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Come In and Cover Me
A specialist in prehistoric ceramics, Ren Taylor launched her archaeological career with the unearthing of a stunning set of bowls in southern New Mexico. The bowls seem to belong to one remarkable 12th-century artist, and Ren is convinced they hold the secret to understanding a woman who died a thousand years earlier. Now in 2009, archaeologist Silas Cooper invites Ren to the remote Cañada Rosa, where he’s discovered more evidence of her artist.
Ren has an unusual connection to the dead, a connection that’s revealed during her stay in this lush canyon disconnected from the outside world. When she was twelve years old, her brother was killed in a car accident. Yet he did not vanish completely. Ever since then, he has been a not-quite-concrete presence, inserting himself into the quiet, still moments of the day, nothing more than the snatch of a song or a silhouette in the moonlight.
Ren is someone who lives with her ghosts. And now, at the canyon, she starts to see her artist, a young woman with dark eyes and strong hands, shaping bowls and tending fires before she disappears into the wind. She sees a woman in a macaw-feather skirt walking barefoot through the sand. The ghosts are holding out clues, and Ren is tempted to immerse herself entirely in their past. But then there is Silas, a man who has reached Ren in a way no one has managed since her brother died. Ultimately Ren begins to suspect that she must choose the ghosts or Silas, the past or the present.
Ren’s story explores the ways we connect to each other and the ways we keep each other at a distance. The novel revolves around our bonds to those we’ve loved and lost, the bonds of family, and the bonds we have with those who have come before us.
Ren has an unusual connection to the dead, a connection that’s revealed during her stay in this lush canyon disconnected from the outside world. When she was twelve years old, her brother was killed in a car accident. Yet he did not vanish completely. Ever since then, he has been a not-quite-concrete presence, inserting himself into the quiet, still moments of the day, nothing more than the snatch of a song or a silhouette in the moonlight.
Ren is someone who lives with her ghosts. And now, at the canyon, she starts to see her artist, a young woman with dark eyes and strong hands, shaping bowls and tending fires before she disappears into the wind. She sees a woman in a macaw-feather skirt walking barefoot through the sand. The ghosts are holding out clues, and Ren is tempted to immerse herself entirely in their past. But then there is Silas, a man who has reached Ren in a way no one has managed since her brother died. Ultimately Ren begins to suspect that she must choose the ghosts or Silas, the past or the present.
Ren’s story explores the ways we connect to each other and the ways we keep each other at a distance. The novel revolves around our bonds to those we’ve loved and lost, the bonds of family, and the bonds we have with those who have come before us.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 12, 2012
About the author
Gin Phillips
8 books489 followersGin Phillips is the celebrated author of The Well and the Mine (winner of the 2009 Barnes & Noble Discover Award for Fiction) and Come in and Cover Me (“original and strikingly beautiful” – Elle Magazine). Her recent novel, Fierce Kingdom, was named one of the best books of 2017 by Publishers Weekly, NPR, Amazon, and Kirkus Reviews. Her novels have been named as selections for Indie Next, Book of the Month, and the Junior Library Guild. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama, with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 143 reviews
March 10, 2013
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Book Description: A specialist in prehistoric ceramics, Ren Taylor launched her archaeological career with the unearthing of a stunning set of bowls in southern New Mexico. The bowls seem to belong to one remarkable 12th-century artist, and Ren is convinced they hold the secret to understanding a woman who died a thousand years earlier. Now in 2009, archaeologist Silas Cooper invites Ren to the remote Cañada Rosa, where he’s discovered more evidence of her artist.
Ren has an unusual connection to the dead, a connection that’s revealed during her stay in this lush canyon disconnected from the outside world. When she was twelve years old, her brother was killed in a car accident. Yet he did not vanish completely. Ever since then, he has been a not-quite-concrete presence, inserting himself into the quiet, still moments of the day, nothing more than the snatch of a song or a silhouette in the moonlight.
Ren is someone who lives with her ghosts. And now, at the canyon, she starts to see her artist, a young woman with dark eyes and strong hands, shaping bowls and tending fires before she disappears into the wind. She sees a woman in a macaw-feather skirt walking barefoot through the sand. The ghosts are holding out clues, and Ren is tempted to immerse herself entirely in their past. But then there is Silas, a man who has reached Ren in a way no one has managed since her brother died. Ultimately Ren begins to suspect that she must choose the ghosts or Silas, the past or the present.
Ren’s story explores the ways we connect to each other and the ways we keep each other at a distance. The novel revolves around our bonds to those we’ve loved and lost, the bonds of family, and the bonds we have with those who have come before us.
My Review: Great Literature it isn't. Great Writing likewise. It's a fun way to spend a day.
Phillips does something I haven't seen before: She makes Ren, her heroine, respond to the ghosts that clutter up her life exactly as one does to the teenagers that clutter up parents' lives...slightly impatient, slightly amused, mostly befuddled by behaviors that seem to us, the observers, so self-evidently self-defeating. That gets the book a quarter star.
