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Clay's Quilt
After his mother is killed, four-year-old Clay Sizemore finds himself alone in a small Appalachian mining town. At first, unsure of Free Creek, he slowly learns to lean on its residents as family. There’s Aunt Easter, who is always filled with a sense of foreboding, bound to her faith above all; quiltmaking Uncle Paul; untamable Evangeline; and Alma, the fiddler whose song wends it way into Clay’s heart. Together, they help Clay fashion a quilt of a life from what treasured pieces surround him. . . .
292 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
283 people are currently reading
4404 people want to read
About the author
Silas House
38 books1,595 followersSilas House is the nationally bestselling author of six novels--Clay's Quilt, 2001; A Parchment of Leaves, 2003; The Coal Tattoo, 2005; Eli the Good, 2009; Same Sun Here (co-authored with Neela Vaswani) 2012; Southernmost (2018), as well as a book of creative nonfiction, Something's Rising, co-authored with Jason Howard, 2009; and three plays.
His work frequently appears in The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Salon. He is former commentator for NPR's "All Things Considered". His writing has appeared in recently in Time, Ecotone, Oxford American, Garden and Gun, and many other publications.
House serves on the fiction faculty at the Spalding School of Writing and as the National Endowment for the Humanities Chair at Berea College.
As a music writer House has worked with artists such as Kacey Musgraves, Jason Isbell, Lee Ann Womack, Kris Kristofferson, Lucinda Williams, The Judds, Jim James, and many others.
House is the recipient of three honorary doctorates and is the winner of the Nautilus Award, an EB White Award, the Storylines Prize from the New York Public Library/NAV Foundation, the Appalachian Book of the Year, and many other honors.
His work frequently appears in The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Salon. He is former commentator for NPR's "All Things Considered". His writing has appeared in recently in Time, Ecotone, Oxford American, Garden and Gun, and many other publications.
House serves on the fiction faculty at the Spalding School of Writing and as the National Endowment for the Humanities Chair at Berea College.
As a music writer House has worked with artists such as Kacey Musgraves, Jason Isbell, Lee Ann Womack, Kris Kristofferson, Lucinda Williams, The Judds, Jim James, and many others.
House is the recipient of three honorary doctorates and is the winner of the Nautilus Award, an EB White Award, the Storylines Prize from the New York Public Library/NAV Foundation, the Appalachian Book of the Year, and many other honors.
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February 20, 2020
4.5 stars
“There is a cool that sometimes comes down over the mountain in the evening. The day slips away slowly, so quietly and secretly that no one really notices until it is gone. The peach light stands like steam along the horizon, changing the shape of things. Night does not come quickly, does not even give a hint of its coming, and for a while, there is just the cool, when there is no night and no day, stretched out like ice”
Beautiful prose like this, that has me rereading sentences and paragraphs to feel it again is what I hope for each time I open a book. I fell in love with Silas House’s writing, his story telling, when I listened to A Parchment of Leaves. I hoped to find the same here and the lovely prose above from this novel is one of the reasons, this one did not disappoint me. I was taken to these mountains in Kentucky where the love of his family and the only home he knows are what matter most to Clay Sizemore. The word atmospheric feels so overused, but I’m at a loss to think of a more apt descriptor. The sense of place drew me in immediately.
Clay is a toddler when he loses his mother and as a young man, he desperately misses her, although he can hardly remember much about her. He deeply loves his Aunt Easter, Uncle Gabe and Uncle Paul who share in his upbringing. He’s connected to his best friend Cake and Cake’s mother , Marguerite who was his mother’s best friend. His working days are spent in the coal mine where he works and his weekends spent getting drunk with Coal. Yet, even with the love and support of his family, Clay seems lost and lonely looking for a way to move forward, looking for something that’s missing, until he meets Alma, a beautiful fiddle player. What happens from this point on changes Clay’s life in ways he didn’t imagine, both in good ways and in ways that will make him struggle with who is. Clay and those in his life are characters that I cared about and hoped the best for. I discovered that The Coal Tattoo, although written after this novel is about Clay’s mother and Easter in their younger years, so I’ll be reading it soon, as well as his latest book Southernmost.
I received a copy of this book from Blair through Edelweiss.
“There is a cool that sometimes comes down over the mountain in the evening. The day slips away slowly, so quietly and secretly that no one really notices until it is gone. The peach light stands like steam along the horizon, changing the shape of things. Night does not come quickly, does not even give a hint of its coming, and for a while, there is just the cool, when there is no night and no day, stretched out like ice”
Beautiful prose like this, that has me rereading sentences and paragraphs to feel it again is what I hope for each time I open a book. I fell in love with Silas House’s writing, his story telling, when I listened to A Parchment of Leaves. I hoped to find the same here and the lovely prose above from this novel is one of the reasons, this one did not disappoint me. I was taken to these mountains in Kentucky where the love of his family and the only home he knows are what matter most to Clay Sizemore. The word atmospheric feels so overused, but I’m at a loss to think of a more apt descriptor. The sense of place drew me in immediately.
