisher, QW, is not one of the powerful publishing houses either. QW is an indie publisher, of which I honestly had never heard. However, if you skip over Auraria for its forgettab...more It's a good thing I don't judge books by their covers or by their publishers; otherwise, I would have missed a gem. The cover of Tim Westover's novel Auraria is embossed with the faint outline of mist-covered woods and mountains. Nothing special. Nothing really concrete as to what the story will be about. Westover's publisher, QW, is not one of the powerful publishing houses either. QW is an indie publisher, of which I honestly had never heard. However, if you skip over Auraria for its forgettable cover or its lesser-known publisher, you are depriving yourself of a truly unforgettable story.

The beginning of Auraria recalls the eerie opening of Bram Stoker's classic novel Dracula. Like Jonathan Harker traveling at night in a carriage to the home of Count Dracula, James Holtzclaw approaches the fading gold-rush town of Auraria, Georgia, in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, in a blue mist. His employer, a rather mysterious figure called Hiram Shadburn, sent Holtzclaw to Auraria to "destroy" the town. Shadburn wants to turn Auraria into a resort and drown the place under a man-made lake. Westover only gradually reveals Shadburn's true motives and his surprising history.

Again like Stoker, Westover knows how to set a mood. In his traveling bag, Holtzclaw carries a significant amount of money, money Shadburn gave him to buy property. "The thousands of dollars in federal notes were just ordinary paper, but the gold coins were the strangest" Holtzclaw had ever seen. "Instead of eagles and shields," Westover writes, "the coins were stamped with images of bumblebees, terrapins, chestnut trees, and indistinct figures by a stream." The strange gold coins had come from Auraria, and now they were returning home.

Westover illustrates how unique the town of Auraria is. Its weirdly wonderful inhabitants are just as quirky as the town. Holtzclaw gets to know the people of Auraria as he buys their property. He meets a boy fishing where there is no water. Holtzclaw sees the boy catch a fish nonetheless. When questioned, the boy explains, "I just throw out my line, and the fish latch on." Holtzclaw is certain the child has cooked up a scheme to try to sell fish the easy way. As Holtzclaw descends deeper into the town, and buys up more property, it gets weirder. The town's dead sit on their gravestones and can carry on conversations. To move Auraria's graveyard to its new location, he must ask permission from the cemetery's oldest resident, not from the inhabitant most advanced in age but from the little girl who has been there the longest. Holtzclaw also comes into contact with Princess Trahltya, who frolics in Auraria's springs and who works for the moon maidens.

Auraria contains many fantastical elements, as you have probably already surmised. The genre of fantasy allows Westover to let his imagination run wild. He never lets himself be tied down to genre or literary technique. For example, Westover masterfully employs magical realism in his story. Holtzclaw enters a man's town house to inquire about purchasing his land. Those within say Mr. Walton is upstairs. When Holtzclaw gets to the town house's top-most floor, there is still no sign of Mr. Walton.

Holtzclaw is not in an ordinary town house, nor is he is an ordinary town. Belulah, who lives there, admonishes Holtzclaw for taking things at face value: "Well, you know how some houses are," she says. "They look small from the outside, but they're bigger inside. How were you counting? By the windows? That's not a very good way to count. What if someone forgot to put in a window or put in an extra one?" Things are not what they seem, as Holtzclaw and his readers learn time and again in Westover's story. Another shining example of this is when a ghost named Mr. Bad Thing plays a piano. Holtzclaw is convinced it is a player piano. Again, one of Auraria's residents scolds him: "Just because you don't know it works," she says, "doesn't mean that it can't work."

Westover uses skillful personification to tell part of his story. Deep under the Appalachian Mountains lives the "Great and Harmless and Invincible Terrapin." The gigantic turtle talks and has a history and a memory. "Long ago, when the world was soft and had not been baked hard by the sun," the terrapin begins, "I was a small terrapin. The sun began to blaze, and I fled from its heat. I burrowed into the mud, and as I grew, I made larger and larger channels. I came to this place where the rock was soft and the valley was cool and dark, and I have lived here ever since." He confesses, "I am old here." The turtle also feels pain. Although he is "invincible" does not exempt him from suffering: "I suffer the pain of many, many long years spent under the mountain."

