The Cove audiobook

Brightness never stayed long here. Laurel had learned the true of that as a child. The parakeets had flown over the cove like a dense green cloud, but they'd never paused in their passing, never circled or landed. Instead the birds went over the cove the same way they would a deep murky pond. But one time it was full moon, the few minutes when enough light sifted in for the parakeets to see the orchard and its shriveled fruit. The flock curved back, low enough that Laurel could hear them calling we we we as they bunched above the orchard and began swirling downward. One by one the birds sleeved the orchard limbs in green and orange and yellow. Laurel had been in the cornfield with Hank. She should have run into the orchard right then and chased them away. But she'd just stood watching as two dozen birds pecked and hopped and preened among the branches. It was like their bodies had knit together and lifted the whole cove skyward into the sun's full light. The Cove, a remote locale in North Carolina, is a cursed place, or so everyone seems to think. The story opens in the 1950s when a man from the TVA comes by, preparing the area for flooding as part of a dam project. That the elders he encounters think burying the cove under tons of water is a good idea offers a first indication of trouble. When the man, trying for a drink in a well near some abandoned buildings at the site, brings up murky water covering a skull, we have our ending point. How we get there is the tale. Ron Rash - image from HarperCollins Rash is a master at setting a mood, a rather dark one here, and he keeps the wires of tension zinging, so you know something bad is gonna go down, but the green light of possibility keeps flapping by, keeping hope alive. That makes The Cove, incredibly rich with imagery and atmosphere, a page-turner of a different sort. This is clearly not an action adventure thriller where the fate of the planet is at stake, but Rash’s ability to portray place and to offer characters that are so richly drawn, so engaging, is such that we keep flying through his tale in order to see whether their world can be saved, or is doomed by a faceless fate.World War I is almost done. Twenty-something Laurel and her brother, Hank, have survived their parents and are trying to make a living on the troubled property the locals call “The Cove.”The air grew dank and dark and even darker as she passed through a stand of hemlocks. Toadstools and witch hazel sprouted on the trail edge, farther down nightshade and then baneberry whose poisonous fruit looked like doll's eyes.Uh oh. Hank had served in WW I, but left a hand behind. Still, he is hale and hearty otherwise, works very hard on their farm and plans to marry. Laurel is doing her washing when she hears the song of a single parakeet. The cove may be the last habitat of this now-extinct bird. What is unusual about what Laurel hears is that parakeets do not appear individually, but only in flocks. She follows the sound and spies a bedraggled young man, calmly making remarkably avian music on his flute. Birds figure prominently in Rash’s beautiful tale. He offers us much information about the Carolina Parakeet, how they behave and how, at least in part, they have come to be as scarce as they are. Unwillingness to leave a fallen comrade behind enters into this, with obvious foreboding. The flutist, Walter, is inspired by the birds, in a possibly magical way, and sees that the cove has more to offer than darkness. The next afternoon he came to a brook and followed it. By then he had begun to feel feverish. A music he'd never heard before rose from the stream. The notes had colors as well as sounds, bright threads woven into the water's flow. Some of that bright water splashed up on the bank. It was green and shimmering