A native of the North Carolina mountains, Robert Morgan was raised on land settled by his Welsh ancestors. An accomplished novelist and poet, he ha...
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Apr 13, 2008
Alisa
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Jan 14, 2008
Christine
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This book was not so bad but it wasn't as intriguing to me as the other books I read. I don't like to read about any sort of books containing rural background.
I really enjoyed how Julie, the main character just gets things done whether she wants to or not. I, on the other hand, cannot be like her because at home when I'm assigned to do chores, I do them when I'm done with my homework or if I really don't like doing it, I don't get it done at all.
Julie is a hard working woman who, h More...
I really enjoyed how Julie, the main character just gets things done whether she wants to or not. I, on the other hand, cannot be like her because at home when I'm assigned to do chores, I do them when I'm done with my homework or if I really don't like doing it, I don't get it done at all.
Julie is a hard working woman who, h More...
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Mar 21, 2009
Jenn
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I thought this one started strong but ended weak. The subtitle is "The Story of a Marriage," but I don't find that accurate, since the story doesn't follow the marriage through--we only get a glimpse at the very beginnings of a marriage. I expected, based on the title, to get the whole story, and I feel a bit jipped. Also, the further along I got, the more I skimmed because I started getting bored. Overall, though, I enjoyed the story, and I think MOrgan accurately portrays the App
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Aug 05, 2008
Suzanna
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I loved this book. I selected it to read because my public library's website said that if you liked "These is My Words", you would like this one. However, between requesting it from there and starting it, I read some Goodreads reviews and thought, ugh, I picked a bummer. Not so! In that light, I want to address some of the negatives I read on this site from other readers.
This book is, indeed, written by a man. And it is told from a young woman's perspective. But I fou More...
This book is, indeed, written by a man. And it is told from a young woman's perspective. But I fou More...
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Jan 24, 2008
Beth
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I went to Oprah's book club to find some new reads and happened on Morgan. I was attracted to this because it takes place in the Appalachians.
His writing is very poetical and descriptive, with an almost musical lilt to some of his writing. Add to that the country way of speaking that lends a charm of it's own.
"The ground was deep in fresh-fell leaves, and leaves sparkled like they was waxed and oiled. I kicked up a cloud of leaves. I kicked up a fog of new-fell le More...
His writing is very poetical and descriptive, with an almost musical lilt to some of his writing. Add to that the country way of speaking that lends a charm of it's own.
"The ground was deep in fresh-fell leaves, and leaves sparkled like they was waxed and oiled. I kicked up a cloud of leaves. I kicked up a fog of new-fell le More...
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Dec 19, 2008
Heather
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Gap Creek takes you back in time to Julie Harmon's life at the turn of the century. She grew up helping her father and mother run their house and farm. Julie watches her brother and then her father die, and is the one the family depends on to care for these two as they are ill. Events take a quick turn after these deaths when Julie meets Hank Richards, and marries at the young age of 17. Robert Morgan takes you through the day to day struggles of life and ends the tale emotionally with yet anot
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Jan 24, 2009
Camden
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This book alone managed convince me to ignore Oprah's Book Club. The situation was interesting enough but I decided that Robert Morgan should not try to write from a woman's perspective. In my opinion he got it all wrong. Not worth recommending and i can't figure out why so many people loved it.
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Jan 24, 2012
Kenley
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Set at the turn of the century, this book takes you through the hard first year of a young couple's marriage. There are plenty of hardships that you might imagine from this "Little House on the Prairie" type setting. However, the evolving of the relationship as the couple deals with each setback is so intriguing. You see the strengths and weaknesses of both husband and wife, and the difference that the environment and upbringings of the time might have rendered on folks such as these c
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Jan 09, 2012
Lisalu
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Alright I know this book has been out for years, but I just got around to reading it. I was looking for something to occupy some time over winter break and this seemed to meet my requirement--just about 300 pages. More than that and I admit it, I get distracted! Happy with my choice. This was one of those books where I found myself sneaking away from other things I needed to do, to go back and read more. I guess I found out that I enjoy this type of historical fiction more than I realized. It ma
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Nov 01, 2011
Sally906
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Oct 26, 2011
Stacie
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I wanted to like this book a lot because it's written by a local author and is set in this general area, and I tend to appreciate books like that on a different level than books set in an unfamiliar place. However, there were a few things that threw me off.
