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The Woolsack Family #3
The New Inheritors
Kent Wascom is one of the most exciting and ambitious emerging voices in American fiction. Envisaging a quartet of books telling the story of America through a single family and region, the Gulf Coast of the United States, Wascom began with his much-lauded debut, The Blood of Heaven, published when he was just twenty-six and praised as "stunning" by the Miami Herald, and "like the sermon of a revivalist preacher" by the Wall Street Journal. His second novel, Secessia, continues the story of the Woolsack family in Civil War New Orleans, and in The New Inheritors, he has written his most powerful and poignant novel yet.
In 1914, with the world on the brink of war, Isaac, a nature-loving artist whose past is mysterious to all, including himself, meets Kemper, a defiant heiress caught in the rivalry between her brothers. Kemper's older brother Angel is hiding a terrible secret about his sexuality, and her younger brother Red possesses a capacity for violence that frightens even the members of his own brutal family. Together Isaac and Kemper build a refuge on their beloved, wild, Gulf Coast. But their paradise is short-lived; as the coast is rocked by the storms of summer, the country is gripped by the furor preceding World War I, and the Woolsack family's rivalries come to a bloody head. From the breathtaking beauty of the Gulf to the bloody havoc wreaked by the United States in Latin America, The New Inheritors explores the beauty and burden of what is handed down to us all. At once a love story and a family drama, a novel of nature and a novel of war, The New Inheritors traces a family whose life is intimately tied to the Gulf, that most disputed, threatened, and haunted part of this country we call America.
In 1914, with the world on the brink of war, Isaac, a nature-loving artist whose past is mysterious to all, including himself, meets Kemper, a defiant heiress caught in the rivalry between her brothers. Kemper's older brother Angel is hiding a terrible secret about his sexuality, and her younger brother Red possesses a capacity for violence that frightens even the members of his own brutal family. Together Isaac and Kemper build a refuge on their beloved, wild, Gulf Coast. But their paradise is short-lived; as the coast is rocked by the storms of summer, the country is gripped by the furor preceding World War I, and the Woolsack family's rivalries come to a bloody head. From the breathtaking beauty of the Gulf to the bloody havoc wreaked by the United States in Latin America, The New Inheritors explores the beauty and burden of what is handed down to us all. At once a love story and a family drama, a novel of nature and a novel of war, The New Inheritors traces a family whose life is intimately tied to the Gulf, that most disputed, threatened, and haunted part of this country we call America.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published July 10, 2018
12 people are currently reading
769 people want to read
About the author
Kent Wascom
11 books89 followersKent Wascom is the author of The New Inheritors, Secessia, and The Blood of Heaven. He was born in New Orleans and raised in Pensacola, Florida. The Blood of Heaven was named a best book of the year by the Washington Post and NPR. It was a semifinalist for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award and longlisted for the Flaherty-Dunnan Award for First Fiction. Wascom was awarded the 2012 Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival Prize for Fiction and selected as one of Gambit’s 40 Under 40. He lives in Norfolk, Virginia, where he directs the Creative Writing Program at Old Dominion University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
February 11, 2021
So far this year, I have read 3 five star books, but this is the first one that has blown me away. It is so raw and powerful and immense that I have no words to describe it. The language is lush and descriptive and haunting. The characters are one of a kind. The story is one of a kind. It is a novel that will haunt me for a long time to come. The conclusion left me wondering whether to despair over the future of our world or whether there is hope for us in the small actions of a few.
This is the third novel in a quartet planned by the author. I have not read the previous two, but I certainly will, and I hope he is diligently working on the fourth one. He is a masterful young author, and I hope he is discovered by more and more readers.
This is the third novel in a quartet planned by the author. I have not read the previous two, but I certainly will, and I hope he is diligently working on the fourth one. He is a masterful young author, and I hope he is discovered by more and more readers.
March 14, 2021
As clear as day I know Wascom’s landscape of the Gulf of Mexico coastline. I know the good and the bad of the Patterson and Woolsack families - the Coast and the characters are inseparable. I’ve been reminded of the depths of human hate and the promise of everlasting love. And also, in this homage to the Gulf of Mexico, I’ve found Kent Wascom’s story is sometimes dark but always beautiful.
The unknown narrator subtly shifts speaking about the characters to speaking directly to the reader, sometimes in the present and sometimes about the future. It is not overdone and it initially took me by surprise. Wascom occasionally leaves a little bit unsaid, leaving it open to reader interpretation, and I like that a lot. This is a thought-provoking and eloquent piece of work.