and he scooped it up into his palm and it became a feather.Who Walter turns out to be is central to the story, but some might regard it as spoiler material to say too much here, so I am putting that at the bottom of this review for any who might wish to take a look. For now we can get by with the rather obvious intel that Boy with flute meets Girl with purple birthmark and limited prospects.The why of her prospects is a major element. Seems the locals are a superstitious lot. They really do believe the cove is cursed and Laurel’s prominent birthmark labels her in their eyes as personally cursed at least and maybe something much worse. Her intelligence does not matter much to such people. (Reminds me a lot of right-wing talk radio and Tea Party sorts) A group of local women go out of their way to shun Laurel.An image from [Laurel’s] childhood came to her. A hawk had grabbed a baby chick and then lost its grip. The biddy was hurt and bleeding and the other biddies began pecking it. Because that was what biddies did, she’d learned that day. They found one of their own sick or injured and took turns pecking it to death.Epitomizing the dangerous ignorance of the arrogant unknowing is Chauncey, draft dodger of the venal, connected sort, (clearly he had other priorities during The Great War) eager to make political hay and more than happy to whip up some anti-German xenophobia in the service of that cause. He tries to get a local language professor fired for talking with Germans, while fantasizing about his own political future. Chauncey plays a central role when his dark deeds yield trouble beyond his control.Hope and danger, light and dark, good and evil, sanity versus superstition. If Rash were a painter his canvasses would be in the Met. The Cove is so different from his masterpiece, Serena, yet displays the same power, the same delicate skill. Serena told a large tale in big splashes of color, bright reds and blues. The Cove tells its story in small images, and a palette that stays mostly on the dark side with healthy dollops of green to signal the possibilities of life and love. Serena might take up an entire wall, while The Cove would fit in among several in a room. But you would find yourself coming back to look at it again and again, appreciating this, then noticing that. Ron Rash is one of our best writers and The Cove is top-notch work. Where Serena was large, The Cove is a much smaller canvas, but just as satisfying. Personally I would put Rash himself in that other collection, the one in the American Museum of Natural History, in the Hall of Minerals and Gems.Can music, hard work and life overcome darkness, venality and ignorance? The journey to The Cove is a trip worth taking, with a Shakespearean climax that will leave you quivering.Now as for Walter. His character is based on an actual event from the war. A German cruise ship, The Vaterland, had the misfortune of being docked in Hoboken when war broke out. The German crew was stranded. When the USA declared war, long after, many German civilians who had been working on the Vaterland and the dozens of others from stranded German ships were interned, some in North Carolina. This is the camp from which Walter escapes, as detailed in chapter 3. And, obviously, as a German national in the USA during World War I, particularly as an escapee from an internment camp, he needed to lay low, being at rather high risk. UPDATESApril 1, 2012 - Janet Maslin's wonderful review in the NY TimesJune 6, 2017 - I was alerted by GR friend Linda to the following from April 2017 - WCU's Ron Rash wins Guggenheim Fellowship - Rash deserves all the recognition there is, he is a national treasure. May 30, 2014 - Salon@615 - Rash offers introductory material, then reads from the book, followed by a Q&A - video 55:01