Then Phillips creates the swoon-worthy Silas. My favorite porn star is "named" Silas. It was the work of but a moment to slot him in the mental movie of the book, the one I always cast and direct with every book I've ever read. *swoon* Another quarter star.
The ghostly Kaffeeklatsch of pot-ladies made me grin. A half-star for making them all so cute.
And a half-star added to the baseline chick-lit two for the pots, the archaeology, and the artistic trappings. Loved those.
I liked this entertainment. Provided you don't approach it with some outsized expectations, you might too.
The Book Description: A specialist in prehistoric ceramics, Ren Taylor launched her archaeological career with the unearthing of a stunning set of bowls in southern New Mexico. The bowls seem to belong to one remarkable 12th-century artist, and Ren is convinced they hold the secret to understanding a woman who died a thousand years earlier. Now in 2009, archaeologist Silas Cooper invites Ren to the remote Cañada Rosa, where he’s discovered more evidence of her artist.
Ren has an unusual connection to the dead, a connection that’s revealed during her stay in this lush canyon disconnected from the outside world. When she was twelve years old, her brother was killed in a car accident. Yet he did not vanish completely. Ever since then, he has been a not-quite-concrete presence, inserting himself into the quiet, still moments of the day, nothing more than the snatch of a song or a silhouette in the moonlight.
Ren is someone who lives with her ghosts. And now, at the canyon, she starts to see her artist, a young woman with dark eyes and strong hands, shaping bowls and tending fires before she disappears into the wind. She sees a woman in a macaw-feather skirt walking barefoot through the sand. The ghosts are holding out clues, and Ren is tempted to immerse herself entirely in their past. But then there is Silas, a man who has reached Ren in a way no one has managed since her brother died. Ultimately Ren begins to suspect that she must choose the ghosts or Silas, the past or the present.
Ren’s story explores the ways we connect to each other and the ways we keep each other at a distance. The novel revolves around our bonds to those we’ve loved and lost, the bonds of family, and the bonds we have with those who have come before us.
My Review: Great Literature it isn't. Great Writing likewise. It's a fun way to spend a day.
Phillips does something I haven't seen before: She makes Ren, her heroine, respond to the ghosts that clutter up her life exactly as one does to the teenagers that clutter up parents' lives...slightly impatient, slightly amused, mostly befuddled by behaviors that seem to us, the observers, so self-evidently self-defeating. That gets the book a quarter star.
Then Phillips creates the swoon-worthy Silas. My favorite porn star is "named" Silas. It was the work of but a moment to slot him in the mental movie of the book, the one I always cast and direct with every book I've ever read. *swoon* Another quarter star.
The ghostly Kaffeeklatsch of pot-ladies made me grin. A half-star for making them all so cute.
And a half-star added to the baseline chick-lit two for the pots, the archaeology, and the artistic trappings. Loved those.
I liked this entertainment. Provided you don't approach it with some outsized expectations, you might too.
April 12, 2015
An archaeologist in the American Southwest has paranormal experiences that show her the story of two 12th century Pueblo women.
I really wanted to like this. But the various parts I liked didn't come together for me into a good whole.
The first half started out well. Beautiful descriptions of the canyons. Life on an archaeological dig. A smart heroine falling in love with a man who is smart and kind. Best of all, pottery makers and parrot handlers from 1000 years ago.
But about halfway through, I had a hard time getting past my irritation with lead character Ren.
This book could have been about how scientific minds deal with non-rational insights. Or it could have been about a talented professional woman who's functional despite her delusions.
Instead, the brother's ghost angle squashed the rest of the story.
I really wanted to like this. But the various parts I liked didn't come together for me into a good whole.
The first half started out well. Beautiful descriptions of the canyons. Life on an archaeological dig. A smart heroine falling in love with a man who is smart and kind. Best of all, pottery makers and parrot handlers from 1000 years ago.
But about halfway through, I had a hard time getting past my irritation with lead character Ren.
This book could have been about how scientific minds deal with non-rational insights. Or it could have been about a talented professional woman who's functional despite her delusions.
Instead, the brother's ghost angle squashed the rest of the story.
January 6, 2012
Come In and Cover Me is about Ren who has a special gift of seeing ghosts. She first saw her brother, Scott after he died in a car accident. She became an archaeologist and used her gift to tell the story of the people who lives in the past through the discovery of ancient potteries.
This book talks about the broken relationship between her parents and the developing relationship with her fellow archaeologist, Silas. The two ghosts of the Mimbres women were trying to deliver a message to her but like all encryptic message, the message was misunderstood. Ren did figured the message by understanding the lives of the two ghostly Mimbres women and was able to heal.