5+ stars.
The unknown narrator subtly shifts speaking about the characters to speaking directly to the reader, sometimes in the present and sometimes about the future. It is not overdone and it initially took me by surprise. Wascom occasionally leaves a little bit unsaid, leaving it open to reader interpretation, and I like that a lot. This is a thought-provoking and eloquent piece of work.
5+ stars.
June 8, 2024
Kent Wascom's novel The New Inheritors is a mixed bag for me. This story covers the life of Isaac Patterson and that of the neighboring Woolsack family from 1890 to 1919 with an added lookback from 1961.
For the first 45 pages, I am riveted. And then . . . . The narrative switches from Isaac's life to that of the Woolsack family. The story looses its immediacy. I am no longer emotionally connected. Even when Isaac reenters the story, I feel held at arm's length. This lack even permeates the love story; I don't feel the passion.
Wascom's prose is lyrical on a sentence level. The descriptions of the gulf coast and the wildlife are beautiful. Yet when the puts these sentences together into chapters, I am not drawn in. He alludes to the idea that family inheritance can be an advantage and a burden, and then fails to give this idea more than superficial treatment. Wascom also points to the idea that the U.S.' founding principles of equality and freedom have not been honored throughout our history, yet again this theme receives only surface treatment.
And my pet peeve--historical characters that speak and act with modern sensibilities. Ack!
When Wascom gets it right, this novel sings. For example:
"He painted for the same reason that he fished. The rod or the brush were bridges to the living world. He was only just beginning to understand this, what would be the direction of his art. To become closer with life, not to reproduce it from the eye of skeptic humanity."
Alas, this book as a whole, does not.
Publication 2018
For the first 45 pages, I am riveted. And then . . . . The narrative switches from Isaac's life to that of the Woolsack family. The story looses its immediacy. I am no longer emotionally connected. Even when Isaac reenters the story, I feel held at arm's length. This lack even permeates the love story; I don't feel the passion.
Wascom's prose is lyrical on a sentence level. The descriptions of the gulf coast and the wildlife are beautiful. Yet when the puts these sentences together into chapters, I am not drawn in. He alludes to the idea that family inheritance can be an advantage and a burden, and then fails to give this idea more than superficial treatment. Wascom also points to the idea that the U.S.' founding principles of equality and freedom have not been honored throughout our history, yet again this theme receives only surface treatment.
And my pet peeve--historical characters that speak and act with modern sensibilities. Ack!
When Wascom gets it right, this novel sings. For example:
"He painted for the same reason that he fished. The rod or the brush were bridges to the living world. He was only just beginning to understand this, what would be the direction of his art. To become closer with life, not to reproduce it from the eye of skeptic humanity."
Alas, this book as a whole, does not.
Publication 2018
February 17, 2021
When you see author Charles Dodd White give this book 5 stars you take notice. The details of the area are spot on, almost another character being displayed. This book grabs you from the first page and never lets up. The characters are fleshed out even surprising me with how some develop. The book is both haunting and parts love story. Well, really the book begins and ends as a love story. With so much in between. This is this authors 3rd book but this one can definitely be a stand alone read. I highly recommend. It’s very fast paced. The words on each page are magical, detailed but necessary. Even the titles of each section are thought provoking and meaningful.
February 18, 2021
I understand from the book’s blurb that this is one of a quartet of books about a family and American history of the Gulf Coast. And The New Inheritors feels like a part of a larger work because it’s sprawling, with large sections that don’t at first obviously connect in the way of novels with one main story. For instance, the first character, Isaac, whose history starts the book—with a mother who brings him into a cult and a harrowing escape with another woman which leads to his life in an adoptive family almost feels like a false start to a novel which is not about Isaac at all, because it goes from there to another family’s saga. I waited to see if the book would circle back to Isaac, a man who was “born full of animals,” and the whole intriguing opening, and the walk was so long through other characters’ lives that I began to worry it never would. But I should have trusted author Kent Wascom.
Toward the end I realized that the “long walks” were true to the way it really is with estranged family members, and I began to appreciate what I was reading on another level: this is a history of life itself that is told through specific people, during a specific long segment of time (early 1900s to 1961), in a specific region of the Americas.
The writing is so good and musical that the story holds you if you trust the serpentine wandering. This is less a novel than a history that probably takes the whole quartet of books to tell. I’m not sure I’ll read the other books, but I admire Wascom’s writing and applaud his enormous undertaking.