I was recently introduced to the work of Ron Rash and plan to read more! In The Cove, Rash explores small town North Carolina during WWI with wonderful (sometimes haunting) detail and penetrating insight. There are a couple things I found really interesting about his approach and will keep in mind when reading his other works. First, even though it is clearly fiction, Rash uses a little known historical incident (a German luxury liner full of musicians who have ended up in Appalachia) to set up his story. Second, while The Cove evokes the past, it still feels relevant. For me, the story was not just about the past; the characters and situations still resonate. Looking forward to reading more!

RON RASH!!another quietly wonderful book from ron rash, about a couple of outcasts trying to grab a little happiness out of a life filled with loss and loneliness.this one takes place in north carolina during WWI, in a remote and "gloamy" cove, where a brother and sister live isolated by superstition and circumstances. the sister, laurel, has a large purple birthmark believed by the entire outlying town to be a sign of witchcraft, and the cove where the two reside is believed to be haunted. after their parents died, the two of them lived alone until hank went to war, where he lost a hand (view spoiler)[ HE NEVER THOUGHT HE'D MISS A HAND SO MUCH!! (hide spoiler)], leaving laurel completely cut off from human contact and deeply lonely. there is only one man in town they can call a friend; the rest cross the street or spit when the two have to go to town for supplies. the heroism clinging to hank after his experience in the war has mitigated his situation somewhat, and people begin to treat him less shabbily, but laurel has no chance - she is doomed to solitude and loneliness, isolated in this presumably haunted cove.until a mute and illiterate traveling flute-player loses his way in the cove, gets stung by a million bees, and is nursed back to health by laurel.as he recovers, and is able to help hank with the farm chores hank's single hand is inadequate to perform alone, he and laurel form a bond. and laurel gets her chance at happiness.this being ron rash, the happiness is not guaranteed - there are going to be a lot of complications. i guessed the "twist" part just by reading what will be the flap copy, but i don't think that matters. this isn't about the reveal,(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)], but about laurel's struggles to carve out a place for herself when she has been given so few options.it is also about birds. birds who are being driven out of their habitat by farmers protecting their crops, birds pecking each other to death, birds who will not leave a fellow bird behind.so many different birds exemplifying so many different traits of our human characters. but rash pulls it off without it feeling treacly.and the character of chauncey, our "bad guy," is terrific. it's strange that this is the character who seems the most richly drawn and the most nuanced, because he is awful and smarmy and self-aggrandizing and one of those misguided true believers who, if there energy were harnessed towards ANY USEFUL GOAL AT ALL, would be a hero. instead, he is a german-hating pre-nazi, down to the symmetry of his uniform and his desire to burn the german-language books in the library. he's an awful character, but a wonderfully-written character. and definitely my favorite in this book.all the previous "spoilers" in this review were just silly television giggles that i didn't want cheapening the main text of a review of a serious-toned book, but this following one is an actual spoiler about an incredibly small passage in the book, but one that made my heart physically ache with emotion.(view spoiler)[one word: lusitania.that's all. (hide spoiler)] that scene broke my heart and i would have loved more moments like that throughout this fine, but not emotionally jarring, novel.this one didn't kick my reader's ass the way serena did, but it is a very good, quiet piece of writing from an author more people should be reading.come to my blog!["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>

Recently infatuated with southern lit I just had to give Ron Rash a try. With racism, poverty & superstition & the inclusion of an ill fated love affair, slot this one as ‘contemporary southern gothic.’ Yes, it’s melancholy and slow paced at the start but so superbly written that it’s a joy to read. Set at the end of WW1 and told through Laurel’s eyes, a simple tale of a birth-marked woman shunned by the locals as a witch –of her lonely life with only her brother Hank, a wounded WW1 veteran for company. (view spoiler)[ Loneliness that will turn to desperation with the news that he’s soon to marry, leaving her entirely alone. (hide spoiler)] Following the sound of a flute "It wasn’t so much a soaring sound but something on the song’s surface, like a water strider crossing a creek pool" leads her to a wounded man – and it begins. As for Laurel, look elsewhere if your preference is for passionate heroines, what she does have is an appealing resiliency, an understated strength. What develops is quietly muted – a love that deepens as slowly & gently as the river that runs through The Cove. With its raw beauty & pervading isolation, it’s The Cove itself that’s the heart of this novel "Nothing but shadow land, there wasn't a gloamier place in the whole Blue Ridge." That and the Appalachian people, brought to life by Rash’s use of simple dialect.“Not being able to talk, that’s got to be burdensome too. I’d think it could make you feel a lavish of aloneness. After my daddy died and Hank was over in France, I was here by myself and it was a hard row to hoe.” Cons: While most of the characters are well fleshed out the villainous Chancey Feith is a one dimensional caricature, bit of a bore. As far as plot goes it’s not particularly fresh, and it is a bit predictable. All is forgiven by the elegance of the writing, an atmospheric southern tragedy beautifully rendered - 4 ½ stars.If you’re interested not a spoiler, just southern gothic defined: (view spoiler)[Common themes include deeply flawed, disturbing or eccentric characters, decayed or derelict settings, grotesque situations, and other sinister events relating to or coming from poverty, alienation, racism, crime, and violence. It is unlike its parent genre in that it uses these tools not solely for the sake of suspense, but to explore social issues and reveal the cultural character of the American South (hide spoiler)]

