Amy Greene is back!

   

I've pre-ordered and I am anxiously awaiting the February 25, 2014 release of this, her second novel. I first came across Amy Greene's writing as I chased my passion, short stories, in literary magazines. 

Amy and her husband, Adam, live in Eastern Tennessee with their two children. 

Buy her book. You won't be disappointed.

From RandomHouse.com

"From the critically acclaimed author of Bloodroot, a gripping, wondrously evocative novel drawn from real-life historical events: the story of three days in the summer of 1936, as a government-built dam is about to flood an Appalachian town-and a little girl goes missing.

Long Man: A novel by Greene, Amy (Feb 25, 2014)

1. $10.99 Kindle Edition

1. Available for Pre-order. This item will be released on February 25, 2014.

1. $25.95 $16.41 Hardcover

1. Available for Pre-order. This item will be released on February 25, 2014.
2. Other Formats: Audio CD

Like a classical myth or a painting by Thomas Hart Benton, Greene’s second novel (after Bloodroot), set in the summer of 1936, transforms a period of cataclysmic history into a gorgeous, tragic tale filled with heroes and heroines. After the Tennessee Valley Authority builds a dam to electrify rural Appalachia, the river that folks have always called Long Man rises a little more with every turn of the page, and most of the families in the town of Yuneetah, Tenn., are long gone, scattered to other cities to take up factory jobs. In days, the hardscrabble farm fields they abandoned will be overcome by water, and Annie Clyde Dodson’s family farm, too, will end up at the bottom of the lake. Only Annie Clydewon’t leave; she’s determined to hold out so that her three-year-old daughter Gracie can inherit her ancestral land. But Gracie disappears with her dog Rusty during a terrible storm, the floodwaters rising by the hour. Only a few—the sheriff, Annie Clyde’s aunt Silver, and the mysterious drifter Amos, among them—are left to help Annie Clyde and Gracie’s dad, James, search through the tangle of sodden woods and fields already knee high in muck. Greene’s enormous talent animates the voices and landscape of East Tennessee so vividly, and creates such exquisite tension, that the reader is left as exhausted and devastated as the characters in this unforgettable story. (Feb.)

Reviewed on: 11/11/2013

Bloodroot by Amy Greene

I've pre-ordered and I am anxiously awaiting the January 2010 release of this novel. I first came across Amy Greene's writing as I chased my passion, short stories, in literary magazines. I found her writing fascinating. Learning that she had debut novel, Bloodroot, accepted and scheduled for publication by Knopf further piqued my interest in her work. I contacted both her and her husband, Adam, also a writer, to tell them how much I enjoyed her work in the short stories I read. Amy and Adam live in Eastern Tennessee with their two children. Buy her book. You won't be disappointed.


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Bloodroot.
Amy Greene, (author).

Jan. 2010. 304p. Knopf, hardcover, $24.95

REVIEW. First published October 15, 2009 (Booklist).

This stunning debut novel is a triumph of voice and setting. Following one impoverished family from the Depression up through the present, the story is told in six voices and set in a remote region called Bloodroot Mountain, so named for the rare flower that grows there, which can both poison and heal. The family’s struggles with poverty and human cruelty and their endless search for connection are set against the majestic Appalachian landscape, which is evoked in the simplest and most beautiful language. At the center of this dramatic story is Myra Lamb, raised by her loving grandmother and born with sky-blue eyes and a talent for connecting with animals and people. Allowed to run free on the family’s mountaintop, Myra is a charismatic figure who eventually draws the romantic interest of John Odom, the wealthy son of business owners in town. Their marriage, which starts out with so much promise, gradually turns abusive as Myra is imprisoned in her new home and prevented from seeing her grandmother. The long repercussions of their violent relationship, on both Myra’s children and Myra’s own sanity, are played out through the decades as each family member speaks to the lasting effects of John Odom’s hot temper. With a style as elegant as southern novelist Lee Smith’s and a story as affecting as The Color Purple, this debut offers stirring testimony to the resilience of the human spirit.

