Wiley Cash
Fiction
I started reading this book, saw the really long paragraphs and put it down. Then, because it was the last book in my stack and because it had gotten such rave reviews, I decided to try again. Once I was able to get past all the long sentences and huge chunks of descriptions, I actually found myself enjoying it.
A Land More Kind Than Home is the story of Jess and his mute older brother, Stump (Christopher). They live in a small town where most people attend a church run by Pastor Childress. Only his church is quite mysterious and believes in “healing” and since Jess isn’t allowed to go yet (he’s only eight), he can only wonder what goes on during services. One day, his mother brings Stump to church in hopes of him being healed. Jess witnesses the healing and it scars him for life. The boys also see Pastor Childress in his mother’s bed while their father is out. Following these two incidents, a series of unfortunate events occur, and soon Jess finds himself caught up in something bad.
I worried this book would be really depressing and have lots of physical and sexual abuse but I was wrong, thank god. It had that tone in the beginning, but Jess is a fairly content boy until things to start to happen. I have to admit that I did skim a lot because some of those paragraphs lasted two whole pages! Two pages with no space breaks. My eyes start to glaze over just thinking about it.
Wiley Cash is a great writer and his characters are fully-fleshed out, along with the small town he’s created. I would recommend this book, especially for anyone living in the South.
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