Out of the Mountains: Appalachian Stories (Race, Ethnicity and Gender in Appalachia)
Willis’ collection of 12 short stories knits together a small West Virginia community. In “Pie Knob” and “On the Road with C. T. Savage,” we meet a married couple—Merlee and C. T.—at different stages of their relationship. A young Merlee takes care of a cancer patient when C. T. abandons her, while in another story the older Merlee witnesses C. T.’s suicide as he is engulfed in illness and old age. The Savages are mentioned in passing in “Scandalous Roy Critchfield,” which focuses on a town’s young Baptist preacher. “Tara White” deals with a runaway’s missteps into pornography and her attempts to better her life. Willis approaches heavy subjects like prostitution, prejudice, and abandonment with a direct and unsentimental tone. Her characters possess a conversational familiarity, and the reader feels absorbed into the small community that is both distinctly Appalachian and markedly universal. This finely crafted collection is worth reading twice to discover all its intricacies and connections. --Heather Paulson--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.