Toward the end I realized that the “long walks” were true to the way it really is with estranged family members, and I began to appreciate what I was reading on another level: this is a history of life itself that is told through specific people, during a specific long segment of time (early 1900s to 1961), in a specific region of the Americas.
The writing is so good and musical that the story holds you if you trust the serpentine wandering. This is less a novel than a history that probably takes the whole quartet of books to tell. I’m not sure I’ll read the other books, but I admire Wascom’s writing and applaud his enormous undertaking.
February 24, 2023
Nicaragua.
Rich, lush, realistic, thoughtful, fascinating ..... books don’t get much better than this! This was a fabulous and satisfying read!
This book was made up of an incredible cast of characters. At the center was Isaac Patterson whose life takes him from the streets of New Orleans, to an orphanage in Florida, and eventually to live along the coast of Mississippi. He was a talented artist, and his character was loosely inspired by Walter Anderson.
The book was populated with many vivid personalities including con men, murderers, merchants, and the military. In addition to the Gulf Coast, parts of the book were set in Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua.
This book was the third volume in a series of five books planned by Kent Wascom. This worked very well as a stand alone novel - however, I can hardly wait to read the first two volumes. This was a really fine read. Put it on your to read list now!
This book was provided to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review.
And I read it again for my Mississippi Book Club. His language is so rich and lovely. I appreciated the history. But my very favorite thing is the way the author will suddenly let you look into the future, then bring you back to the present - all without getting in the way of the story.
I read it a third time for another book club. I think this book is absolutely incredible. I’d like to read it once again, at a more leisurely pace.
Rich, lush, realistic, thoughtful, fascinating ..... books don’t get much better than this! This was a fabulous and satisfying read!
This book was made up of an incredible cast of characters. At the center was Isaac Patterson whose life takes him from the streets of New Orleans, to an orphanage in Florida, and eventually to live along the coast of Mississippi. He was a talented artist, and his character was loosely inspired by Walter Anderson.
The book was populated with many vivid personalities including con men, murderers, merchants, and the military. In addition to the Gulf Coast, parts of the book were set in Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua.
This book was the third volume in a series of five books planned by Kent Wascom. This worked very well as a stand alone novel - however, I can hardly wait to read the first two volumes. This was a really fine read. Put it on your to read list now!
This book was provided to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review.
And I read it again for my Mississippi Book Club. His language is so rich and lovely. I appreciated the history. But my very favorite thing is the way the author will suddenly let you look into the future, then bring you back to the present - all without getting in the way of the story.
I read it a third time for another book club. I think this book is absolutely incredible. I’d like to read it once again, at a more leisurely pace.
March 1, 2021
This is one of those novels that grows on you as you read further. What is implied often being more important than what is actually said. Leaving gaps for you to fill in yourself. That takes some real talent on the authors part. I’m not sure I appreciated this book nearly enough. It’s beautifully written. I do know I’m still thinking about it a day after I finished wondering if I might need to read it again to see what I missed the first time.
January 23, 2018
Kent Wascom apparently burst onto the literary scene as something of a wunderkind at the early age of 26. And I haven’t read it, or its sequel. But this, his third one, somehow attracted me on Netgalley. Not an immediately apparent attraction, since I usually stay away from the south, in fiction and real life and New Orleans specifically (Wascom’s subject of his previous works) holds no appeal whatsoever. And yet…read this one I did. And I’m impressed. From a purely literary perspective, as a life long reader, as someone who loves books, words, sentences weaved out of them, cadences and rhythms of them, the striking effect of a well turned out phrase…this book is a thing of beauty. Wascom’s writing has an undeniable artistry to it, all the more appropriate since this is a tale of an artist, different medium, visual, oils, more of a modernist, but still…art is art. the new Inheritors spans a lifetime, from late 19th well into the middle of the 20th century, covering so much more than mere biographical events, although those alone would be enough for a book. And yet, the events never overtake the narrative, the substance seldom matches the style, and consequently the book is incredibly dense and intensely verbose. So that’s the flip side of that coin…the writing is gorgeous, but rambling, discursive, occasionally exhausting, the sentences built like dreamboats, but long, long winded, strenuous even. One of them was just over two kindle pages long, making it quite possibly the longest sentence I’ve ever read. So if that sort of thing is off putting to you and if you prefer more dialogue or action driven pots, this book might frustrate. This one is more for a slow, low simmering, leisurely paced mood. It’s dark, heavy, features some terrific meditations on the nature of existence and thus obviously not a particularly cheery read, but it’s a powerhouse of a historical fiction and comes dangerously close in subject and execution to the prototypical great American novel. I’m glad to have read it. Some books are fun, some are works of art and variety is always welcome. Thanks Netgalley.
