The Mountains Won't Remember Us: and Other Stories

by Robert Morgan

From the bestselling author of Gap Creek, comes a breathtaking collection of stories about the lives and history of the settlers of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Struggling to survive in an ancient mountain landscape that alternately thwarts their efforts and infuses them with joy and vitality, the strong-limbed and strong-willed people of the Blue Ridge Mountains undergo the transition from ploughshares to bulldozers -- from the Indian skirmishes of the post-Revoluationary War era to the trailer parks of the present day. In these eleven first-person narratives, Morgan visits the themes that matter to all people in all places: birth and death, love and loss, joy and sorrow, the necessity for remembrance and the inevitability of forgetting.
This is a moving tribute to that which is universal and eternal -- the majestic immutability of the earth and the heroic human struggle to live, love, and create new life.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

Published October 2, 2000

About the author

Robert Morgan is an American poet, short story writer, and novelist.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent set of short stories.

[Jessaka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories were interesting; some not.

[Chuck McGrady · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of short stories about places very near to where I live. Morgan knows his subject matter and the mountain people. Many of his characters are like people I know, although I didn't grow up here. The book takes it name from the last story, and it is narrated by an old women who was engaged to a man who went off to WWII and never returned. Two marriages later with two children gone bad, she's now in a nursing home. Reading Morgan's short stories, I always feel like he's left me to think over other questions--part of what I like about his work.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved all the settings and the talk about the old mountains and rivers and people living there in various states of disrepair. i loved the endings that didn't really end and the wars around the periphery of all of them (WWII, Vietnam). the first story about the robbed bridge builder and stonework made me think of christopher. stories about children who disappoint you the way you disappointed your parents before you, and knowledge and memory. super good! I don't know how this book came to be on my shelves but I definitely enjoyed it.

[Joel Brain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this awhile back. Some great 5* short stories in here. There are some very good 4* stories and there are a couple 3* stories as well. I'd like to tell you which ones but it's been too long. I just remember that a couple needed something. Probably editing ;)

A real feel for the people and the land. Pretty sure I know some of these folks.

[Justin Fowler · Rating 3 out of 5]

True rating: 3.5

[Scottie Greene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this so much! Will definitely have to pick up more of his work. Made me feel a lot of love & appreciation for where I grew up.

[Treasure Island Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories set in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection of short stories. Robert Morgan is a fine writer and portrays Appalachian people sympathetically yet realistically, avoiding the overwrought tragedy of books like, say, The Dollmaker as well as the shallow folksiness of Adriana Trigiani's novels. With my experiences in Appalachian literature I was expecting several of the stories to turn out worse than they did. Morgan avoids melodrama and shows people in Appalachia as thinking people, not any more superstitious than the rest of us, and capable of the same things anyone is capable of. Interestingly, beyond the point of view of the different characters, the continuous emphasis is an ecological one; seeing the region change over time is what ties everything together. The title alone gives one lots to think about.

I would have liked to see religion treated with a little more depth. In all, however, I am a big fan of writing that evokes a concrete place, and this author succeeds not only in doing that but also in providing admirable detail about everyday life over the span of several generations.

[Virginia Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you seen the Ballad of Buster Scruggs? This collection of short stories reminded me of it but less depressing. Don't get me wrong, I liked both because it really makes you think about why the stories are being told. Some stories were really fascinating and some you finished and wondered what the point was. But I think that is the point when books finish that way. It makes you think about the content and lessons more and be able to conclude what should be the outcome. Morgan does a good job of writing different perspectives and grasping raw and vulnerable human emotions. Overall, I recommend this book and appreciate the underlying lessons of ecological and environmental changes in the last century.

[Char · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why are all of the comments on here about a WWII memoir? That isn't this book.

I really liked Gap Creek, so I decided to try this short story collection. Some of the lengthier stories were okay, but I guess I'm really just not a fan of short stories.

I find it interesting that the author seems to have a preference for writing from a 1st person female perspective, and he is actually rather good at it.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was a series of stories about events in the Appalachian mountains beginning in the 1920s and forward. Very good.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful stories of appalachia.

[Mary]

I prefer reading complete novels by Robert Morgan.

[Andrew Herren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Robert Morgan! Great book of short stories.