His time in Auraria changes Holtzclaw, just as Westover's story affects readers. One cannot spend time in Auraria and be the same person he was prior to his arrival. That holds true for Holtzclaw and for us.

Auraria is such an appealing story because it crosses so many different genres: historical fiction (yes, the town of Auraria, GA, really did exist; see E. Merton Coulter's Auraria: The Story of a Georgia Gold Mining Town), fantasy, ghost story, and mystery. Southern folklore comes to life in Westover's hands as he intertwines fact with fantasy and superstition. But perhaps Westover's greatest achievement is proving book covers and publishers mean very little really; it's all about the story. The stuff in between the covers is what really matters.

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Jun 13, 2012 Taryn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: what-i-read-in-2012, arc

I’m a Northeastern girl through and through. I was born in Manhattan, raised on Long Island, and lived in Queens post-undergrad; I went to college and grad school in Rhode Island; the majority of my friends and family are spread between Boston, Providence, and New York City. The furthest south I’ve been in the U.S is South Carolina. So it was with slight trepidation that I approached Tim Westover’s Auraria, a novel centered on a small Southern gold mining town and steeped in rural Georgian histo...more I’m a Northeastern girl through and through. I was born in Manhattan, raised on Long Island, and lived in Queens post-undergrad; I went to college and grad school in Rhode Island; the majority of my friends and family are spread between Boston, Providence, and New York City. The furthest south I’ve been in the U.S is South Carolina. So it was with slight trepidation that I approached Tim Westover’s Auraria, a novel centered on a small Southern gold mining town and steeped in rural Georgian history, culture, and myth. With very little background knowledge of the area, I was still able to understand and connect with Westover’s cast of mysterious, quirky, and downright magical characters.

Those characters were one of Auraria‘s biggest strengths. The residents of the town range from a piano-playing ghost to a Great and Invincible Tortoise to fish spirits to the assorted humans who happen to be just as odd as the non-humans. Out of our large cast, I liked Princess Tralyhta and Abigail the best. Both were presented as strong, fearless, and competent, and both were able to take Holtzclaw under their protection from some of the more dangerous elements of the town. The Princess managed to be mysterious, childlike, and threatening by turns, and I enjoyed her random interactions with Holtzclaw, as well as her explanation of how gold forms and why Auraria needs to be rid of it. Abigail, a tough young lady who sees visions of gold, was just excellent, and I would have gladly read an entire novel from her perspective. These unusual small-town folks helped to give Auraria the charming, dusty feel of a sepia-toned photograph–the story of a time that has come and gone.

For me, the weak link was actually our main character, Holtzclaw. As an outsider to Auraria, sent on behalf of his employer Shadburn to buy up property, Holtzclaw is a logical choice to serve as our point-of-view character; we can meet the rest of the cast through his eyes. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book, and for good reason (hello, Great Gatsby!). However: Holtzclaw is presented as competent from the start–there is no real arc for him to go from surprised and frightened of the living local legends to deftly negotiating with them. Even when he fails in some of his early business deals, it’s not because he is freaked out by the ghost or the moon maiden or whoever–it’s just because his arguments fail to sway them. He is rarely surprised or impressed by any of the bizarre sights he is confronted with, which was honestly difficult to believe. Despite following him around for most of the novel, he remained a cipher to me (albeit a cipher who liked squirrel brains and a good claret).

I want to call this Red Power Ranger syndrome. When there is one character that is designated as the leader, it tends to obliterate his flaws, making him technically perfect, but also boring. His one defining character trait becomes “leader.” Like the original Red Power Ranger. While you maybe liked him, he was never your favorite–it was the bad-boy White Ranger or the awesome Yellow Ranger. Holtzclaw is Auraria‘s Red Power Ranger, and I don’t think he necessarily had to fill that role.