June 10, 2018
Beautiful, beautiful writing. Complicated characters that are intriguing. A love song to the Mississippi coast. The opening scenes of this story are very strange, and he lost me a few times in the first 50 pages, but I stuck with it and I'm very happy I did. Powerful writing.
The plot touches on several rather contemporary topics in the context of the early 20th century south. The characters have stronger links to points south, i.e. Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, than to the rest of the U.S., and there is a subtle but recurring argument about whose America they live in. There are also lines running through of race and sexual orientation, money and morality, artistry and war. It's a rich and satisfying literary exploration.
I got a copy to review from Net Galley.
The plot touches on several rather contemporary topics in the context of the early 20th century south. The characters have stronger links to points south, i.e. Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, than to the rest of the U.S., and there is a subtle but recurring argument about whose America they live in. There are also lines running through of race and sexual orientation, money and morality, artistry and war. It's a rich and satisfying literary exploration.
I got a copy to review from Net Galley.
July 13, 2024
Pour commencer par les points négatifs : la plume de l'auteur est aussi puissante qu'ennuyante. Il va parfois un peu trop loin dans la remise en contexte - et pourtant j'adore les longues descriptions. J'ai aimé le personnage d'Angel et de Rule pour leur complexité, et Isaac, bien que trop distancié du récit par moment.
J'ai eu un mal fou à me plonger dans le roman, mais les 150 dernières pages valent complètement le coup !
Les points positifs : il y a tellement de thèmes abordés : la secte, l'esclavage, le racisme, les maladies mentales et physiques, le coming out... Au travers de personnages attachants pour certains et d'autres, terriblement détestables. Ce roman est le récit de tant de personnages et des générations qui les suivent que ça en devient fabuleux, mais on ne le comprend une fois l'œuvre finie. Je recommande, il suffit de s'accrocher !
J'ai eu un mal fou à me plonger dans le roman, mais les 150 dernières pages valent complètement le coup !
Les points positifs : il y a tellement de thèmes abordés : la secte, l'esclavage, le racisme, les maladies mentales et physiques, le coming out... Au travers de personnages attachants pour certains et d'autres, terriblement détestables. Ce roman est le récit de tant de personnages et des générations qui les suivent que ça en devient fabuleux, mais on ne le comprend une fois l'œuvre finie. Je recommande, il suffit de s'accrocher !
October 30, 2020
Slow waves rolled into the marsh, Isaac before her rising and falling with them. He like a doorway suddenly thrown open to her, saying, Come on. It was bad enough for Kemper to recall her past, because that meant thinking of her family, who hadn't been in the same room together for years. That spring she'd graduated from Newcomb College, a New Orleans women's school much enamored with social engineering along the lines of Vassar and Agnes Scott, and now she was in the first leg of what she hoped would be a yearlong ramble culminating in some, she hoped further, substantial personal change. She had no commitments, no fiancé, no burning passion to do good or ill in the world. She just wanted to see . And before she went a way she didn't know, she wanted to gather herself in a place she did, in the summer house, and if not know herself then know what she was leaving. But here was Isaac, who she didn't really know at all, saying he remembered her.
Like the god the girl believed in, love has its own conscience. When you hear the voice that speaks and commands, even against all sense and self-interest, you will either wither slow and die in denial of it or without guilt burn everything behind you and go. At such times love shouts louder than reason.
~~A panoramic view of the Louisiana delta. I can just picture Isaac fishing, or setting up an easel to paint, with Kemper nearby.
My two cents: There are many types of writing--good writing, terse writing, knowledgeable writing, thrilling writing, nails on chalk board writing....and then there is the occasional book with beautiful writing. Wascom has given us just that in The New Inheritors . But don't overlook the story. Kemper and Isaac are young, in love, but powerless to escape the tide sweeping America in 1918, as we headed into The Great War. I loved getting a glimpse into the early 20th century. Too few books focus on this explosive bit of history. At 240 pages, it's short, and well worth the read. Highly recommended!! Given 4.5 stars or a rating of Outstanding.
Further Reading: An article on the treatment of conscientious objectors in WW1. https://civilianpublicservice.org/sto...
~~And one more article on the topic from the UK. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-27404266
Other favorite quotes (I have so many!): "More than anything Mrs. Patterson felt that love was something you spent freely, and in all directions that you could, and that if everyone did so the world would be a finer place."