This book has so much history and details of the Mimbres. I would recommend this book to those who wants depth, the mystery of the past, and to understand the loss of the loved one. This book does describe what happened to the family when everyone is trying to protect each other and ended up distancing themselves from each other.
This book talks about the broken relationship between her parents and the developing relationship with her fellow archaeologist, Silas. The two ghosts of the Mimbres women were trying to deliver a message to her but like all encryptic message, the message was misunderstood. Ren did figured the message by understanding the lives of the two ghostly Mimbres women and was able to heal.
This book has so much history and details of the Mimbres. I would recommend this book to those who wants depth, the mystery of the past, and to understand the loss of the loved one. This book does describe what happened to the family when everyone is trying to protect each other and ended up distancing themselves from each other.
December 14, 2011
A very strange occurrence happened in that I read two books about archaeology. One book, Crocodile on the Sandbank, by Elizabeth Peters covers a "dig" in Egypt in the 19th century, while Come In and Cover Me centers on current times in the southwestern United States. I enjoyed both stories dealing with archaeology even though each writer utilizes different methods in writing. Peters and Phillips both employ local legend and present a ghost. Peters writes a little more whimsically and allows the reader a laugh or two. Phillips writes mystically and emotionally about a young woman who hears and sees spirits. Ren, the heroine must learn to trust and spare her feelings, and she must let go of the past. Both writers explore the trials and tribulations of archaeology.
December 30, 2011
Review first published on my blog: http://memoriesfrombooks.blogspot.com...
Come In and Cover Me is the story of Ren, or rather, it is the stories of Ren. Ren is in her thirties and an archaeologist dedicated to telling the stories of the people she studies. One aspect of this book is the story of "the artist," one Mimbre woman whose pottery Ren is tracing from different archaeological sites in the American Southwest. A second story is the love story of Ren and Silas, who is also a colleague. The third story is the story of Ren losing her brother Scott in an accident when she is twelve and the ramifications that has had for her family and her as an individual.
The books weaves together these stories as Ren learns that ultimately you have to let go of the past to move forward. She is haunted by the ghosts of the past - her brother and "the artist". Silas represents her present and possibly her future. The conflict between the two appears throughout the book. Not a new premise for a book - the past and the present. The setting in the American southwest and the descriptions of the Mimbre culture, however, add a fascinating element to the book.
The writing style of the book is engrossing. It pulls the reader into its world. The descriptions are vivid, and the emotions brought out. An enjoyable book.
***Reviewed for LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program***
Come In and Cover Me is the story of Ren, or rather, it is the stories of Ren. Ren is in her thirties and an archaeologist dedicated to telling the stories of the people she studies. One aspect of this book is the story of "the artist," one Mimbre woman whose pottery Ren is tracing from different archaeological sites in the American Southwest. A second story is the love story of Ren and Silas, who is also a colleague. The third story is the story of Ren losing her brother Scott in an accident when she is twelve and the ramifications that has had for her family and her as an individual.
The books weaves together these stories as Ren learns that ultimately you have to let go of the past to move forward. She is haunted by the ghosts of the past - her brother and "the artist". Silas represents her present and possibly her future. The conflict between the two appears throughout the book. Not a new premise for a book - the past and the present. The setting in the American southwest and the descriptions of the Mimbre culture, however, add a fascinating element to the book.
The writing style of the book is engrossing. It pulls the reader into its world. The descriptions are vivid, and the emotions brought out. An enjoyable book.
***Reviewed for LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program***
October 16, 2011
I won this book from the Goodreads Giveaway. When I first read the brief description, I thought that the ghost reference is a metaphor. It was quite a surprise when I realized that it is actually literal!
The first one-third of the book was a bit hard to get into for me. On a positive note, I now know more about the archaelogy digging.
The book soon picked up its speed and I enjoyed it very much from then on. Somehow, I can relate to the research-nerd side of the heroine (surprise, surprise, huh?). She tends to over-analyze and over-complicate things, but hey, that's life for many of us, right? It is very interesting to see how the present and the past (like centuries ago) intertwined and how we as human never really changed (emotionally, at least). I now have higher appreciation to the archaelogist profession. It really is an art/skill to reconstruct the past, someone else's past.
Honestly, if I could give half star, this is more like a 3.5 stars for me. But it's free (and I cannot give out 0.5 star), so 4 star it is!
ps. the only part that doesn't make sense to me is...why do ghosts from centuries ago speak English?!
The first one-third of the book was a bit hard to get into for me. On a positive note, I now know more about the archaelogy digging.
The book soon picked up its speed and I enjoyed it very much from then on. Somehow, I can relate to the research-nerd side of the heroine (surprise, surprise, huh?). She tends to over-analyze and over-complicate things, but hey, that's life for many of us, right? It is very interesting to see how the present and the past (like centuries ago) intertwined and how we as human never really changed (emotionally, at least). I now have higher appreciation to the archaelogist profession. It really is an art/skill to reconstruct the past, someone else's past.