Please read the rest of my review over at Bookwanderer!(less)

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Sep 13, 2012 Claudia rated it 2 of 5 stars

Fable mixed with fantasy, greed as opposed to ambivalence, but mostly this book is about the incredible hubris we humans possess. We always think that we know what is best for everyone, even though we may be clueless to their history or their current situation. It's a very convoluted tale with a wild mix of Southern folklore that sometimes is too much flavoring in what could have been a palatable stew. I would have preferred more fleshing out of a few of the folktales instead of so many stories...more

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May 14, 2012 Audrey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: netgalley, advanced-reader-s-copy-arc, e-book

It's always something of a risk, requesting ARCs from Netgalley, particularly books by authors whom you've never heard of. But the blurb contained enough interesting details to pique my interest -- this sounded like a great cross between John Crowley's Little, Big and Charles de Lint's Appalachian stories, like A Circle of Cats.

Westover proves himself right off as a talented writer with surehanded prose, deft descriptions, and an ear for strong dialogue. I was easily caught up in the setting an...more It's always something of a risk, requesting ARCs from Netgalley, particularly books by authors whom you've never heard of. But the blurb contained enough interesting details to pique my interest -- this sounded like a great cross between John Crowley's Little, Big and Charles de Lint's Appalachian stories, like A Circle of Cats.

Westover proves himself right off as a talented writer with surehanded prose, deft descriptions, and an ear for strong dialogue. I was easily caught up in the setting and time period; there are enough details to provide a sense of location and time period, but also just a tinge of vagueness so that the story takes on an almost otherworldly sense as well at times -- as though the characters have been pulled out of their actual time and location and dropped into another world. That's a hard trick to manage, but Westover does it well.

In fact, he does it almost too well from the start. While all the characters are interesting, it's Holtzclaw whom we are partnered with from the beginning, and I wasn't sure I bought into his total acceptance of the folklore of Auraria. At first, it's obviously because his character is so blindly set on obtaining the land his employer demands, but at some point his eyes are opened more clearly, and he just accepts things so naturally. I'm not sure if readers are supposed to just accept that he had acclimated to the place so quickly that he could do nothing but accept what was going on around him. His character seemed so uptight in the beginning that I really expected more of a freakout from him, but that never happened.

The various characters are amusing, interesting, and varied; the plot moves along quickly, with just a few lapses in a couple of spots. There were one or two chapters that seemed out of place -- almost like small, stand-alone chunks of folklore or old stories tucked into the larger story being told. There were wonderfully written, like everything else here, but they disrupted the flow of the story for me, and it took a bit to get back into the rhythm of things.

Westover has written an enjoyable novel, with just the right combination of historical fiction and Georgian folklore to keep readers of a variety of genres interested. This is one that I'm glad I took a chance on at Netgalley, and I'll be recommending it to readers upon release.

Note: I received an Advanced Review Copy in e-book format from Netgalley. (less)

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Mar 05, 2012 Nicki Markus rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was approached by the publisher to review this book and I must say that I found it to be a delight piece of whimsy.

This is a story where the supernatural is treated as a mundane fact of life and the reader follows Holtzclaw into this world. It is a world where moon maidens bathe in streams, leaving traces of gold behind, and where ghosts play the piano in bars.

What I enjoyed about this story was the blending of fact, folklore and fiction. The book takes inspiration from a real haunted town and...more

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May 14, 2012 Maggie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: whats-new-in-ya-lit-2013

This is such an imaginative story and filled with the most unusual spirits. I really enjoyed reading about this magical place and the locals, spirits included. One reviewer compared Auraria to the magical world of Wonderland. I can agree. Once you begin reading, the unusual becomes common much as Alice's adventures did. The fact that a boy can catch a fish out of a mist seems not only possible but normal. Talking to ghosts and giant turtles and singing trees is common place in Auraria. The build...more

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Aug 31, 2012 Angie Lisle rated it 5 of 5 stars

The story begins with Holtsclaw leaving behind the civilized city to travel to Auraria, a once-booming gold mining town turned ghost town, located in Georgia's rural mountains. His boss, Shadwell, has assigned him the task of purchasing all the land in town - by whatever means necessary.

Holtsclaw cares only for money; he dreams of being a big business tycoon like his boss Shadwell. But the business in Auraria doesn't go as Holtsclaw planned, namely because the local folklore is still alive and...more

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Apr 24, 2012 Steph rated it 5 of 5 stars

Within the first few pages of reading Auraria, I knew that I had found something special. What a delightful surprise Auraria turned out to be! An early critic of the novel compared it to “Through the Looking Glass” and, like it’s predecessor, Auraria holds a distinct and unique magical quality, both in its story and its writing.