Clay is a toddler when he loses his mother and as a young man, he desperately misses her, although he can hardly remember much about her. He deeply loves his Aunt Easter, Uncle Gabe and Uncle Paul who share in his upbringing. He’s connected to his best friend Cake and Cake’s mother , Marguerite who was his mother’s best friend. His working days are spent in the coal mine where he works and his weekends spent getting drunk with Coal. Yet, even with the love and support of his family, Clay seems lost and lonely looking for a way to move forward, looking for something that’s missing, until he meets Alma, a beautiful fiddle player. What happens from this point on changes Clay’s life in ways he didn’t imagine, both in good ways and in ways that will make him struggle with who is. Clay and those in his life are characters that I cared about and hoped the best for. I discovered that The Coal Tattoo, although written after this novel is about Clay’s mother and Easter in their younger years, so I’ll be reading it soon, as well as his latest book Southernmost.
I received a copy of this book from Blair through Edelweiss.
February 27, 2020
“Clays Quilt”, was first published in 2001.
It’s the first book of a trilogy.... yet, from my understanding.. the books can be read in any order - each complete as a stand alone.
A Parchment of Leaves”, and
“The Coal Tattoo” are the other two books in the series.
I read - with total bliss - the absolutely wonderful novel, “Southernmost”, (a ‘standalone’), published in 2018), about a year ago... so I was excited to read another book by Silas House.
“Clay’s Quilt” was good- ( plenty good), but not ‘as’ incredible as “Southernmost”.
Yet it’s easy to be forgiving because this novel was written many years before - it was House’s debut novel.
Don’t get me wrong - I liked this book - I love how I felt strengthened from the stitching of the story— as if we, the readers, got to be part of the finished product.
I definitely plan to read the other two books in this series.
“Clay’s Quilt” is a blend of poetic writing - gorgeous descriptions of a small town in the mountain region in rural coal county in Eastern Kentucky.....
and the raw tension of the residents who live there.
Great Uncle Paul was the family quilter.
Aunt Ester, and Uncle Gabe had a a close hand in raising Clay Sizemore.
Clay’s mother, Anneth, was murdered when Clay was four years of age.
Having lost a parent myself at the same age as Clay, ( not murder though thank god), I felt I understood the inner turmoil that remained unsettling as Clay came of age.
It was moving to watch Clay mature.
He was sweet- sensitive - and had his shortcomings like the rest of us.
Other characters- cousins, and other community folks -round out the storytelling.
At age 18, Clay takes a job in the coal mines. It’s there that he falls in love with Alma—a fiddler- preachers daughter.
Their relationship is threatened with obstacles that will test their love, loyalty, happiness, and safety.
Alma is a great character - and because of her, Clay ( and she), examine together a deeper understanding for the value of family and community.
Silas House’s writing
invites moments to ‘pause’ for gorgeous reflection....
Just under 300 pages, it’s filled with tragedy, deaths, (murder), love ( falling in love), healing, redemption, family, community, music, religion, faith, authentic dialect, coal dust, scraps of cloth, and “mountain people”.
Silas House pays great tribute to the Appalachian...it’s a story that resonates today.
Stitched with love and soulful prose.... this story
echoes and reflects the beauties and flaws of life.
Silas House writes with the observant capacity of a God-Forsaken angel.
“A treasure to be handed down from one Reeder to another”—( BookPage) 📚💕
4.5 -rating ‘up’!
It’s the first book of a trilogy.... yet, from my understanding.. the books can be read in any order - each complete as a stand alone.
A Parchment of Leaves”, and
“The Coal Tattoo” are the other two books in the series.
I read - with total bliss - the absolutely wonderful novel, “Southernmost”, (a ‘standalone’), published in 2018), about a year ago... so I was excited to read another book by Silas House.
“Clay’s Quilt” was good- ( plenty good), but not ‘as’ incredible as “Southernmost”.
Yet it’s easy to be forgiving because this novel was written many years before - it was House’s debut novel.
Don’t get me wrong - I liked this book - I love how I felt strengthened from the stitching of the story— as if we, the readers, got to be part of the finished product.
I definitely plan to read the other two books in this series.
“Clay’s Quilt” is a blend of poetic writing - gorgeous descriptions of a small town in the mountain region in rural coal county in Eastern Kentucky.....
and the raw tension of the residents who live there.
Great Uncle Paul was the family quilter.
Aunt Ester, and Uncle Gabe had a a close hand in raising Clay Sizemore.
Clay’s mother, Anneth, was murdered when Clay was four years of age.
Having lost a parent myself at the same age as Clay, ( not murder though thank god), I felt I understood the inner turmoil that remained unsettling as Clay came of age.
It was moving to watch Clay mature.
He was sweet- sensitive - and had his shortcomings like the rest of us.
Other characters- cousins, and other community folks -round out the storytelling.
At age 18, Clay takes a job in the coal mines. It’s there that he falls in love with Alma—a fiddler- preachers daughter.
Their relationship is threatened with obstacles that will test their love, loyalty, happiness, and safety.
Alma is a great character - and because of her, Clay ( and she), examine together a deeper understanding for the value of family and community.
Silas House’s writing
invites moments to ‘pause’ for gorgeous reflection....
Just under 300 pages, it’s filled with tragedy, deaths, (murder), love ( falling in love), healing, redemption, family, community, music, religion, faith, authentic dialect, coal dust, scraps of cloth, and “mountain people”.
Silas House pays great tribute to the Appalachian...it’s a story that resonates today.
Stitched with love and soulful prose.... this story
echoes and reflects the beauties and flaws of life.
Silas House writes with the observant capacity of a God-Forsaken angel.
“A treasure to be handed down from one Reeder to another”—( BookPage) 📚💕
4.5 -rating ‘up’!