Honestly, if I could give half star, this is more like a 3.5 stars for me. But it's free (and I cannot give out 0.5 star), so 4 star it is!
ps. the only part that doesn't make sense to me is...why do ghosts from centuries ago speak English?!
December 8, 2011
I received this as an advance reading copy from Riverhead Books. This is a love story between two archaeologists. Gin Phillips has done a wonderful job of bringing the characters alive. Ren, the main character, is searching for everything she can find about an ancient Mimbre woman who has made pottery which she painted with parrots. The ghosts of two women appear to her and she learns about their lives, and also about herself. We also learn about her past thru her thoughts and thru the ghost of her brother Scott. Phillips has written this in a way that seems real. Normally I'm not thrilled about ghost stories, but this novel grows on you and the ghosts have a place in the story. The novel starts out slowly, but the read is definitely worth it.
December 30, 2019
Narrazione lenta e prolissa e la parte del misticismo e magia alle volte è talmente accurata che sembra un libro di studio. Peccato!
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May 6, 2021Will not be rating this book because.... it's a DNF for me! I'm actually a little bit sad about this one, because I wasn't hating it at the beginning. It actually was pretty okay. The thing is, and this is not a spoiler, about 120 pages in, the viewpoint changes. Now, normally, that wouldn't be an issue, but it kinda came out of nowhere. And continued to happen sometimes even mid-page the further I read, and it was really throwing me off. Also.... it got.... boring? I dunno, it just seemed like it was trying a little too hard to be poignant and moving, and I just don't care. Kudos to you if you gel with this book, but it's just not for me.
July 26, 2016
This was a very intriguing book. Ren - an archaeologist - has the ability to see ghosts. She has been seeing the ghost of her brother since she was 12. She uses this ability to recreate the lives of the artifacts she finds. Even though Ren feels strongly about telling a truthful history, she buries her own past. Love the intrigue of finding lost treasures and really gives you a sense of what an archaeological dig is. Wonderfully told.
March 18, 2012
Grief. Loss. Stories from the past as connections to others: both personal and ancient. Ghosts: who is haunting who, and why? Pottery and bones as echoes/puzzle pieces from another story that will never be completely told again, yet are worth the search. I like archeology and New Mexico anyway, and this has both - tied with the story of the archeologist who is broken herself by the sudden death of her brother when she was 12.
February 21, 2015
6/10
Ho oscillato tra il 5 e il 6 perchè il romanzo non è brutto ma neanche un granchè. La storia rimbalza un po' in qua e là senza che prenda una direzione precisa. Non prevale la storia d'amore, non prevale il lato paranormale, non prevale il lato psicologico, ma, nonostante questa non prevalenza di niente, non è un romanzo equilibrato e armonico. Non mi ha deluso perchè non avevo aspettative, ma non mi è piaciuto.
Ho oscillato tra il 5 e il 6 perchè il romanzo non è brutto ma neanche un granchè. La storia rimbalza un po' in qua e là senza che prenda una direzione precisa. Non prevale la storia d'amore, non prevale il lato paranormale, non prevale il lato psicologico, ma, nonostante questa non prevalenza di niente, non è un romanzo equilibrato e armonico. Non mi ha deluso perchè non avevo aspettative, ma non mi è piaciuto.
October 11, 2012
It lead to a lively discussion at our book club...
July 25, 2020
"Life is blood and death and fear and joy and fierce architecture, man."
I read a few other reviews and it seems that those that did not enjoy it felt that the two main plots of the story — Ren's continuing relationship with Scott, and the archaeological digs — were too separate, that they overpowered one another.
I have to disagree. My first interaction with Gin Phillips was Fierce Kingdom. In that novel, a mom and her young son are stuck in a zoo while a mass shooting is happening, but the main story, the lesson, is how strangers can reach into each other's lives, that we aren't strangers at all.
I argue that Phillips does the same thing in this book. The main plot is that Ren is trying to find her artist, her pottery-maker. But an integral part of Ren's personality is that she lost her brother at a young age, and how that loss shaped the rest of her life (and her career choice. If you had the ability to see glimpses of the past, being an archaeologist or a historian would be good fit for you, too.)
So much of the artist's story (because, without giving spoilers, we do get to learn about the artist's life) is wrapped in loss and grief, just as Ren's is. It's the same story, centuries apart. Telling the stories of others , missing those that are lost , finding a new family in those who are not blood — the artist and Ren are the same person.
I have never had an interest in archaeology, or academic arguments about the way ancient peoples lived, but Phillips makes it so natural to the story that I found myself engrossed in Silas and Ren's discussions, trying to decide for myself. It felt like I was on the dig, too.
I am not normally an audiobook person, but it was only available at my library as an audiobook, so I took a chance on it. I think I enjoyed it more as an audiobook than I would have if I had read it. Especially the sleep-talking Silas does. I laughed out loud. "You're a Volkswagen Flip-top."