First, I realize that many authors write religion/spirituality into their novels in order to make the characters accurate to their time or to their personalities, but in this novel the religious aspect just felt actually preachy. I don't More...
First, I realize that many authors write religion/spirituality into their novels in order to make the characters accurate to their time or to their personalities, but in this novel the religious aspect just felt actually preachy. I don't More...
Jun 01, 2011
Jennifer
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Set in South Carolina (roughly) near the end of the 1800's, this is the story of Julie, narrated by Julie. By the time she is 16 or 17, she has seen a lot of suffering and worked very hard. She falls in love with Hank, and they get married. They are both very young, and the first year of their marriage is difficult. The book is really about the marriage, as seen through Julie's eyes.
There were times (when Hank gets angry and smacks her) when I was really frustrated and wanted her to j More...
There were times (when Hank gets angry and smacks her) when I was really frustrated and wanted her to j More...
May 05, 2011
Gina
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Stripped of all pretense by harsh elements in both nature and neighbors, Julie grows before our eyes into a heroine able to sustain and enrich her marriage and her faith through humility, simple grace and plain old hard work. More than a journal of one individual's coming of age, this time exposure of a young Appalachian couple in hard times accomplishes several important things. The reader is reminded of those elements that are truly essential: family, friends, and faith, and of the self-sacrif
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Jun 10, 2010
Shelley
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I picked this up and it immediately caught my attention. I read a little bit at night before bed over a couple of nights and then took it to work today where I sat and finished it in a couple of hours. I know a lot of people did not like the way it was written but I had no problem overlooking the "ignorant" speech of the characters. They were what they were. The other complaint that some of my friends had was that the title would seem to indicate it covered the whole marriage or at l
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Mar 24, 2010
Pamela
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Mar 16, 2010
Lynne
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“The hardest work I did on Gap Creek was trying to get the voice right,” says Robert Morgan, who has been called the poet laureate of Appalachia. The voice, as it happens, is of seventeen-year-old Julie Harmon. At seventeen, she’s a good girl, and strong, working as hard as a man alongside her father in this gritty, realistic portrayal of life in late-nineteenth-century North Carolina.
Morgan starts us off with the depiction of a horrifying illness in the very first chapter. When her More...
Morgan starts us off with the depiction of a horrifying illness in the very first chapter. When her More...
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Nov 15, 2011
Karyl
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Julie is a young girl whose burdens weigh heavily on her shoulders. Her father has no sons, and she's the strongest, and least likely to complain of her sisters. When her father takes sick, and later dies, she does all the hard work to keep her family afloat. She marries at 17 to a boy she barely knows, and he takes her down to Gap Creek, South Carolina, to live near his new job. Throughout the book, the couple suffers hardship after hardship, barely surviving their first winter together. I
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Nov 09, 2011
Donna
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Sep 29, 2011
Emily
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Just awful. I understand the way Morgan suggests that Julia is uneducated by usimg incorrect grammar, and that's okay, rather irritating, but okay. However, that is not what bothered me so much about this book. The first few chapters were vauge and somewhat interesting, making you think this book is going to go somewhere with the first tragic events that happen. Sadly, this is not the case. The deaths of Julia's papa and only brother seem quickly forgotten as Julia finds what is more like a crus
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Oct 18, 2011
Robin
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Gap Creek is written from the point of view of Julie, a girl in her late teens living in 19th century Appalachia. She marries a young man and starts her life in a valley town called Gap Creek. All of the events are told entirely from her perspective, and because of her young age it's apparent that, while she has a great deal of practical knowledge and self insight, there is a lot about the world she doesn't understand.
I enjoyed the book because it is essentially a handbook of rura More...
I enjoyed the book because it is essentially a handbook of rura More...
Jul 28, 2011
Shari
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This novel is about a young, newly married couple living in South Caroline, in the Appalachians, near the turn of the century after the Civil War. Julie is only 17, and Frank 18, and are very poor. Nothing comes easy for them, and they deal with death, fire, floods, swindlers, sickness, and near starvation.
The characters are memorable, and though they are long-suffering, the author does not make them into saints either. It was a very realistic portrait of what it was like to live in More...