July 21, 2020
This is the debut novel by Silas House.
Set in the Kentucky hills. Clay Sizemore is a young coal miner from a big family and small town. His mother died when he was only 4 yrs old and he was raised by his Aunt Easter amongst his uncles and cousins, and extended family in the holler.
Clay and his best friend Cake work hard and spend time at the local honky..they both want more out of life then working and partying.
He meets a young fiddler named Alma, who is separated from her abusive husband ..and just knows that she is his future.. but this comes with problems of its own.
This novel is so beautifully written, it’s like a love letter to home, to family, to Kentucky.
I love this author’s writing. This is third novel I’ve read of his. Southernmost is very good, Parchment of Leaves is excellent.. the next book of his I’ll read will be The Coal Tattoo.
Set in the Kentucky hills. Clay Sizemore is a young coal miner from a big family and small town. His mother died when he was only 4 yrs old and he was raised by his Aunt Easter amongst his uncles and cousins, and extended family in the holler.
Clay and his best friend Cake work hard and spend time at the local honky..they both want more out of life then working and partying.
He meets a young fiddler named Alma, who is separated from her abusive husband ..and just knows that she is his future.. but this comes with problems of its own.
This novel is so beautifully written, it’s like a love letter to home, to family, to Kentucky.
I love this author’s writing. This is third novel I’ve read of his. Southernmost is very good, Parchment of Leaves is excellent.. the next book of his I’ll read will be The Coal Tattoo.
October 1, 2018
”Dance a little closer to me, dance a little closer now
Dance a little closer tonight
Dance a little closer to me, hey it's closing time
And love's on sale tonight at this five and dime
“Rita was sixteen years, hazel eyes and chestnut hair
She really made the Woolworth counter shine
Eddie was a sweet romancer, and a darn good dancer
And they'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime...”
-- Love at the Five and Dime, Kathy Mattea, Songwriters: Nanci Griffith
”Clay knew that the mountains looked purple under that big, moving sky, but they didn’t look still at all to him. They seemed to be breathing—rising so slowly, so carefully, that no one noticed but him. He watched them, concentrating the way he did when he was convinced a shadow had moved across his bedroom wall. It seemed to Clay that they rose and fell with a single pulse, as if the whole mountain chain was connected.”
Clay Sizemore is a coal miner, living on a mountain in Tennessee that has housed his family for generations. His family are simple people with simple needs, and it seemed when I first began this story that it could have been in the 1920s or earlier, or any time, really, if it weren’t for the references
to the 1990s music Clay likes to listen to.
He was a young child when his mother died, and his family is tightly bound together. His memories of that are dim, but he remembers the last thing he heard her say.
’She pressed her face to the window, leaning her forehead against the cold glass.” I ain’t never seen it so quiet on this mountain,” she said.”’
His family is everything to him, and when he meets Alma Asher, a fiddler, it isn’t long before he realizes that he wants to make her a part of his family, as well.
All these characters, who are indeed characters, likable, lovable, sweet, and some violent, unlikeable ones, but they are never uninteresting. In this, his debut, House’s writing shows the promise that I found in his latest, Southernmost. I’m looking forward to reading his ”A Parchment of Leaves very soon.
Dance a little closer tonight
Dance a little closer to me, hey it's closing time
And love's on sale tonight at this five and dime
“Rita was sixteen years, hazel eyes and chestnut hair
She really made the Woolworth counter shine
Eddie was a sweet romancer, and a darn good dancer
And they'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime...”
-- Love at the Five and Dime, Kathy Mattea, Songwriters: Nanci Griffith
”Clay knew that the mountains looked purple under that big, moving sky, but they didn’t look still at all to him. They seemed to be breathing—rising so slowly, so carefully, that no one noticed but him. He watched them, concentrating the way he did when he was convinced a shadow had moved across his bedroom wall. It seemed to Clay that they rose and fell with a single pulse, as if the whole mountain chain was connected.”
Clay Sizemore is a coal miner, living on a mountain in Tennessee that has housed his family for generations. His family are simple people with simple needs, and it seemed when I first began this story that it could have been in the 1920s or earlier, or any time, really, if it weren’t for the references
to the 1990s music Clay likes to listen to.
He was a young child when his mother died, and his family is tightly bound together. His memories of that are dim, but he remembers the last thing he heard her say.
’She pressed her face to the window, leaning her forehead against the cold glass.” I ain’t never seen it so quiet on this mountain,” she said.”’
His family is everything to him, and when he meets Alma Asher, a fiddler, it isn’t long before he realizes that he wants to make her a part of his family, as well.
All these characters, who are indeed characters, likable, lovable, sweet, and some violent, unlikeable ones, but they are never uninteresting. In this, his debut, House’s writing shows the promise that I found in his latest, Southernmost. I’m looking forward to reading his ”A Parchment of Leaves very soon.
October 24, 2020
Right before I left home for college, my mom and I learned to make quilts together. She had always sewed things when I was a child like my Barbie doll clothes and curtains. What started out as something to do to spend time with my mom, turned into a lifelong love for both of us. I still have my very first quilt I ever made, a Nine Patch. She would go on and turn her love for making quilts into starting a business called Quilting Connection in our small eastern Kentucky hometown. For years she shared her love of quilting with our community selling fabric and sewing machines, holding classes for interested folks. Even when I got married and moved away from home, I could not give up my own sewing. I started making baby quilts to give to friends and then eventually for my own babies. My mom has always had joy in choosing the fabrics and design for quilts to make for her grandchildren. It creates for her a special bond that she can give her love to them in this unique way. To her, each quilt she makes is a keepsake. I have a closet full of her creations.