Must Love Dogs... to Love this Book.

I’m not much good at writing a book review. I’d much rather discuss it with someone who has also read the same thing, but, when I finished reading my pre- release copy – I was given an early heads up by “Book Slut”, a blog I follow — of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle , I became its evangelist, and touted it to everyone who would hold still. I finished the 566 page puppy in early June and since then have given copies as birthday presents (3) and Christmas gifts (4) and prevailed upon seven or eight other folks to read it. Based on their responses I’ve come to realize that there are probably two types of people in the world: those who will love this novel, and those who will hate it. The two opposing camps either say: “ I was up nights late with it, unable to put it down.” ( this was me, too ).

Or:

“To be honest, I hated it. I skipped entire pages of it. The narrative was really boring. He could have cut out half of the pages”. ( its heft alone will prevent many from choosing to read it on a whim. )

I was drawn to Wroblewski’s debut novel for two reasons. First, because dogs play a large part — a large part . The second reason was because I read that the story draws a parallel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet. And so it does. I think to fully enjoy the story’s sensibility one has to believe that dogs are thinking, feeling beings and also accept that the dogs dealt with in the novel are very special, highly intelligent animals. Indeed, Wroblewski goes to great lengths to persuade his readers of these traits, detailing the years spent developing the breed and the grueling hours of training each day it takes to make “a Sawtelle dog". Anyone who can’t accept dogs playing such a large role in a novel of this length isn’t going to be able to stand the book.

Almondine is the dog ( and, interestingly, the Ophelia character ) who nearly raises Edgar (the book’s Hamlet figure). Edgar’s first memory is this:

Between the honey-colored slats of the crib a whiskery muzzle slides forward until its cheeks pull back and a row of dainty front teeth bare themselves in a ridiculous grin.

The nose quivers. The velvet snout dimples... Fine, dark muzzle fur. Black nose, leather of lacework creases, comma of nostrils flexing with each breath... At once, the muzzle he knows is awake. It snorts. Angles right and left. Withdraws. Outside the crib, Almondine’s forequarters appear. Her head is reared back, her ears cocked forward.

A cherry-brindled eye peers back at him.
Whoosh of her tail.
Be still. Stay still.

Much of the novel is like this, simple communication between a boy and a dog. But, there is a complication: Edgar is a mute, so he signs everything to the dogs. The only point in the book where I was tempted to put it away, doubtful that dogs could do such a thing, was when Edgar has the dogs portray the murder of his father, to test his uncle, Claude’s conscience. But, remember this is Hamlet. The play within a play. But acted out by dogs? I was doubtful, but the training of the dogs to do this seemed somewhat plausible, and I willingly let Wroblewski pay the story forward. After all, the dogs memorize a simple sequence:

Roll on your back.
Carry this to the other dog.
Tag that dog.

One aspect of the novel that I feel makes “more” sense than in Shakespeare’s original is the relationship between Trudy ( the Gertrude character ) and Claude ( Claudius ), her deceased husband’s brother. In this story, she’s a complex woman, trying to run a farm on her own in rural Wisconsin in the mid-Twentieth Century. It makes sense for her to accept Claude’s offer to move back to the farm and help her to continue the line of Sawtelle dogs. We get to see far more of the inner workings of this relationship than in Hamlet.

Of course, Wroblewski takes a big risk here. But it’s one that works for me. But I must tell you this: I read much of the book sensing my best friend for eleven years, Joe, my big ol’ black Lab (deceased 10/2010), was reading along with me. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle isn’t for everybody. If you genuinely like dogs and maybe even have pictures of your dog on your desk ... or in your purse or wallet, I think you’ll be delighted with this tale. If not, I don’t know if you’ll make it past the prologue and first chapter. Me? I love dogs. I loved this book. "Saw Tell"(e).