~~"He painted for the same reason that he fished. The rod or the brush were bridges to the living world. He was only just beginning to understand this, what would be the direction of his art. To become closer with life, not to reproduce it from the eye of skeptic humanity."
~~"He mumbled something, her son, and she looked back at him over her shoulder from the head of the stairs. Having children, she realized, was like being at the edge of a cliff that opened on an expanse so high and vast and unknowable that it made you want to lie down on your stomach and cling to the earth."
~~"For a moment I thought of saying something true, but there's a point in the life of many a white Southerner, maybe it's come to you, when you're so sick of disabusing your piss-ignorant countrymen of their more closely-held notions that you just quit and get up and take your chances with whatever the hell is outside."
~~"Until quite recently Kemper woolsack had taken for granted the fact that her parents' chests would rise and fall, their lungs fill with air, their hearts go on beating even after she had banished them from her own."
~~"Rule said he understood, though he didn't. Any time he was in this man's presence, he tried his best to let most of what he said just burn up on the air like matchheads."
~~"She'd spoken without stirring and he lay before her as you might at the foot of a boulder, something immovable and defiant of the forces that would wear it down."
~~"He lay with her, his stomach turning for the strangeness of being touched lovingly. For so long he had been shoved and prodded and elbowed and beaten and so developed a barrier of space around him, crackling like antimatter, and now she'd broken it and he was reeling."
Like the god the girl believed in, love has its own conscience. When you hear the voice that speaks and commands, even against all sense and self-interest, you will either wither slow and die in denial of it or without guilt burn everything behind you and go. At such times love shouts louder than reason.
~~A panoramic view of the Louisiana delta. I can just picture Isaac fishing, or setting up an easel to paint, with Kemper nearby.
My two cents: There are many types of writing--good writing, terse writing, knowledgeable writing, thrilling writing, nails on chalk board writing....and then there is the occasional book with beautiful writing. Wascom has given us just that in The New Inheritors . But don't overlook the story. Kemper and Isaac are young, in love, but powerless to escape the tide sweeping America in 1918, as we headed into The Great War. I loved getting a glimpse into the early 20th century. Too few books focus on this explosive bit of history. At 240 pages, it's short, and well worth the read. Highly recommended!! Given 4.5 stars or a rating of Outstanding.
Further Reading: An article on the treatment of conscientious objectors in WW1. https://civilianpublicservice.org/sto...
~~And one more article on the topic from the UK. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-27404266
Other favorite quotes (I have so many!): "More than anything Mrs. Patterson felt that love was something you spent freely, and in all directions that you could, and that if everyone did so the world would be a finer place."
~~"He painted for the same reason that he fished. The rod or the brush were bridges to the living world. He was only just beginning to understand this, what would be the direction of his art. To become closer with life, not to reproduce it from the eye of skeptic humanity."
~~"He mumbled something, her son, and she looked back at him over her shoulder from the head of the stairs. Having children, she realized, was like being at the edge of a cliff that opened on an expanse so high and vast and unknowable that it made you want to lie down on your stomach and cling to the earth."
~~"For a moment I thought of saying something true, but there's a point in the life of many a white Southerner, maybe it's come to you, when you're so sick of disabusing your piss-ignorant countrymen of their more closely-held notions that you just quit and get up and take your chances with whatever the hell is outside."
~~"Until quite recently Kemper woolsack had taken for granted the fact that her parents' chests would rise and fall, their lungs fill with air, their hearts go on beating even after she had banished them from her own."
~~"Rule said he understood, though he didn't. Any time he was in this man's presence, he tried his best to let most of what he said just burn up on the air like matchheads."
~~"She'd spoken without stirring and he lay before her as you might at the foot of a boulder, something immovable and defiant of the forces that would wear it down."
~~"He lay with her, his stomach turning for the strangeness of being touched lovingly. For so long he had been shoved and prodded and elbowed and beaten and so developed a barrier of space around him, crackling like antimatter, and now she'd broken it and he was reeling."
June 20, 2021
So I have mixed feelings about this one. I have not read any of the others in the series and actually did not know there were others until I finished and was staring my review this morning, so no I don't think you need to read them in order. It was better than average and Wascom makes some great commentary about human relationships (some quotes below) and has some beautiful phrasing, but it felt anachronistic to me and so is not quite a five star.
The book takes place in late 1800s through end of WWI and is in many ways true to the historical time period with language and general population beliefs. However, the main characters are quite progressive and have what I would characterize as more modern views on things like race and class. While I don't disagree with the characters' perspectives, I felt like it was too easy for Wascom to make commentary about the inappropriateness of past thinking in this way.