So naturally, Silas House’s debut novel, Clay’s Quilt , interested me right away. It is a story of loss and family and finding yourself and moving on from the past. Clay Sizemore is a young Kentucky coal miner who lost his mother tragically at the age of 4. He’s spent his life in his hometown of Free Creek raised by his family and those he considers family that impacted his life. He is haunted by the ghosts of the past and desires to be free of them.
Clay watched the needle and thread, the scraps of fabric pulling into one another, separate one second and a part of a whole the next.
Clay wished he could piece the story of his mother together in the same way. He might find scraps of her life, stitch them together, and have a whole that he could pull up to his neck and feel warm beneath.
This is also a love story in more ways than one. Clay and Alma find love with each other and learn how to love after difficulties in both of their lives. There is a very strong familial love that extends to all of the family members in this part of Appalachia. When Clay moves 8 miles from his Aunt Easter, they became homesick for each other and Clay feels the mountains drawing him back to Free Creek.
House has created a well written picture of contemporary Appalachian life. It is largely autobiographical as he draws from his own life and area of Kentucky. He is able to convey the Appalachian love of music, religion and family, all things that are central to the hills. The reader understands that family is like the stitches holding the fabric of the quilts together, important in so many ways.
May 27, 2024
Clay's Quilt is an authentic and beautiful novel of contemporary Appalachian fiction. Author Silas House has written an evocative and lyrical book about Clay Sizemore, a young man tied to his family and community in Kentucky, and how he finds his place in life. Orphaned as a young boy, Clay is raised by his pious aunt and hard-drinking uncle and is blessed with many cousins. He is especially close to his cousin Dreama and his best friend Cake. After high school, he willingly works in a local coal mine, and parties every weekend with Cake. For years a lot of drinking, smoking marijuana and dancing were part of their lives, but he feels stuck in a rut, when he meets Alma, a fiddler who is getting divorced from her abusive husband. The two fall in love, but a deadly fight with Alma's ex gives him a crisis of faith that he needs to work through. The ending is a love-letter to his region and kin, and this debut novel by House ended up being the last of a three-book series that House wrote about the Sizemore family. House wrote prequels A Parchment of Leaves (which I adored) and The Coal Tattoo about Clay's parents and grandparents after he wrote this book.
On a side note, when does contemporary writing become historical fiction? Published in 2001, the story takes place from the 1970s through the 90s, although much of it feels timeless, as technology with computers and cell phones were not part of the narrative. The opioid epidemic had not hit the area yet and coal mining was still a viable job, so the story feels like a puzzle piece bridging the past and modern life now. I applaud the author for bringing the fictional Sizemore family to life and showcasing his beloved Kentucky. Many Appalachian books are set in the past, so this book was a breath of fresh air about being proud of your heritage- for he brought to life the beauty of the mountains, plus he showed respect to working-class and rural families of a region that is often overlooked or even looked down upon. I highly recommend the entire three-book series!
On a side note, when does contemporary writing become historical fiction? Published in 2001, the story takes place from the 1970s through the 90s, although much of it feels timeless, as technology with computers and cell phones were not part of the narrative. The opioid epidemic had not hit the area yet and coal mining was still a viable job, so the story feels like a puzzle piece bridging the past and modern life now. I applaud the author for bringing the fictional Sizemore family to life and showcasing his beloved Kentucky. Many Appalachian books are set in the past, so this book was a breath of fresh air about being proud of your heritage- for he brought to life the beauty of the mountains, plus he showed respect to working-class and rural families of a region that is often overlooked or even looked down upon. I highly recommend the entire three-book series!
February 5, 2020
3.75 ★
Saturated with House’s dreamy lush prose
"Their lovemaking was tangled and moist, like summer vines—a wild mess of arms and legs, warm skin against cool, Clay’s silver St. Christopher necklace mingling with Alma’s gold chain and small, plain cross. The room was thick with milky gray shadows, and the window was a silver square in the wall.”
and pages that transport the reader down country roads, to the mountains and music, to the love of family and home, in Appalachia.
Saturated with House’s dreamy lush prose
"Their lovemaking was tangled and moist, like summer vines—a wild mess of arms and legs, warm skin against cool, Clay’s silver St. Christopher necklace mingling with Alma’s gold chain and small, plain cross. The room was thick with milky gray shadows, and the window was a silver square in the wall.”
and pages that transport the reader down country roads, to the mountains and music, to the love of family and home, in Appalachia.
August 16, 2011
I just returned from a week-long nerd-summer-camp-dream called The Appalachian Writer’s Conference held the first week of August at the Hindman Settlement School in Hindman, KY. It was a-mazing.
I didn’t speak much with the star pupil to come out of this workshop, Silas House, but I watched him from a short distance over the week. He’s not a big man, but boy does he have an enormous voice, both on the page and out loud. He read from his latest work, a novel in letters between two young people, one living in the mountains of Appalachia and one living as the daughter of recent immigrants in New York City (Same Sun Here, co-written with Neela Vaswani).