The plot weaves the story of one young man’s struggle between the desire for progress, prosperity and proving oneself with the mysticism and beauty of nature and the sim...more

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Sep 21, 2012 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, received

I received this book today (8/20/12) and will review it as soon as I can read it. Beginning the book on 8/27/12.

Wow it took me forever to get through this book! There are several reasons for this. One of the reasons is the type is very small (probably no more than a typeset of 8), so the 398 page novel would probably be a 600-700 page book. Most importantly, my father was in the hospital for 3 weeks and I was unable to read as much or as often as I normally would.

The book is a set in the 1800's...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Isabella rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this novel, although it was not entirely what I expected walking into it. The description makes the story seem to be full of scary ghosts and creepy haunts with an emphasis on the inner conflict encountered by Holtzclaw when trying to develop and industrialize this town so deeply enriched with history. There was no perception to me that Holtzclaw cared strongly about what was happening to the town, and the ghosts and spirits were more of the comical kind. But this definitely worked and...more

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May 10, 2013 Hope rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-sci-fi-fantasy-collection

I won a copy through the Goodreads' Firstreads program.

Fantasy collides with reality in this refreshing novel by Tim Westover. AURORIA is set in the mountainous valleys of Georgia, in a town tucked away from prying eyes. Moon maidens, spirits, and wonders abide throughout the countryside.

When aspiring businessman James Holtzclaw journeys to Auroria on business at his employer Shadburn's behest, he finds himself immersed in a culture unlike any before. A sleepy little ghost town should be an ea...more

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Oct 10, 2012 Lyn M (readinghearts) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Lyn M (readinghearts) by: netgalley

Shelves: arc, borrowed, netgalley, new-to-me-authors, fantasy, nook, read-for-review

For the longest time, I honestly didn't know how I felt about Auraria: A Novel. To say the least, it was not what I expected...but that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it. Tim Westover tells an interesting story that is part fantasy, part history, part folklore, and part fairy tale. I am happy to say that he blends all of those genres successfully. The story takes place in Auraria, Georgia and is steeped in local folklore, which was both a blessing and a curse for me. I think that I would have...more

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Sep 27, 2012 Lianne (The Towering Pile) Lavoie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebooks, review-copy, read-in-2012, historical-fiction, own-the-ebook

The first sentence of this novel gave me high hopes: "Holtzclaw hadn't heard of Auraria until his employer sent him to destroy it." And for the first chunk of the story, it lived up to those hopes. Holtzclaw has been sent to the small town of Auraria to buy the land from the people living there, so that his employer can develop there. As he visits the various landowners and attempts to convince them to sell, he meets some very strange characters, and sees some even stranger things. And the whole...more

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Aug 02, 2012 Katy rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those who enjoy tales of the strange and mysterious, legends, lore and tall tales

Recommended to Katy by: NetGalley

Shelves: galley-for-review, net-galley

Book Info: Genre: Magical Realism Reading Level: Adult

Disclosure: I received a free eGalley eBook edition of this text from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Synopsis: Water spirits, moon maidens, haunted pianos, headless revenants, and an invincible terrapin that lives under the mountains. None of these distract James Holtzclaw from his employer’s mission: to turn the fading gold-rush town of Auraria, GA, into a first-class resort and drown its fortunes below a man-made lake. But when...more Book Info: Genre: Magical Realism Reading Level: Adult

Disclosure: I received a free eGalley eBook edition of this text from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Synopsis: Water spirits, moon maidens, haunted pianos, headless revenants, and an invincible terrapin that lives under the mountains. None of these distract James Holtzclaw from his employer’s mission: to turn the fading gold-rush town of Auraria, GA, into a first-class resort and drown its fortunes below a man-made lake. But when Auraria’s peculiar people and problematic ghosts collide with his own rival ambitions, Holtzclaw must decide what he will save and what will be washed away.

Taking its inspiration from a real Georgia ghost town, “Auraria: is steeped in the folklore of the Southern Appalachians, where the tensions of natural, supernatural and artificial are still alive.