The characters are memorable, and though they are long-suffering, the author does not make them into saints either. It was a very realistic portrait of what it was like to live in More...
Sep 24, 2010
Leslie
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I had read this once before, but when it showed up in the astonishing stack of books my aunt sent me recently I thought it was time for another visit with the Richards family down in the valley. The theme I liked the most in this books is that it doesn't seem to be a good idea for mountain folk to leave the mountains; that's just asking for trouble.
And trouble is just what Julie and Hank get when they move down on Gap Creek so Hank can go to work at a job nearby. Julie, newly married More...
And trouble is just what Julie and Hank get when they move down on Gap Creek so Hank can go to work at a job nearby. Julie, newly married More...
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Jan 24, 2009
Laura
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This book is about a girl's marriage (the first year or so of it). Some of the details the author chose to give I thought could have been left out. However, it is the comprehensive version, I suppose. It was well written, well thought-out, and illustrates many good ideas. But, basically, it is a couple's first year of marriage (especially when you don't really know the person you are marrying this is probably what it would be like. . . you PRAY you would have as much patience as Julie!!). A
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Dec 31, 2008
Jalena
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I loved, loved, loved this book. One of my favorite characters in a long time. Desperately sad, it tells the story of a young girl in appalachia after the civil war. Much of her story is unbelivably tragic - hunger, death, and unending struggle. Yet, the writing is so clean, beautiful and rich that the story sings, and is surprisingly uplifting. The central character Julie Harmon is a simple woman - uneducated, unquestioning. She is the person that her entire family leans on to run the farm
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Nov 23, 2009
Amanda
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I enjoy stories about the Appalachians so I was immediately drawn to this book however I found this one a little disappointing. It was almost as though this was a great outline for a book that was never quite completed and thus I was also little surprised that this was an Oprah's Book Club book.
First off, the title of this book doesn't seem to match the book. Yes they live in Gap Creek and yes the book starts just before Julie is married to Hank, however I found that this book was More...
First off, the title of this book doesn't seem to match the book. Yes they live in Gap Creek and yes the book starts just before Julie is married to Hank, however I found that this book was More...
Oct 28, 2011
Melissa
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This is one of "those" books - the ones everyone talks about everywhere you go... A popular book club selection, as well an an Oprah book club pick. It came highly recommended by several people, and because it takes place not far from where my ancestors lived and where I live now, I was interested to learn what life was like for them at that time. In basic terms, it's a story about nothing. A story about one year in a woman's life, narrated by herself, of being married in rural Appal
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Jan 20, 2009
I really enjoyed reading this book. It was very descriptive and described the way a girl lived with her family. She was very masculine in the sense that she was one of three girls and one boy. This required her to complete tasks that would make her a vital member to her family. When her younger brother died due to an infection that caused terrible pains, the protagonist had to realize that she would now need to care for her family more then she ever had. Thais book was interesting because one gr
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Oct 27, 2011
Reddwhine
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Oprah bookclub books are usually dark and depressing and this one in some ways was no exception, which is why I usually avoid them like the plague. This book was suggested for our bookclub and I chose it not knowing it was an Oprah book.I actually liked this book. I thought the writing was quite nice and some of the narrative descriptions lyrical and beautiful. I appreciated learning a lot of things I never would have had experience with such as the complicated system of washing clothes(I really
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Oct 14, 2011
Maura
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This book reminded me of "Christy", partly because of time and place of the novel. In "Christy" you have the reactions of an educated young woman from outside the mountains introduced to the poverty and ignorance that was rampant in the Appalachian Mountain communities at the start of the 20th century. "Gap Creek" is the insider's story. It's subtitled "the story of a marriage", although it really only tells about the first year or so of a young woman's
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Dec 31, 2008
Laura
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It was the brightest day you ever seen outside, bright as only early fall can be. The grass and leaves on the trees and even the bare dirt appeared to sparkle. I don't know if it was the light, or the fact that I was falling in love, that made everything shine. The world was lit in a new way, and I was lit up in every finger and toe and part of me.
This is the story of Julie Harmon's first year of marriage in the last year of the nineteenth century. Julie is a woman who can work as h More...
This is the story of Julie Harmon's first year of marriage in the last year of the nineteenth century. Julie is a woman who can work as h More...