My only issue with audiobooks is that it is harder to mark wonderful passages, and there are many. However, I was able to bookmark a few of Phillips' words that struck me:
- It made you feel more real, the nearness of disaster.
- It did not feel real. It was not a death, it was a vanishing.
- Ren had always wondered if that was something as shallow as ingrained etiquette, speak softly when you walk through a graveyard, or if it was something more fundamental, some fear or acknowledgement of the inevitable, bones calling to bones.
Overall: I went with a 5 instead of a 4.5 because I am not an audiobook person and this book was engrossing told orally.
I read a few other reviews and it seems that those that did not enjoy it felt that the two main plots of the story — Ren's continuing relationship with Scott, and the archaeological digs — were too separate, that they overpowered one another.
I have to disagree. My first interaction with Gin Phillips was Fierce Kingdom. In that novel, a mom and her young son are stuck in a zoo while a mass shooting is happening, but the main story, the lesson, is how strangers can reach into each other's lives, that we aren't strangers at all.
I argue that Phillips does the same thing in this book. The main plot is that Ren is trying to find her artist, her pottery-maker. But an integral part of Ren's personality is that she lost her brother at a young age, and how that loss shaped the rest of her life (and her career choice. If you had the ability to see glimpses of the past, being an archaeologist or a historian would be good fit for you, too.)
So much of the artist's story (because, without giving spoilers, we do get to learn about the artist's life) is wrapped in loss and grief, just as Ren's is. It's the same story, centuries apart. Telling the stories of others , missing those that are lost , finding a new family in those who are not blood — the artist and Ren are the same person.
I have never had an interest in archaeology, or academic arguments about the way ancient peoples lived, but Phillips makes it so natural to the story that I found myself engrossed in Silas and Ren's discussions, trying to decide for myself. It felt like I was on the dig, too.
I am not normally an audiobook person, but it was only available at my library as an audiobook, so I took a chance on it. I think I enjoyed it more as an audiobook than I would have if I had read it. Especially the sleep-talking Silas does. I laughed out loud. "You're a Volkswagen Flip-top."
My only issue with audiobooks is that it is harder to mark wonderful passages, and there are many. However, I was able to bookmark a few of Phillips' words that struck me:
- It made you feel more real, the nearness of disaster.
- It did not feel real. It was not a death, it was a vanishing.
- Ren had always wondered if that was something as shallow as ingrained etiquette, speak softly when you walk through a graveyard, or if it was something more fundamental, some fear or acknowledgement of the inevitable, bones calling to bones.
Overall: I went with a 5 instead of a 4.5 because I am not an audiobook person and this book was engrossing told orally.
September 22, 2019
“Come In and Cover Me” is a painfully lovely book. Just like the ancient pottery that is a main focus of the story – the main character, Ren, is incredibly fragile. Nearly destroyed by the death of her older brother when she was a child, she’s done the best she can to keep protected what pieces of her remain. After the loss of her brother, her family breaks apart.
“They did not want her to leave for college, which surprised her, because she thought they had forgotten she lived with them.”
Ren and her parents retreated into themselves, creating such thick shells that they couldn’t be reached. The depth of loss is so great for Ren that it becomes her norm. As an adult, when confronted by a possible breakup with a boyfriend, she thinks, “If he grabbed his things and stormed out and told her he never wanted to see her again, she would still have time to get her cup of coffee. But if he stayed and kept talking, she would have to make do with a Diet Coke from a vending machine.”
It’s not that Ren doesn’t feel the emotions of loss, it’s that her loss caused such scar tissue over her heart that it is unreachable.
So she chooses a life of archeology – one of deaths long past, of stories far removed from her own, of people that she can learn about – but that will never know her.
“From her first dig when she was twenty-two, these were what had appealed to her: the constants. The scenes, the land, the chemical compositions – the moments – that remained the same now and a thousand years ago. There was a power to the constancy, to the connection through distinct, holdable physical things.” Not intangible emotions – scientific certainties.
But then a new find changes everything. Everything she thought she knew, all of the constants she held true about herself and the life she thought she’d led are called into question. Her future becomes linked with the past of two long dead women – and one very much living man. But even as she begins to care deeply about Silas, the process of opening up to him is unbelievably painstaking.
“She could imagine explaining everything to him, telling the stories he needed to hear, but it didn’t seem as simple as just speaking, as opening her mouth and moving her jaw, letting her tongue touch the roof of her mouth in the patterns that she recognized as speech. She didn’t know how to say the memories. She didn’t even know how to think them.”
This book was lovely, if a bit slow paced. I took a short break in the middle and read another book, but when I came back to “Come in and Cover Me” – I was instantly back in the story and cared about Ren and Silas more than when I left them.
