Alisa's review
Gap Creek : The Story Of A Marriage (Oprah's Book Club)
by Robert Morgan
Alisa's review
Gap Creek : The Story Of A Marriage (Oprah's Book Club) by Robert Morgan
Alisa's review
rating:
** spoiler alert **
It's amusing that this novel is recommended by the Oprah Book Club juggernaut alongside Faulkner, because Morgan is trying for the Faulkner unreliable narrator, first-person regional dialect. I don't think he's entirely successful, though.
The dust jacket let us know he's from North Carolina mountain stock, and the setting feels pretty authentic. I think it's late 1800s or around the turn of the century, but it's not entirely clear. I do wish that had been more obvious, but then the narrator, Julie Richards, is clearly uneducated and fairly unobservant. She’s more of a reporter of events, which are mostly tragedies. I couldn’t help but compare it to My Antonia, which is a similar tale of hardship (this time on the prairie) but with significantly more literary aplomb. It’s clear that Morgan did extensive research, and he certainly seems to have his facts and details right, ...more
The dust jacket let us know he's from North Carolina mountain stock, and the setting feels pretty authentic. I think it's late 1800s or around the turn of the century, but it's not entirely clear. I do wish that had been more obvious, but then the narrator, Julie Richards, is clearly uneducated and fairly unobservant. She’s more of a reporter of events, which are mostly tragedies. I couldn’t help but compare it to My Antonia, which is a similar tale of hardship (this time on the prairie) but with significantly more literary aplomb. It’s clear that Morgan did extensive research, and he certainly seems to have his facts and details right, ...more