His debut novel, Clay’s Quilt, was work-shopped at this conference. And it’s fabulous. I’m fresh off the last page and want to read it again. The writing is deeply felt, so moving, so fresh, so easy on the eye and ear but hard on the heart, like all good writing ought to be. The story is of humble origins: boy meets girl, boy gets girl, conflict arises, boy triumphs. Scenes of drunken honkytonks and poker melt into images of cornbread burning in an oven while the couple who stirred up the batter are stirring up the dust on the kitchen floor. And while I’d love to tell you it is elegant, what I have to say is that it is brutally beautiful. House was generous with his time and ear during the writer’s conference; I saw him commune with writers of every level and aspiration with an equally keen expression. This is why I love getting to know the artists behind this magic; House’s book is so alive beneath my fingers now that I’ve heard him speak with his own brilliant, beautiful, tender voice.
∫ Edit ∫
I didn’t speak much with the star pupil to come out of this workshop, Silas House, but I watched him from a short distance over the week. He’s not a big man, but boy does he have an enormous voice, both on the page and out loud. He read from his latest work, a novel in letters between two young people, one living in the mountains of Appalachia and one living as the daughter of recent immigrants in New York City (Same Sun Here, co-written with Neela Vaswani).
His debut novel, Clay’s Quilt, was work-shopped at this conference. And it’s fabulous. I’m fresh off the last page and want to read it again. The writing is deeply felt, so moving, so fresh, so easy on the eye and ear but hard on the heart, like all good writing ought to be. The story is of humble origins: boy meets girl, boy gets girl, conflict arises, boy triumphs. Scenes of drunken honkytonks and poker melt into images of cornbread burning in an oven while the couple who stirred up the batter are stirring up the dust on the kitchen floor. And while I’d love to tell you it is elegant, what I have to say is that it is brutally beautiful. House was generous with his time and ear during the writer’s conference; I saw him commune with writers of every level and aspiration with an equally keen expression. This is why I love getting to know the artists behind this magic; House’s book is so alive beneath my fingers now that I’ve heard him speak with his own brilliant, beautiful, tender voice.
∫ Edit ∫
July 20, 2017
I began with Silas House's A Parchment of Leaves because it had won prizes for Southern writing:
*Winner of the Kentucky Novel of the Year, 2003
*Winner of the Award for Special Achievement from the Fellowship of Southern Writers
*Nominee of the Southern Book Critics Circle Prize
*Nominee of the Book Sense Book of the Year Longlist
It had a strong impact on me. My overall impression was that it was beautiful. The writing was gorgeous and at the same time simple and expressive. It wonderfully captures the essence of the rural South, the land and the people. The same is true here. This contemporary author is talented.
I have given the first book five stars, this book three and will soon be reading The Coal Tattoo. The past lives of two of the central characters in Clay's Quilt are explored in The Coal Tattoo. Nevertheless, the three books are stand-alones.
Clay's Quilt draws life in southern Appalachia, a small mining village in Kentucky. Most of the events roll out in the 1980s. Clay is the central character. In 1974, his mother, Anneth, dies. He is only four, and thus the circumstances around her death are blurry. We come to understand past events and observe how he comes to find his own place in the village. Much is about a person’s sense of home. This theme does not fit me well since I have lived in many different places and appreciate having done so. I found Clay’s personal life story to be unremarkable. This explains why I gave the book only three stars even though I found the descriptive writing exceptional.
I enjoyed getting a glimpse of Southern rural life. Pentecostal beliefs, superstitions, traditions tied to marriage, birth and death as well as contemporary issues concerning drugs, physical abuse and excessive drinking all play in. There is sadness and there is joy and love and hate.
The narrator of the audiobook is Tom Stechschulte. I could easily follow the story and the southern dialect comes across well, but I felt he over-dramatized the written lines.
*Winner of the Kentucky Novel of the Year, 2003
*Winner of the Award for Special Achievement from the Fellowship of Southern Writers
*Nominee of the Southern Book Critics Circle Prize
*Nominee of the Book Sense Book of the Year Longlist
It had a strong impact on me. My overall impression was that it was beautiful. The writing was gorgeous and at the same time simple and expressive. It wonderfully captures the essence of the rural South, the land and the people. The same is true here. This contemporary author is talented.
I have given the first book five stars, this book three and will soon be reading The Coal Tattoo. The past lives of two of the central characters in Clay's Quilt are explored in The Coal Tattoo. Nevertheless, the three books are stand-alones.
Clay's Quilt draws life in southern Appalachia, a small mining village in Kentucky. Most of the events roll out in the 1980s. Clay is the central character. In 1974, his mother, Anneth, dies. He is only four, and thus the circumstances around her death are blurry. We come to understand past events and observe how he comes to find his own place in the village. Much is about a person’s sense of home. This theme does not fit me well since I have lived in many different places and appreciate having done so. I found Clay’s personal life story to be unremarkable. This explains why I gave the book only three stars even though I found the descriptive writing exceptional.
I enjoyed getting a glimpse of Southern rural life. Pentecostal beliefs, superstitions, traditions tied to marriage, birth and death as well as contemporary issues concerning drugs, physical abuse and excessive drinking all play in. There is sadness and there is joy and love and hate.
The narrator of the audiobook is Tom Stechschulte. I could easily follow the story and the southern dialect comes across well, but I felt he over-dramatized the written lines.