It was also way to convenient that so many of his characters were different. The woman who helps Isaac escape from the weird cult in which is mom is enmeshed (as if that isn't a strange scenario to start) is not only colored and foreign (Eastern European? Gypsy-ish?), but also a lesbian. Later, Kemper is wealthy from the slave trade (and drugs? or just weapons? it is unclear in what illegal substances her family traffics), but also might be colored herself. Her brother has psychotic episodes and displays some sociopathic and autistic tendencies and her other brother is a homosexual. I'm not saying that these things are not common and that they couldn't all occur within a small group of folks, but it also provides Wascom a very convenient mechanism to preach about racism and ableism, and homophobia from a modern perspective out of the mouths and thoughts of characters from early 1900s.
But again, there were some very poetic phrases and pieces of the relationships felt authentic: "So they walked together into the old neighborhood, passing other people, couples, families, carrying within themselves the dread and happiness of grown children going to see the people who'd made them."
Overall it was pretty, but not very compelling and lacked the authenticity of characters in the historical period.
The book takes place in late 1800s through end of WWI and is in many ways true to the historical time period with language and general population beliefs. However, the main characters are quite progressive and have what I would characterize as more modern views on things like race and class. While I don't disagree with the characters' perspectives, I felt like it was too easy for Wascom to make commentary about the inappropriateness of past thinking in this way.
It was also way to convenient that so many of his characters were different. The woman who helps Isaac escape from the weird cult in which is mom is enmeshed (as if that isn't a strange scenario to start) is not only colored and foreign (Eastern European? Gypsy-ish?), but also a lesbian. Later, Kemper is wealthy from the slave trade (and drugs? or just weapons? it is unclear in what illegal substances her family traffics), but also might be colored herself. Her brother has psychotic episodes and displays some sociopathic and autistic tendencies and her other brother is a homosexual. I'm not saying that these things are not common and that they couldn't all occur within a small group of folks, but it also provides Wascom a very convenient mechanism to preach about racism and ableism, and homophobia from a modern perspective out of the mouths and thoughts of characters from early 1900s.
But again, there were some very poetic phrases and pieces of the relationships felt authentic: "So they walked together into the old neighborhood, passing other people, couples, families, carrying within themselves the dread and happiness of grown children going to see the people who'd made them."
Overall it was pretty, but not very compelling and lacked the authenticity of characters in the historical period.
December 25, 2018
I liked this book a lot, for the writing I suppose. I cared about the main character, yet also felt quite removed. It is not a happy story, not easy reading mostly, but the writing is quite extraordinary. A sentence might be five words and the next one will be a half a page, but not ponderous. I liked that there was no time wasted on unnecessary detail. For example, the wedding/marriage is not ever mentioned except as ‘before’ or ‘after’, and I liked that various characters have their future explained in a short paragraph not long after you meet them, without any disruption to the story line. Indeed a lot of the main character’s future is foreshadowed in a similar way.
I can’t say that I can compare Wascom’s style to any author I have previously read, and the story does not comfortably fit a simple genre. Wascom coukd easily become an author that other people get higher university degrees by analysing his works. I will seek out his earlier novels.
I can’t say that I can compare Wascom’s style to any author I have previously read, and the story does not comfortably fit a simple genre. Wascom coukd easily become an author that other people get higher university degrees by analysing his works. I will seek out his earlier novels.
November 24, 2024
Je suis désespérée d'avoir fini ce roman.
La plume de Kent Wascom est vraiment magnifique, quelle découverte incroyable. J'ai le coeur brisé.
La plume de Kent Wascom est vraiment magnifique, quelle découverte incroyable. J'ai le coeur brisé.
August 19, 2018
Kent Wascom has been called "one of the most exciting and ambitious emerging voices in American fiction", this book "his most powerful and poignant novel yet". It has a 4.03 rating on goodreads! And I just did not get it. At all.
I found the novel extremely vague, as I could not pinpoint a lot: neither the personalities of the characters, nor the where and what of the plot. It was poetic, maybe, but it took forever to get some plot going and arrive at some points of conflict. Those were then again very vague and neither made me feel anything nor would I be able to re-tell them. Overall, not a book for me.
~ I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions expressed above are my own.
I found the novel extremely vague, as I could not pinpoint a lot: neither the personalities of the characters, nor the where and what of the plot. It was poetic, maybe, but it took forever to get some plot going and arrive at some points of conflict. Those were then again very vague and neither made me feel anything nor would I be able to re-tell them. Overall, not a book for me.
~ I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions expressed above are my own.