Gin Phillips has unearthed an even deeper vein of emotion and beauty than she did in “The Well and the Mine” and I look forward to her next book.
“They did not want her to leave for college, which surprised her, because she thought they had forgotten she lived with them.”
Ren and her parents retreated into themselves, creating such thick shells that they couldn’t be reached. The depth of loss is so great for Ren that it becomes her norm. As an adult, when confronted by a possible breakup with a boyfriend, she thinks, “If he grabbed his things and stormed out and told her he never wanted to see her again, she would still have time to get her cup of coffee. But if he stayed and kept talking, she would have to make do with a Diet Coke from a vending machine.”
It’s not that Ren doesn’t feel the emotions of loss, it’s that her loss caused such scar tissue over her heart that it is unreachable.
So she chooses a life of archeology – one of deaths long past, of stories far removed from her own, of people that she can learn about – but that will never know her.
“From her first dig when she was twenty-two, these were what had appealed to her: the constants. The scenes, the land, the chemical compositions – the moments – that remained the same now and a thousand years ago. There was a power to the constancy, to the connection through distinct, holdable physical things.” Not intangible emotions – scientific certainties.
But then a new find changes everything. Everything she thought she knew, all of the constants she held true about herself and the life she thought she’d led are called into question. Her future becomes linked with the past of two long dead women – and one very much living man. But even as she begins to care deeply about Silas, the process of opening up to him is unbelievably painstaking.
“She could imagine explaining everything to him, telling the stories he needed to hear, but it didn’t seem as simple as just speaking, as opening her mouth and moving her jaw, letting her tongue touch the roof of her mouth in the patterns that she recognized as speech. She didn’t know how to say the memories. She didn’t even know how to think them.”
This book was lovely, if a bit slow paced. I took a short break in the middle and read another book, but when I came back to “Come in and Cover Me” – I was instantly back in the story and cared about Ren and Silas more than when I left them.
Gin Phillips has unearthed an even deeper vein of emotion and beauty than she did in “The Well and the Mine” and I look forward to her next book.
January 17, 2012
Read It & Eat with Alabama Native Gin Phillips
By Jaime Boler
Come In and Cover Me by Gin Phillips (Riverhead Books; 342 pages; $26.95).
In her first novel The Well and the Mine (2008), Alabama native Gin Phillips evocatively captured the South during the Great Depression. Her new novel Come In and Cover Me is set in the Southwest. I wondered if she could render that area as skillfully and as beautifully as she did the town of Carbon Hill, Alabama. Phillips does not disappoint: Her talent and versatility are evident.
Come In and Cover Me has a lot to live up to. Phillips won the Barnes & Noble Discover Award for The Well and the Mine, about a family struggling to make ends meet yet still managing to help out their neighbors. A splash in a well irrevocably alters their world and echoes throughout the novel.
Ren is an archaeologist who studies the Mimbres ("willow" in Spanish) Culture, a Northern Puebloan people, in present-day New Mexico. On a dig, she meets fellow archaeologist Silas, and the attraction is instant.
Ren and Silas uncover twelfth-century bowls made by an unusual female artist. The bowls are colorful and frequently adorned with animals, such as parrots. Ren is convinced the bowls were all crafted by the same woman.
When Ren was twelve years old, her older brother, Scott, died in a car accident. In an instant, the whole family dynamic was altered. Scott, however, did not really go away; his ghost first appeared to Ren the day after his death and reappears often. Scott admired the music of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, and his spirit sings his old favorites to his little sister. This technique is all Phillips, who loved the music of Dolly Parton and the Oak Ridge Boys as a child. Songs, Phillips writes in an essay entitled "The Soundtrack of Memory," "can bring back the past—or just our past selves—with all the attached love and longing and regret." Phillips believes "music can summon ghosts for us all."
Scott is not the only ghost that visits Ren. The spirits of two Mimbres women, Non and Lynay, also appear to her; they tell her where to dig. Meanwhile, Ren and Silas develop a romance. Ren, though, is reluctant to fully commit to him. Will Ren choose the ghosts or will she choose Silas?
In an interview via email, I asked Phillips how she came up with the idea for her novel. She explains, "I first came up with idea of Ren: a woman who on the surface has it all together—charm, humor, intelligence—but who was totally gutted by an early loss. A woman who had never gotten over that loss—hadn’t really been allowed to process it—and was left perpetually trying to hold on to the past…in more ways than one. I saw her sitting in the hot sand with the heat and the dust and the itch of it all. There was this great physicality to how she thought about ancient history."
But, Phillips did not yet have the sense of place she needed. That all changed when she visited Boston's Peabody Museum and "stumbled on a Mimbres exhibit." Its beauty astonished her and led her to do research. Then Phillips went on a dig in New Mexico where she met "an archaeologist who talked compellingly about frontiers and the intersection points of cultures and a thousand other things. He really helped me to flesh out a whole world in prehistoric New Mexico, and he brought Lynay and Non’s world to life. "
I must confess that I did worry that all the supernatural elements would come across as hooey, but nothing could be further from the truth. Ren does see dead people, yes, but it sets the stage for her spectacular discoveries, finds she might not have made without the help of her spirits.