July 7, 2016
A good writing style makes this coming of age story interesting and nice. It touched on the right notes, warmed my spirits among this nice Appalachian family, but failed to move me enough to be truly memorable. For most it would be a 4 if you're looking for a quiet read. Nice scenes of hiking the hills and admiring nature. This has a nice family feeling to it even acknowledging the bit of violent drama at its core.
May 25, 2013
This is one of my top five all time favorite books. I've never read better written southerners than the characters Silas House has created. Not just Clay's Quilt but all of his books. The prose flows flawlessly and you feel like you are truly in the rural south. One of the best examples of Appalachian literature I've ever read.
September 9, 2021
Just like the other Silas House novels before it, this revisits extended members of the same family, new generations carrying on with life in the south. As the title suggests, we see the patchwork of influences that shape lives, some direct and some indirect. The telling is simple, the framework traditional, and the story familiar--we grow up, we fall in love, we learn new things about old events, and we carry on. There's nothing unusual or startling about this novel, and because of that it's a perfect distraction from a harsher world, offering love and the bonds of family. It's one of those reads that I call hot chocolate books. If it's comfort you are looking for, House provides the perfect treat.
October 5, 2016
Just a very average read for me. It didn't engage me like Lee Smith's writing. (I bought the book, in part, based on Lee Smith's review.) The characters were underdeveloped as were most of their story lines so it was difficult to make an emotional connection with people or their histories. I kept reading thinking that the pieces of the story would stitch together like a quilt (yes, I got that part) but it never did. I think my disappointment was magnified because of all the good reviews I read before
It is not a book I would recommend to my reader friends, even as a "beach read."
It is not a book I would recommend to my reader friends, even as a "beach read."
July 24, 2020
This is the first published book in a series focused on Kentucky families, all loosely connected in a trilogy which can be read in any order.
I was first impressed with the voice of Silas House, it is lyrical without being consciously “writerly”, the words flow like music across the page, each character seems fully realized and we as readers can connect with them. House also uses music in most of the scenes, whether it is Clay playing cassette tapes on his way home from the mines, or various characters turning the radio dial or punching buttons in the car searching for the songs that match their moods or the action unfolding, or Evangeline singing & shimmying her way across the stage, or Alma playing her fiddle, there is a soundtrack for this story. I could see and hear each scene in my mind’s eye.
The characters caught my heart, I deeply connected with them, especially Clay and Alma. There is much that is tragic, but much that is uplifting in each story. The family ties may bind, but they also support. The women pick up the pieces after each crisis, often brought about by the men in their lives. Faith and love sustain the relationships.
I looked forward to each emerging pattern as the narrative progressed, the light on each part of the quilt of Clay’s life bringing truth and understanding into his heart. He learns understanding his past can only take him so far, it is his present which needs to change to move him into the future for which he has hope.
This book can speak to us all, and I look forward to reading the other two books, as well as later works of this outstanding author. Such a treat to find someone with a body of work to accompany me through my days of isolation. Very highly recommended.
I was first impressed with the voice of Silas House, it is lyrical without being consciously “writerly”, the words flow like music across the page, each character seems fully realized and we as readers can connect with them. House also uses music in most of the scenes, whether it is Clay playing cassette tapes on his way home from the mines, or various characters turning the radio dial or punching buttons in the car searching for the songs that match their moods or the action unfolding, or Evangeline singing & shimmying her way across the stage, or Alma playing her fiddle, there is a soundtrack for this story. I could see and hear each scene in my mind’s eye.
The characters caught my heart, I deeply connected with them, especially Clay and Alma. There is much that is tragic, but much that is uplifting in each story. The family ties may bind, but they also support. The women pick up the pieces after each crisis, often brought about by the men in their lives. Faith and love sustain the relationships.
I looked forward to each emerging pattern as the narrative progressed, the light on each part of the quilt of Clay’s life bringing truth and understanding into his heart. He learns understanding his past can only take him so far, it is his present which needs to change to move him into the future for which he has hope.
This book can speak to us all, and I look forward to reading the other two books, as well as later works of this outstanding author. Such a treat to find someone with a body of work to accompany me through my days of isolation. Very highly recommended.
October 29, 2011
This Appalachian novel is the story of a young miner, Clay Sizemore, growing up in the hills of Kentucky. He's wild, but kind of heart, and early in the novel he falls hard for Alma, a gifted fiddler. They both have baggage: Alma is still married to an abusive husband, and in her family's Pentecostal religion, getting a divorce is taboo. Clay's life mirrors that of his mother Anneth, who lived a wild, free life until she was killed on a snowy mountain when Clay was only four. He loves his tight-knit family dearly, but is haunted by the memory of a mother he barely remembers. Aunts, uncles, cousins, and another family from the same mountain--Clay's best friend Cake and his oddly withdrawn mother--make a vivid secondary cast.
I loved this novel for its families that are doing the best they can, for its tormented loves and friendships, for its depiction of people living close to the land, and its connections to music. There's not a cell phone or an Internet connection in the novel, and it was refreshing.
I came to care deeply for the characters and would like to read more about them. If I had the capability, I would give this 4.5 stars: some of the ending didn't quite connect, feeling a bit like short stories tacked onto the rest of the book. I wanted to know more about some aspects of the characters: what was Clay's work like for him? What did the others do for a living? What made some of the secondary characters the people they were? It's not necessarily a bad thing that one wants to know more at the end of the book, it shows that the author had you hooked, but it's still frustrating. I think I will have to read more by House.