My Thoughts: I live in Georgia, but haven’t really been into the north Georgia mountains. I was charmed by the fantastic happenings that Holtzclaw experiences in and around the community of Auraria. I’ve become interested in learning more about the lore and legends of this area as a result of reading this book. Since I have absolutely no knowledge, I can’t comment on whether the creatures and ghosts used in the book are based upon real legends and lore, but the legends and such he uses/creates for this book are very fun.

I would be hard-pressed to choose a favorite among the many characters – living, dead, and supernatural – that people this excellent story. The residents of Auraria are varied and eccentric, and watching Holtzclaw – the consummate city gentleman – as he tried to provide an “appropriate” reaction to the more-often-than-not crazy events around him was highly entertaining; I spent a great deal of time giggling while reading this story. It reminded me, in a lot of ways, of the old tall tales we used to read and hear when I was in grade school, such as Pecos Bill and the like.

The end of the book is devoted to an explanation of some of the real-life places and events that served as inspiration for this story, although it does not address the supernatural elements such as the plat-eye, the wonder fish, the moon maidens and the like, on which I plan to do some research when I can shave out the time. All in all, if you enjoy tall tales, legends, stories of the strange and wonderful, and the mysterious, you should enjoy this very engaging and enjoyable book. Highly recommended.(less)

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Jan 01, 2013 Richard (Bound & Determined...) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: southern-book-tour

I was really excited to read this. When Tim contacted me, I was instantly drawn to the story of Auraria, GA.

Holtzclaw, though a little on the naïve side of things, does his best to do exactly what Shadburn asks of him: buy up all the land in Auraria. Holtzclaw did not anticipate the awkwardness of the people and his interactions with them—the citizens of Auraria are a different breed of people. And things get weirder from there. At times I felt genuinely bad for Holtzclaw; mindless obedience ge...more I was really excited to read this. When Tim contacted me, I was instantly drawn to the story of Auraria, GA.

Holtzclaw, though a little on the naïve side of things, does his best to do exactly what Shadburn asks of him: buy up all the land in Auraria. Holtzclaw did not anticipate the awkwardness of the people and his interactions with them—the citizens of Auraria are a different breed of people. And things get weirder from there. At times I felt genuinely bad for Holtzclaw; mindless obedience generally causes problems. Other times, I was really frustrated with him. Even later into the book [spoiler] after he joins forces with Ms. Rathburn to build their paddle boat hotel, he still tries to be the loyal doormat to Shadburn. I could sorta kinda understand where he was coming from, but at the same time, I couldn’t. I could never quite figure out who he was looking out for—himself, Shadburn, or the Aurarians.

I dislike Shadburn very much. “Loath him” may be the better way to put it. Selfish, egotistical, maniacal. Really annoying. Though he did redeem himself at the end of the book. No details, just read to find out.

I had a hard time reading Auraria. The middle third of the book was the hardest for me. I think it’s because Tim put so much effort in the research and making a realistically-set fantasy novel. It wasn’t hard to buy into the story, it was hard to digest it. I found it best suited to take in small chunks. I, however, devoured the final third of the book in one sitting. [spoiler] The undoing of the Queen of the Mountains, and ultimately Holtzclaw were marvelously well-written. Even though he and his work are unraveling at the seams, and I felt bad for him (remember how loyal he is?), it’s all so absurdly funny.

The last chapter of the book...a masterpiece. I got such satisfaction from the ending—it left me feeling relieved and exhausted. And redeemed.

This is a crazy, quirky read, full of descriptive language, unusual characters, and a story so unique I haven’t seen anything like this before. Y’all, seriously, check this book out.

Equal parts intelligence and insanity, and worthy of the moons gods

Thank you, Tim, for letting me read this!(less)

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Gwinnett County P...: A Local Author Spinning Local Lore	1	3	Oct 09, 2012 07:49am
The Indie Exchang...: Win Auraria by Time Westover	1	8	Jul 17, 2012 08:48am
Bloggers Unite™ : Win Auraria by Tim Westover	1	3	Jul 17, 2012 08:46am
Book Bloggers Ano...: Win Auraria by Tim Westover	1	1	Jul 17, 2012 08:45am
Creative Reviews: Win Auraria by Tim Westover	1	2	Jul 17, 2012 08:44am
Goodreads Librari...: Merge editions	20	61	Feb 27, 2012 09:35am

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