In Come In and Cover Me, the author tackles history and memory. Sometimes both can be faulty. Sometimes both must be revised, and that is not such a bad thing, especially if they are skewed or wrong.
Fans of Phillips first journeyed to the coal mines of Alabama, and now readers follow her to the deserts of the American Southwest. I am confident readers will embrace Ren and Silas just as they did Tess and Virgie Moore in The Well and the Mine.
So is Phillips. She hopes "readers will see the same strength and humor in Ren that I see, tempered by the realization of how she's been shaped and in some ways broken by the loss of her brother and, really, her childhood. She's got harder edges than any of the characters in The Well and the Mine, and that's part of her appeal. She's also plenty vulnerable, though. Silas is open whereas she's closed-off, and he's comfortable enough in his own skin, his own talents, to be willing to stick around and see where his relationship with her might go. I think the pull between them--the complexity and depth of their connection--is a major draw of the story."
What's next for Gin Phillips? She gives us the scoop: "I have a few projects in various stages. I have a middle-grade book set in Birmingham due to come out in summer 2013. It involves two girls who run away to an abandoned golf course. I have a finished draft of a novel with my publishers right now that follows the lifelong friendship of two Alabama women in their 90s, and I'm just starting to research a potential novel set in Fairhope in the 1890s. "
To promote the release of Come In and Cover Me, Fairhope bookstore Page and Palette will present a "Read It & Eat" luncheon event with Phillips on January 17 at the Camellia Café in Fairhope from 12 to 1 pm. A book signing at Page and Palette will follow from 1:30 until 2:00 pm. Tickets are $15. This includes lunch and $5 goes toward the purchase of a book. If you are interested in attending or want more information, please go to http://www.pageandpalette.com or to the bookstore.
Phillips paints a picturesque portrait of the Southwest. A vivid landscape comes to life on the page. If you are a fan of the author and her first novel, Come In and Cover Me has you covered.
By Jaime Boler
Come In and Cover Me by Gin Phillips (Riverhead Books; 342 pages; $26.95).
In her first novel The Well and the Mine (2008), Alabama native Gin Phillips evocatively captured the South during the Great Depression. Her new novel Come In and Cover Me is set in the Southwest. I wondered if she could render that area as skillfully and as beautifully as she did the town of Carbon Hill, Alabama. Phillips does not disappoint: Her talent and versatility are evident.
Come In and Cover Me has a lot to live up to. Phillips won the Barnes & Noble Discover Award for The Well and the Mine, about a family struggling to make ends meet yet still managing to help out their neighbors. A splash in a well irrevocably alters their world and echoes throughout the novel.
Ren is an archaeologist who studies the Mimbres ("willow" in Spanish) Culture, a Northern Puebloan people, in present-day New Mexico. On a dig, she meets fellow archaeologist Silas, and the attraction is instant.
Ren and Silas uncover twelfth-century bowls made by an unusual female artist. The bowls are colorful and frequently adorned with animals, such as parrots. Ren is convinced the bowls were all crafted by the same woman.
When Ren was twelve years old, her older brother, Scott, died in a car accident. In an instant, the whole family dynamic was altered. Scott, however, did not really go away; his ghost first appeared to Ren the day after his death and reappears often. Scott admired the music of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, and his spirit sings his old favorites to his little sister. This technique is all Phillips, who loved the music of Dolly Parton and the Oak Ridge Boys as a child. Songs, Phillips writes in an essay entitled "The Soundtrack of Memory," "can bring back the past—or just our past selves—with all the attached love and longing and regret." Phillips believes "music can summon ghosts for us all."
Scott is not the only ghost that visits Ren. The spirits of two Mimbres women, Non and Lynay, also appear to her; they tell her where to dig. Meanwhile, Ren and Silas develop a romance. Ren, though, is reluctant to fully commit to him. Will Ren choose the ghosts or will she choose Silas?
In an interview via email, I asked Phillips how she came up with the idea for her novel. She explains, "I first came up with idea of Ren: a woman who on the surface has it all together—charm, humor, intelligence—but who was totally gutted by an early loss. A woman who had never gotten over that loss—hadn’t really been allowed to process it—and was left perpetually trying to hold on to the past…in more ways than one. I saw her sitting in the hot sand with the heat and the dust and the itch of it all. There was this great physicality to how she thought about ancient history."