I loved this novel for its families that are doing the best they can, for its tormented loves and friendships, for its depiction of people living close to the land, and its connections to music. There's not a cell phone or an Internet connection in the novel, and it was refreshing.
I came to care deeply for the characters and would like to read more about them. If I had the capability, I would give this 4.5 stars: some of the ending didn't quite connect, feeling a bit like short stories tacked onto the rest of the book. I wanted to know more about some aspects of the characters: what was Clay's work like for him? What did the others do for a living? What made some of the secondary characters the people they were? It's not necessarily a bad thing that one wants to know more at the end of the book, it shows that the author had you hooked, but it's still frustrating. I think I will have to read more by House.
June 30, 2012
Silas House continues to deliver in this novel which picks up where The Coal Tattoo left off in the telling of the stories of Anneth and Easter, by portraying of the lives of the Sizemore family in the Kentucky Mountains. I enjoyed reading the story which takes place in the early 1990s and explores the culture in compelling, yet realistic terms. House does not make light of the difficulties of living in the region, nor does he apologize for them. His prose is lyrical, and his celebration of the bonds that tie families, of life in the mountains, and of strength and simplicity is magical.
Here are two of my favorite passages:
He sat on the grass and looked at his own house. He had spent his whole life listening to stories from the past, and now he had, his own, and it was slowly building, chapter by chapter. It was just like a book that he could pick up and hold in his hands. He could feel its weight, could put his face against the cool pages and breathe in the scent of the words. That’s the way it felt, looking at his home the first morning after it had been lived in (224).
There is a cool that sometimes comes over the mountains in the evening. The day slips away slowly, so quietly and secretly that no one really notices unit it is gone. The peach light stands like steam in the horizon, changing the shape of things. Night does not come quickly, does not even give a hint of its coming, and for a while, there is just the cool, when there is no night and no day, only time, stretched out like ice. No clocks ticking away the minutes, no movement of the earth, nothing changing or growing(29).
Here are two of my favorite passages:
He sat on the grass and looked at his own house. He had spent his whole life listening to stories from the past, and now he had, his own, and it was slowly building, chapter by chapter. It was just like a book that he could pick up and hold in his hands. He could feel its weight, could put his face against the cool pages and breathe in the scent of the words. That’s the way it felt, looking at his home the first morning after it had been lived in (224).
There is a cool that sometimes comes over the mountains in the evening. The day slips away slowly, so quietly and secretly that no one really notices unit it is gone. The peach light stands like steam in the horizon, changing the shape of things. Night does not come quickly, does not even give a hint of its coming, and for a while, there is just the cool, when there is no night and no day, only time, stretched out like ice. No clocks ticking away the minutes, no movement of the earth, nothing changing or growing(29).
July 22, 2024
Wow. Silas House is officially on my list of favorite authors. This book is so beautifully written. If you love Appalachia--the mountains, culture, and people--you have to read this book. You should read it anyway, because the writing is so spectacular. It made me feel the way I felt the first time I read Eudora Welty's "Delta Wedding." Like I was reading a painting. The words so beautifully capture the characters, the place, the events. I think this book also appealed to me because it is about a boy who loses his mother when he is very young and then spends many years trying to piece his life back together. His bonds with his family and their Appalachian roots ultimately make it possible for him. I also love the way music is woven through this book--if you don't already have these songs on your I-pod, you'll be downloading songs right and left as you read this.
A couple of my favorite quotes...
"There is a cool that sometimes comes down over the mountains in the evening. The day slips away slowly, so quietly and secretly that no one really notices until it is gone...It was an evening like that."
And...
"If there is anything that I wish you could keep of me, it would be my voice to play in your head--I wish I could leave you beautiful words to come to mind when it is a mother's gentle voice that you need...I'm setting by the open window and I've just now heard a whippoorwill. I have always loved their songs. There's a piece of me you can hold on to."
Anyway...read it...you'll be glad you did.
A couple of my favorite quotes...
"There is a cool that sometimes comes down over the mountains in the evening. The day slips away slowly, so quietly and secretly that no one really notices until it is gone...It was an evening like that."
And...
"If there is anything that I wish you could keep of me, it would be my voice to play in your head--I wish I could leave you beautiful words to come to mind when it is a mother's gentle voice that you need...I'm setting by the open window and I've just now heard a whippoorwill. I have always loved their songs. There's a piece of me you can hold on to."
Anyway...read it...you'll be glad you did.
June 19, 2018
I loved this story - great sadness and great joy. Wonderful characters with such life stories. The Appalachian setting always grabs me.
June 11, 2017
I worked at a bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky from 2002-2003, and during that year Silas House was a bestseller. I even got to meet him briefly, as he made more than one appearance at our store while I worked there. But I never read any of his books. I was in that time in my life when I still hoped to make it as a professional philosopher, and so I was putting away most fiction as something I wouldn't have time to read until at least tenure, if not retirement.
Well, the philosopher thing didn't work out, but it took me six years to realize that I was now at liberty to read all those books I had been postponing to retirement. As part of my Reading Books I Had Been Putting Off While I am Still Alive Tour, I finally made my way back to Silas House's Clay's Quilt, and I am glad I did.
I grew up in Kentucky, although not in Appalachia, but this book still felt like a homecoming in a lot of ways. The book tells the story of young Clay Sizemore and his effort to put together the fragments of his life and family, but the book is more a love note to eastern Kentucky. The writing is airy, poetic; the mountains and hollers of his (fictional) Crow County are a character in their own right. I read some of the well-observed descriptions of the sounds and smells in this book with a shock of complete recognition. I know this place; I have been here before.