March 9, 2018
I was eager to review this novel after reading all the publicity for it. Unfortunately, it failed to hold my attention. I couldn't buy into the characters or the plot. After about forcing myself to read about half of the book, I put it down. Best wishes to the author, though. I hope that my dissatisfaction is in the minority and that others find the novel more to their liking.
October 6, 2019
This is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read.
August 26, 2021
Quel magnifique roman, découpé en plusieurs parties dont la première est la plus touchante. Tout débute à la Nouvelle Orléans en 1890, elle raconte la naissance d’Isaac, abandonné deux fois, par sa mère biologique mais aussi par celle qui la remplaça un temps. On comprend alors mieux le besoin d’amour fou du jeune homme. Heureusement son adoption par une famille aimante lui donnera toutes ses chances. On va ainsi suivre son destin d’artiste peintre à travers une histoire familiale racontée sur plusieurs générations. Une histoire d’amour sublime avec la belle Kemper Woolsack venant d’une famille qui doit toute sa fortune au commerce d’esclaves. Ils seront ainsi les héritiers de deux familles américaines alors que la Première guerre mondiale vient bouleverser leur vie. Isaac le pacifique, le rêveur, l’artiste, pas toujours facile à suivre tant l’auteur aime les digressions et joue avec les lieux et les personnages entre Sud de l’Amérique et Amérique du Sud. C’est beau, même si cela peut parfois sembler long et pour tout dire confus. Il n’en reste pas moins la qualité d’une écriture dense qui n’est pas sans rappeler celle de Steinbeck, un phrasé, un rythme qui apporte un plaisir souvent renouvelé. Peu d’actions et encore moins de dialogues, juste une lecture qui offre méditations et contemplations sur ce qui fait la vie, la nature. On y retrouve une poésie et surtout un style naturaliste qui apporte beaucoup de charme à cette lecture. J’ai particulièrement apprécié l’épisode décrivant une tornade avec brio. Un récit qui allie le côté historique au côté romanesque, avec des descriptions fabuleuses des côtes sauvages de la Floride au golfe du Mexique. Un roman qui me donne envie d’en savoir plus et de lire plus de livre de l’auteur, celui-ci faisant partie d’une série, j’espère que les Editions Gallmeister nous proposeront bientôt les autres titres. Bonne lecture.
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February 23, 2018
Kent Wascom is a rare talent in the current literary landscape, and his third book in this series really demonstrates his growth as a writer. I highly recommend his work to any Sinclair and Faulkner fans looking for something brilliant, intriguing, and dark. His writing seems effortless and avoids the pretentious feeling usually present in the work of intelligent, promising, young writers. If you want a quick introduction to his work that will surely get you binge-reading this series, read the prologue from “Blood of Heaven”. It’s an amazing example of the haunting ambiance that makes his work so addictive. If you ever have a chance to meet this talented young author though-beware. All he likes to talk about is his enthusiasm for vaping, his love of all things Donald Trump, and he relentlessly tries to convince everyone he meets to buy Bitcoin. I don’t have any money to invest, Kent!!!
April 22, 2018
Kent Wascom’s The New Inheritors is his third novel about the Woolsack family, and it is undeniably his most captivating. Set in vivid, lush locations like the Mississippi Gulf Coast, New Orleans, and Nicaragua, the novel draws you in with Wascom’s beautifully written imagery and keeps you there with a story of love, loss, revenge, and redemption. Beginning at the turn of the 20th century, the novel focuses on Isaac, an orphaned artist, and Kemper, a fiercely independent heiress who find themselves ripped apart as World War I begins. Even more threatening than the war in Europe, however, is Kemper’s dark family secrets, ones that her brothers are determined to put to rest in potentially deadly and dangerous ways. Though this is the third book Wascom has penned about the Woolsack family, it stands entirely on its own—a great book to get lost in this summer!
July 31, 2018
The second half of the story isn't quite as strong as the first; the final confrontation between brothers Red and Angel is left far too ambiguous, the introduction of Rule seems to come from a different novel all together...everything seems to be a bit less than the sum of its introductory parts, nothing is settle to my satisfaction. That said, the first half represents one of the greatest love stories I've ever read. It's as if Pat Conroy went back in time and wrote historical fiction as if he were an eyewitness. Whatever issues I have with the second half of the novel, those opening chapters are lush and lyrical in ways I haven't experienced in quite some time. Overall, this is a gorgeous tragedy worthy of Shakespeare and Marlowe.