But, Phillips did not yet have the sense of place she needed. That all changed when she visited Boston's Peabody Museum and "stumbled on a Mimbres exhibit." Its beauty astonished her and led her to do research. Then Phillips went on a dig in New Mexico where she met "an archaeologist who talked compellingly about frontiers and the intersection points of cultures and a thousand other things. He really helped me to flesh out a whole world in prehistoric New Mexico, and he brought Lynay and Non’s world to life. "
I must confess that I did worry that all the supernatural elements would come across as hooey, but nothing could be further from the truth. Ren does see dead people, yes, but it sets the stage for her spectacular discoveries, finds she might not have made without the help of her spirits.
In Come In and Cover Me, the author tackles history and memory. Sometimes both can be faulty. Sometimes both must be revised, and that is not such a bad thing, especially if they are skewed or wrong.
Fans of Phillips first journeyed to the coal mines of Alabama, and now readers follow her to the deserts of the American Southwest. I am confident readers will embrace Ren and Silas just as they did Tess and Virgie Moore in The Well and the Mine.
So is Phillips. She hopes "readers will see the same strength and humor in Ren that I see, tempered by the realization of how she's been shaped and in some ways broken by the loss of her brother and, really, her childhood. She's got harder edges than any of the characters in The Well and the Mine, and that's part of her appeal. She's also plenty vulnerable, though. Silas is open whereas she's closed-off, and he's comfortable enough in his own skin, his own talents, to be willing to stick around and see where his relationship with her might go. I think the pull between them--the complexity and depth of their connection--is a major draw of the story."
What's next for Gin Phillips? She gives us the scoop: "I have a few projects in various stages. I have a middle-grade book set in Birmingham due to come out in summer 2013. It involves two girls who run away to an abandoned golf course. I have a finished draft of a novel with my publishers right now that follows the lifelong friendship of two Alabama women in their 90s, and I'm just starting to research a potential novel set in Fairhope in the 1890s. "
To promote the release of Come In and Cover Me, Fairhope bookstore Page and Palette will present a "Read It & Eat" luncheon event with Phillips on January 17 at the Camellia Café in Fairhope from 12 to 1 pm. A book signing at Page and Palette will follow from 1:30 until 2:00 pm. Tickets are $15. This includes lunch and $5 goes toward the purchase of a book. If you are interested in attending or want more information, please go to http://www.pageandpalette.com or to the bookstore.
Phillips paints a picturesque portrait of the Southwest. A vivid landscape comes to life on the page. If you are a fan of the author and her first novel, Come In and Cover Me has you covered.
October 22, 2019
I liked the archaeological approach, and I liked the ghost story approach, however, the two storylines seemed quite disparate, as though they didn't really go with one another, and ultimately it didn't seem like there was much of a point to the story. That said, the descriptions were beautiful and it was nice to read an archaeological fiction with a focus on pottery - it's not one that's commonly touched on, though there are places in the southwest where you can (and I have) simply walked through the desert and kicked it free, with no effort or intention, just by walking. So, I appreciated the subject matter, but I wasn't a fan of the disparate story lines, and I felt like the writing wasn't as polished as it could have been.
October 19, 2018
I was disappointed in this book, Gin Phillips second novel, expecting the same high quality that her debut novel, The Well and the Mine, delivered. It did not do it for me. Although her descriptive abilities are astounding and I felt I could see the New Mexico landscapes she traversed, I felt the story itself was somewhat weak. However, there was enough to like that I'll read her next books.
July 16, 2017
This woman has ghosts. Literally. The story bounces in between her childhood, her adulthood, and the lives of several Pueblo women, as Ren tries to figure out what she can believe from her life, and what she can glean from the remnants of others.
November 19, 2018
This book was original, aspirational, and taught me words and worlds Id never read about. But, the author took too much on for her second novel, too many points of few, too many stories, too many eras making this uneven and unbslanced.
March 25, 2020
I'm not sure why I decided to read this book. I started it 9 months ago, and with the social distancing decided to finish books that were in progress. This book is very slow, although there is a good lesson on grief and it's many effects on us.
March 3, 2021
2.5 stars. It was very well written and the plot had potential but it was boring to me. You’d think a story about an archaeologist (which was my childhood dream to be when I grew up) who sees ghosts would be an interesting read, but it was slow and fairly uneventful.
June 13, 2021
Could not finish this book. The person reading the audio book did a poor job in my opinion because I loved all of the books I have read so far by this author. I will read all of the adult fiction by Gin Phillips. Except this one.
January 29, 2022
I have given up on this book. It deals with archeology and mysticism, and I loved The Well and the Mine by the same author. One would think this would be right up my alley. I thought so, but I cannot get interested in it at all. :-(
August 12, 2017
It was a well written book, a bit boring in places, but overall a good read.
June 8, 2018
this book was ok but I had other expectation on what this story would be. It was vary beautiful story of recovery of grief.
February 14, 2019
3.5 stars
May 7, 2019
I found this book a bit boring and dry compared to two others I’ve read by this author
Read
August 8, 2020i did not really enjoy this book
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