This was a wonderful historical story and Ron Rash is a writer to add alongside great southern gothic styled writers. Just as many have mentioned Ron Rash strikes up feelings of being present with great writers such as Steinbeck and Cormac McCarthy.This story leaves a mark with characters that are lonely and modest, rich in kindness and deeply warm to others even though they face inequalities due to race, heritage and have been marked in a superstitious ways as cursed. A brother and a sister are two main characters that at times bring a tear in your eye for the happiest and the saddest of times they face in this WW1 period story. The authors successfully places you in the atmosphere of that era and especially the Cove. The story flowed in an eloquent pace, hard times and romantic occasions really a throwback to the storytelling of Charles Dickens. This was my first reading from Ron Rash and won't be the last I felt in the hands of a great storyteller, at one point i was reminiscing on an equally great story Great Expectations as you do want great things to happen to Laurel Shelton and her guest that she becomes attached to. That guest is equally lost for words and cannot communicate by tongue but touched others hearts with tunes from a flute and gathers attention like the pied piper of Hamlin. Attention is what he does not need, as the man who struck up from nowhere and finds a lady to warm his heart soon faces harder times, and those around him go through their worst and happiest of times. A story to remember with an exceptional quality of writing historical, very romantic with a overshadowing melancholy presence from beginning to end. Bravo!Check out also myreview @ http://more2read.com/review/the-cove-by-ron-rash/and these videos there:Gary Carden interviews Ron Rash (video): http://more2read.com/gary-carden-interviews-ron-rash-video/Ron Rash reads from Serena http://more2read.com/ron-rash-reads-from-serena/Ron Rash Interview by Stacey Cochran http://more2read.com/ron-rash-author-video/

A man walked through the cove, passing Slidell’s old homestead, then down the hill to Laurel and Hank’s cabin. Both deserted now. Stopping by the well for a cool drink of water, he lowered the bucket into the hole, hitting what felt like some branches off a tree. Then the bucket began to descend again. Bringing up a murky bucketl of water, the man waited until the water had cleared. Looking into it, he saw his own reflection. He waited. As the water cleared, the face he saw began to look like a white orb, not his face at all, and then he saw it, two dark holes where eyes had once been. What had happened here so long ago?The cove was going to be covered in water, a lake would cover the entire valley. And it might as well, because nothing good ever happened there and now nothing more would. The cove had been shunned by the town’s people, but I wondered, if, in the future, boaters would shy awary from that area, thinking it was haunted. But right now, before the man had come into the valley, the witch, Laurel, lived there, marked so by the brown birth mark on her arm, and by the fact that she lived in the cove. A dreary place. What had happened before her moving there that had caused people to shun the cove? I never learned. Flute music filled the air. Laurel heard it one day when she was out walking. It drew her to its sound just like the Sirens drew the men to them in “The Iliad” of long ago. She sat hidden in the trees and shrubbery and watched the man as he played his flute. He had wandered into he cove and had stayed to bed down, even stealing the forbidden apples from an old orchard. Shriveled fruit Laurel found him injured one day and brought him home. That was her mistake.

I love Southern literature. By turns it can be nostalgic, sweet,romantic, brooding, dark.But for me,southern literature always has it's complicated political and social history at it's core. The Cove is no different. The setting is North Carolina just before the close of WWI. A young woman, shunned by the locals as a witch befriends a drifter she happens upon in the cove she calls home. As the friendship develops, you can see how this cannot possibly end well, but you are routing for a happy conclusion. The characters range from the stereotypical,some who would be truly comedic if they weren't so pathetic, to the enlightened and accepting. Laurel could easily have been portrayed as a passionate and fiery soul.Instead we find a young woman beat down and seemingly accepting of her lot in life. But the hope hasn't quite been extinguished. And the author truly has a gift for extraordinary description. I could smell the cove as well as I could see it in my mind's eye. To live the story with the characters is always the mark of a 5 star book. Excellent!

3.75 starsAlthough this story takes place during WWI in NC, it reflects the prejudices that still exists today - all over the world.I felt the novel stated off slowly and ended too quickly, but the story will remain with me and the writing was beautiful.