September 3, 2018
Wascom is clearly brilliant, and he looks too young to write with the depth that makes this book so impressive. Book three in a family saga (I haven't read the first two) carries along the story of the next generation of Woolsacks, but peripherally, since Wascom's intent here seems to be to introduce the story of Isaac Patterson. Beginning with a riveting, almost dreamy few chapters about Isaac's origins the book only gathers speed with some truly fine prose. Compare Wascom to Faulkner, to Hemingway, but he's got his own style, a light touch and a firm hand on the wheel of his story, that never feels pretentious or imitative. Good writers write about what they know and it's obvious Wascom knows his landscape, the Gulf Coast. Adult.
March 25, 2019
Kent Wascom is one of our best current writers of prose. Comparable to Cormac McCarthy, reading Wascom is a meditation; his words flow over you, soothing and losing you in his writing, until something dark and true jolts you back to consciousness.
This is Wascom's third novel. It is a portrait of the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico from the late 1800's to the early 1900's. The central character is an artist ( based on and inspired by Walter Anderson) although much of the novel's plot is driven by people he crosses paths with, lost innocent people whose lives are whipped around by historical events as well as the more nefarious, plotting lowlifes and corporate heads.
Read this if you love reading
This is Wascom's third novel. It is a portrait of the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico from the late 1800's to the early 1900's. The central character is an artist ( based on and inspired by Walter Anderson) although much of the novel's plot is driven by people he crosses paths with, lost innocent people whose lives are whipped around by historical events as well as the more nefarious, plotting lowlifes and corporate heads.
Read this if you love reading
June 30, 2018
First I would like to state that I have received this book through the Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank the author for giving me this opportunity and honor in being able to read this book. When I received this book I began reading it at once. I really enjoy the authors writing style. This book was a very interesting read. The authors writing style kept you interested from the first chapter to the very last. This is a very fascinating book! The book has a strong plot with twists and turns that will keep you turning each and every page. It was a truly excellent read.
September 25, 2018
3.6 “The light that came and meant the end of some lives and the dawn of others who would likewise live their time in the belief that all of this was theirs. Ours.” The author had an intriguing writing style. That’s what keep me reading. The topic was pretty sophisticated. Isaac was my favorite character in this historical fiction set in the early to mid 1960’s....taking place mostly along the the Gulf Coast. The artist Walter Inglis Anderson was the inspiration for the character of Isaac Patterson.
July 30, 2023
J’ai été très déçue par ce roman, je l’ai trouvé assez insipide. L’intrigue est relativement plate et parfois complètement inutile, l’histoire entre les deux frères de Kemper n’a aucun sens, tandis que les personnages principaux n’ont aucune profondeur. C’est dommage parce que ce livre aurait pu être très intéressant s’il n’était pas aussi vide de sens. Je pense qu’il aurait fallu que l’auteur se concentre exclusivement sur les deux personnages principaux, quitte à rendre le roman plus long, afin de mieux détailler leur histoire qui reste assez brouillon.
May 2, 2018
The New Inheritors, third novel in the series by Kent Wascom, (although having read the first two is not required as this is most definitely a stand alone novel), is a hauntingly beautiful read.
Descriptions rich in science and art paint a breathtaking picture of the lush Gulf Coast. Like Wascom’s first two novels, The New Inheritors is undeniably dark and yet a palpable tenderness courses throughout as the Woolsack family’s lives unfold, secrets are revealed and loves are lost and found.
Descriptions rich in science and art paint a breathtaking picture of the lush Gulf Coast. Like Wascom’s first two novels, The New Inheritors is undeniably dark and yet a palpable tenderness courses throughout as the Woolsack family’s lives unfold, secrets are revealed and loves are lost and found.
July 2, 2018
I had not read the first two books so found myself struggling a bit in the beginning of this tale of the Woolsack family. Set in 1914, this tells the story of Isaac and Kemper who live in the deep South but also moves in Central America. Kemper's brothers have a lot of issues, which pull this into more relevant and topical territory. It's a well written and intriguing historical fiction. Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC.
October 4, 2018
I jumped into this series with the third book. And it was a breath of fresh air. The writing is beautiful, in a simple way. I liked reading about the characters, and got a good taste of them as people and of the setting in time and place. I'm looking forward to going backwards and reading the first two, and then maybe following up with this one again.
January 1, 2019
Poetic, lyrical writing that captures both the beauty and the underlying violence of the South in transition. Before and after WWI. Art clashes with political realities. Family myths unravel. Violence is always only slightly beneath the seen natural world and the unseen nature of man. I was captivated and read straight through.
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