The same goes for the people. House depicts the passion and generosity of spirit of people in eastern Kentucky in a way that I suspect few outsiders believe but which is utterly accurate. (Folks, read this book before you read that travesty by J.D. Vance.) And House's ear for dialogue! He makes but sparing use of phonetic "dialect" dialogue (in an interview at the end of the book he said that he tried to write all the dialogue in phonetic dialect, but it made his book sound 'like a script for Hee Haw'). I read the dialogue in this book and within one or two lines spoken by a character, I know *exactly* what they sound like. House's dialogue is deceptively simple, subtle, artful.
The story of the book is its only shortcoming. It's meaningful and moving, but a little thin and scattered. With a stronger story, House could be genuinely great. I look forward to reading more.
Well, the philosopher thing didn't work out, but it took me six years to realize that I was now at liberty to read all those books I had been postponing to retirement. As part of my Reading Books I Had Been Putting Off While I am Still Alive Tour, I finally made my way back to Silas House's Clay's Quilt, and I am glad I did.
I grew up in Kentucky, although not in Appalachia, but this book still felt like a homecoming in a lot of ways. The book tells the story of young Clay Sizemore and his effort to put together the fragments of his life and family, but the book is more a love note to eastern Kentucky. The writing is airy, poetic; the mountains and hollers of his (fictional) Crow County are a character in their own right. I read some of the well-observed descriptions of the sounds and smells in this book with a shock of complete recognition. I know this place; I have been here before.
The same goes for the people. House depicts the passion and generosity of spirit of people in eastern Kentucky in a way that I suspect few outsiders believe but which is utterly accurate. (Folks, read this book before you read that travesty by J.D. Vance.) And House's ear for dialogue! He makes but sparing use of phonetic "dialect" dialogue (in an interview at the end of the book he said that he tried to write all the dialogue in phonetic dialect, but it made his book sound 'like a script for Hee Haw'). I read the dialogue in this book and within one or two lines spoken by a character, I know *exactly* what they sound like. House's dialogue is deceptively simple, subtle, artful.
The story of the book is its only shortcoming. It's meaningful and moving, but a little thin and scattered. With a stronger story, House could be genuinely great. I look forward to reading more.
May 17, 2014
Silas House has a marvelous connection with this area of Kentucky/ Appalachian Mountain area and its people. And he can convey it with lyrical language and precise personality characterization. I was generous and rounded this up to 4 star, because of this ability to convey the culture, the weather, the nature, the natives- the entire. But I did think the plot was less substantial than in his others of this family's history, especially Parchment of Leaves. It's probably me and not the book, because the 1990's is not a favorite era read for me.
January 5, 2013
I bought this in 2001 (when it was published) and have just got around to reading it. Now I want to rush out and see what else he's written! It is beautifully descriptive of the mountains of eastern KY. He really captures the language well, too. Nice tempo, but don't be looking for a big denouement. Really just a lovely book.
July 1, 2010
I just couldn't really get into this book. The descriptions of the landscape were beautiful and evocative, but I just didn't love the characters, so I didn't find myself caring about how things would turn out for them. And then the ending was just kinda blah. So not a huge winner for me.
October 31, 2023
Beautifully written, meandering novel about a young man trying to stitch together stories of who his late mother was while trying to find happiness and home in his holler. Unapologetically Appalachian.
July 8, 2018
I enjoyed this a lot. The descriptions of music, dancing, and the mountain landscape make this worth reading.
March 14, 2021
I read this book in Silas House’s renowned trilogy of Appalachian life last and since it was the most modern in reference to music etc. this order worked fine for me. Following up The Coal Tattoo and A Parchment Of Leaves which I read with On The Southern Literary Trail.
4 stars- Entire Trilogy 5 stars
4 stars- Entire Trilogy 5 stars
January 27, 2023
This author is really good at capturing the really terrible parts of life and making them beautiful.
July 6, 2024
Speechless.
December 28, 2024
Really loved this book. Silas House writes a beautiful story of family bonds and Appalachian culture, Grief and memory, religion and hypocrisy, and the stunning beauty and spiritual experience the Appalachian mountains bring.
The main romance in the story could have been developed more… honestly wish that Clay and Cake were written to be together. I do wish the book was about 100 pages longer so House could’ve expanded on most of the scenes/moments through the book. Highly recommend to anybody but especially to those who have a connection to East KY/Central Appalachia.
The main romance in the story could have been developed more… honestly wish that Clay and Cake were written to be together. I do wish the book was about 100 pages longer so House could’ve expanded on most of the scenes/moments through the book. Highly recommend to anybody but especially to those who have a connection to East KY/Central Appalachia.
January 24, 2021
I fell in love with author Silas House when I read Southernmost. I decided to read some of his older books and started with the first first book in this series of three-Clay’s Quilt. Beautifully written and touching story. Once again showing the simple things in life are worth it. Quilting perhaps is something significant in Appalachia and/or Kentucky. What a great craft which surprisingly was a mans craft. The story of loss, love, family and friends always makes for a great read and this didn’t disappoint. Right to the end which pulled at my heartstrings.
September 16, 2023
Beautiful writing without going overboard. Clean and simple. I loved this story and the characters. It was a great intro to House’s writing and I cannot wait to read more.
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