First review of 2014...wohoo!I like to think that I have eclectic reading tastes, meaning that while I have preferences when it comes to my reading choices, I find I like lots of different styles, genres, and stories for lots of different reasons.But this ... The Cove, this is the kind of book that hits my literary G-spot. Okay, I know: a little crude, too much information, whatever--but true.You see, I love Southern Gothic fiction--Flannery O'Connor, one of my heroines; Erskine Caldwell, a genius--so it's no surprise that I would enjoy Ron Rash's work.And I did. I loved it. What's not to love? Subdued story and action; poetic prose; vivid descriptions; complex, flawed characters; and a tragic ending the reader hates to love and loves to hate.(view spoiler)[It's Southern Gothic fiction ... so you know it's coming. Still, you keep thinking maybe he won't do it. Maybe he'll let them live happily-ever-after. Please, let them live happily-ever-after. But he can't and you know it and I think that's part of the attraction of this genre. (hide spoiler)] And if that weren't enough, it's under 300 pages (the perfect length for a book as far as I'm concerned.)This is the story of two siblings, misfits of a sort as far as the rest of their world is concerned, as they attempt to find some happiness, told against the backdrop of World War I and the South.Bottom line: 5 sparkly, glittery, lovely little stars. I was lucky enough to check this out from the library the day before a big storm snowed us in. Definitely icing (or at least ice) on the cake.Would recommend this to fans of Southern Gothic fiction.

Laurel and her brother Hank who has just returned from the trenches in France live in a shady cove in the Appalachians. One day while in the woods Laurel who is treated as an outcast and proclaimed a witch by neighboring Mars Hill townsfolk, comes across Walter whom she has previously glimpsed playing a silver flute by the river, but who has now been stung by a swarm of bees and needs help. Walter is a stranger to the area, who carries a note in his pocket explaining that he is a mute musician journeying to New York City. While recovering at the Cove, it's inevitable that Laurel and Walter two outcasts form a bond, but there are secrets that threaten their future together. Ron Rash writes lyrical books of the South that are darkly beautiful. I thought this one had a rather slow start, nevertheless by the end of it I must admit it didn't fail to surprise and enchant me. Read for May - On The Southern Literary trail 4 stars

The dank and dangerous cylinder of a new well, where the walls could collapse at any moment, crushing the digger in a muddy grave; a valley so overwhelmed by a cliff of granite that light shudders and dies in its wet shadow; a voice choked from sound, leaving a man trapped in silence; a young woman isolated by fear and suspicion in a remote mountain cabin: these are the acedian images Ron Rash writes to sobering effect in The Cove.This is a novel of a place seemingly suspended in time, a forgotten hollow in the Blue Ridge mountains of western North Carolina, where venomous snakes slither, wild parakeets flit like flocks of bright green faeries and where residents still believe in witches' curses. But the modern world invades this isolated land with the wounded and dead from European trenches. As their broken bodies are returned home, fear of the enemy Hun incites public hysteria.Rash weaves a story with themes that ring loudly to the present-day: how patriotism can be a mask for prejudice and a justification for violence, how war robs us of our sensibilities as well as our citizens.Yet instead of stating the obvious, he shows us with an atmospheric mystery that runs languid on the surface, but races with an unstoppable current in depths you cannot fathom. The Cove is written in an opalescent and mannered style that is reminiscent of a 19th century Gothic romance. It abounds with literary archetypes: a persecuted young woman dreaming of escape and the love of a strong man; a mysterious stranger who speaks with music rather than words; a wealthy young villain with delusions of grandeur; a Greek chorus of simple country folk; a gruff but well-meaning brother. We know these characters because they have been with us from our earliest memories of faerie tales and mythology. We sense that our star-crossed lovers will fare no better than Romeo and Juliet; we are wiser than to hope for a hero. Whether or not a hero appears is for you to discover.The novel's flaws can be found in Rash's over-simplification of the pretentious and cowardly Army recruiter, Chauncey Feith, and the backward suspicions of the townsfolk. He also dwells overlong on Laurel's isolation and loneliness and treats her response to romance with little-girl wonder, which nearly degrades her character rather than invoking the reader's empathy. Despite some of the weaker character development, this reader is delighted to have discovered a writer who can craft a powerful story with captivating language.