Nothing Gold Can Stay

November 12, 2012
Rash’s latest short fiction collection explores the often harsh vicissitudes of life in North Carolina. In the title story, two drug-addicted friends make plans to rob a former employer of his WWII souvenir, while “Night Hawks” features a former teacher with a self-inflicted facial scar who seeks refuge as a late-night radio DJ. Rash’s period stories, though, make the biggest impression, like the Depression-era “The Trusty,” in which a con man on a chain gang seduces a lonely farmer’s wife in the hope of using her to aid in his escape. In “The Magic Bus,” a 16-year-old country girl encounters two San Francisco hippies in a flower-painted VW microbus who entice her to run away with them. “The Dowry,” set immediately after the Civil War, relates how a pastor’s surprising sacrifice allows a young Union veteran to marry the daughter of a Confederate officer who lost his hand in battle. For a change of pace, in the humorous “A Sort of Miracle,” an accountant on an illegal bear hunt finds safety in the hands of his two slacker brothers-in-law. Although too many of the stories rely on the same basic dynamic, Rash impresses with clear-eyed, sympathetic writing about flawed and troubled characters. Agent: Marly Rusoff, the Marly Rusoff Literary Agency.

November 1, 2012

His previous novels Serena and The Cove are set in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, so it is no surprise that Rash (Appalachian studies, Western Carolina Univ.) sets this collection of short stories in the same loosely defined but culturally abundant geographic region of the eastern United States. He captures this richness in "A Servant of History," wherein a capricious young scholar attempts to record lost British ballads from the memory of an elderly Appalachian woman before she passes away. At the same time, the stories also articulate revelations of human vulnerability to the surrounding environmental conditions. In "A Sort of Miracle," an accountant dies of hypothermia after falling into a frozen lake. Rash's short stories thematically paint Appalachia not as a definitive place but as a series of many interconnected ways of relating to human and environmental frailty. VERDICT Another fine addition to the Rash bibliography, and a great entry point for the uninitiated reader. Those who enjoy the writing of Silas House and Sharyn McCrumb will be drawn into Rash's Appalachia.--Joshua Finnell, Denison Univ. Lib., Granville, OH

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2012

Author of the New York Times best sellers The Cove and Serena (soon to be a film starring Jennifer Lawrence), Rash writes blazingly about Appalachia. And he's a prize winner (Frank O'Connor International Story Award, O. Henry Prize) in the short form.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 1, 2012
Traps are embedded in the violence-streaked stories that comprise another fine collection from Rash (The Cove, 2012, etc.). Take the excellent opening story: "The Trusty." That's Sinkler, the unshackled member of a chain gang in the North Carolina mountains (Rash's invariable setting). While fetching water for the gang, the accomplished grifter sweet-talks a farmer's young wife into eloping. She knows the hidden trails, and that's where the tables are turned, violently. In the title story, two petty criminals, hooked on pills, steal some gold teeth. They're about to cash in, home free, but we know they're trapped losers, sure to be busted. There's an actual trap, a bear trap, in "A Sort of Miracle," the story of three knuckleheads on a mountainside. The unseen bear springs the trap and gets the ham, but the trapper dies as the black comedy intensifies. Of these 14 stories, it's the two from the Civil War era that will haunt you. In "Where the Map Ends," two runaway slaves are heading into the mountains, where many of the whites are Lincoln supporters. How could they have known that the farm where they shelter belongs to a man unmoored by his wife's suicide, slipping into madness? He helps the older slave but has a horrifying end in mind for his young mixed-race companion. In "The Dowry," the war is eight months past. Ethan fought for the Union. Now, he seeks to marry the daughter of a Confederate colonel, implacable since losing a hand on the battlefield. The story ends with a second severed hand. Also notable are "The Magic Bus," a '60s story in which a naive country teenager has her disastrous first encounter with hippies, and "A Servant of History." Here, a very green Briton, researching ancient ballads in 1922, traps himself on a remote farm by bragging about his half-remembered Scottish ancestors. What had started out lightly satirical turns very grim indeed. Rash's oneness with the region and its people makes an indelible impression.

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December 1, 2012
This collection of stories takes place in small areas in western North Carolina, many dipping into people's lives that are about to change and staying long enough to see the consequences of their actions or plans. The paths that the people take give Rash the chance to let us get to know their lives and the history of the area, all compellingly told in an even tone. Time moves back and forth seamlessly, resulting in outcomes that, although not always fully revealed, nevertheless feel inevitable. In many of the stories, people who try to leave or change their current circumstances end up worse off. For instance, in Those Who Are Dead Are Only Now Forgiven, the story of a town, a house, and kids all hit hard by the bad economy, a couple of high-school sweethearts get all the way up to the financial-aid forms for college before the girl changes her mind. His visits home find her a meth addict, and their world of options diminish. Within the confines of place, the similarities and varieties of the stories make this a wonderful collection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)