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A "mezmerizing first novel ... intensely felt and beautifully told." -The New York Times "[With] this clear-sighted, graceful debut [Cash] adds his promising new voice to Southern fiction." - The Washington Post "[One of] summer's hottest reads." - Parade Magazine "[A] powerfully moving debut that reads a little as if Cormac McCarthy decided to rewrite Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird." - Richmond Times-Dispatch "[One of] Ten titles to pick up now!" - O Magazine "Illuminate[s] a familiar truth of Southern lit: Many are the ways that fathers fail their sons." - Entertainment Weekly "Cash's novel resonates perfectly... An evocative work about love, faith and redemption." -Kirkus Reviews "[T]he strongest case that Southern Gothic lit isn't just about spilt blood and guts, but fully realized settings and characters deeply felt." -Grantland "A first novel that sings with talent. It will knock your socks off." - Clyde Edgerton author of The Night Train "Wiley Cash is a talented and disciplined young writer, and his first novel proves it. I think this could be the beginning of a long, fruitful career." - Ernest J. Gaines author of A Lesson Before Dying "A riveting story: the writing is bold, daring, graceful, and engrossing." - Bobbie Ann Mason author of The Girl in the Blue Beret "I didn’t sleep well after I finished it because I kept thinking, All childhoods are not the same. Cruelty and innocence dwell together and always will. I can just imagine the intense work -- and the love -- that has gone into this." - Gail Godwin author of Unfinished Desires "I try to state the truth and dislike flinging superlatives about with mad abandon, but I have been so deeply impressed that only superlatives can convey the tenor of my thought: it is one of the most powerful novels I have ever read." - Fred Chappell author of Look Back All the Green Valley "Cinematic and symphonic: this compelling story is revealed in a sequence of voices that are as pitch-perfect as they are irresistible. This is a wonderfully impressive debut: tender, muscled and unforgettable." - Rikki Ducornet author of Netsuke "Whew! Wiley Cash is the real deal. His first novel is dense with stories intersecting like the branches in a laurel hell." - Nancy Peacock author of A Home Across the Road |
Reading Group Discussion QuestionsBefore we get started with the questions, check out this hilarious video of the Top Ten Reasons Your Book Club Will Love A Land More Kind Than Home. Below that is an audio interview from Book Club Girl where I discuss many of the issues and themes book clubs have considered when discussing A Land More Kind Than Home.
Listen to internet radio with Book Club Girl on Blog Talk Radio One of the best things about having my novel published has been the opportunity to meet readers and visit book clubs in person and via telephone and Skype. I hope your reading group will consider selecting A Land More Kind Than Home, and I hope you'll consider checking out the discussion questions listed below. Feel free to leave a question or a comment. I look forward to reading your responses, and I'd be honored to meet with your reading group and discuss these questions in person. Contact me.
1. The title of my novel comes from the closing lines of Thomas Wolfe’s You Can’t Go Home Again. Wolfe’s first novel, Look Homeward, Angel, is one of my favorite titles of all time. Even if I’d never heard of the novel or of Thomas Wolfe, I’d pick it up simply based on the gorgeous title. What are some of your favorite book titles? Do they influence your perception of a book before, during, and after you read it?
Click and type in a question or comment Hey Wiley, I've just read your novel for the second time. It's knocked my socks off two times now, but I still don't understand how the title relates to the story. I know where you got it, and that you love the full quote, but that's not enough of an explanation for me. Can you explain further? I especially liked your line, "People...can take hold of religiion like it's a drug." It seems to me that a great deal of the story is about the difference between faith and religion, between a drug that has beneficial and deleterious effects. Even though this is a "southern" novel so many of the themes are universal. Was it your initial intention to have religion/faith figure so prominently, or did it come about as you were writing. 2. My novel has three distinct narrators: Jess Hall, Adelaide Lyle, and Clem Barefield. This type of narration isn’t new, and it certainly isn’t distinct to Southern literature, but something feels inherently Southern about it. Do you agree? Do Southerners tell stories differently than folks from other parts of the country?
Click and type in a question or comment I think southerners are more likely to provide small and seemingly insignificant details in storytelling. These details end up providing texture, depth, and a mysterious quality that's hard to explain. I once had a conversation with a non-southerner and told him about another woman I knew was not from the south. One of her challenges in dealing with southern women was that she did not know how to veil her aggression the way southern women do. I told him that this was not the same as not being aggressive of being "passive aggressive." No, I was talking about making aggression less about being heard and seen and more about being felt. I'm not sure he "got" it, but he found the concept fascinating. Similarly, southerners bury their stories in significant amounts of detail and that practice is not about the individual details at all. it's about what they cause the reader to feel before the reader even has a chance to understand it. The details quickly become something larger than themselves. I think only by slowing down, providing the right kind of details, and being a little less direct do southern storytellers achieve this. I am loving your first novel. Thanks to a mutual friend (one of your fraternity brothers at UNCA, Greg B.), I discovered it. Alison from Winston-Salem 3. I had a few historical and contemporary models in mind when I created Carson Chambliss; he’s very clearly the villain even though not everyone in the novel seems to realize it. That being said, why are people like Chambliss able to mislead others? Did you have anyone in mind when you were reading about him?
Click and type in a question or comment John C. Reilly but with a really bad attitude. The cheerful front, but with a cruel and self-loving interior. 4. In my novel, the sins of the fathers are visited upon their sons. In world literature, this theme gets much more attention than the theme of the sins of the mothers. What are some novels or movies that explore the sins of the mothers? How do they compare to novels or movies that focus on fathers?
Click and type in a question or comment The glass Castle features a really bad mother. The dif between bad dads and bad moms is that the children can't escape the bad moms so they end up covering for and loving the moms. Also most bad moms in fiction love their kids in spite of being neglectful, but bad dads tend to hit, the pain of which lingers for awhile. The Glass Castle portrays a really bad mother. The difference between bad dads and bad moms is that the kids can't escape the bad moms and somehow end up still loving them. 5. In writing about Appalachian people, I worried that I’d be charged with relying on caricatures instead of creating characters. Were you offended by any of the portrayals? Did you carry any stereotypes of Appalachian people when you began this novel? Were these stereotypes challenged or enforced by the time you finished it?
6. Adelaide Lyle and Julie Hall respond to the events in the novel in very different ways. How do you explain this? Are their differences generational? Are their differences driven by the fact that one of the women is a mother and a wife and the other is not? What would you have done differently if you were Julie? If you were Adelaide?
7. We’ve all known a man like Jimmy Hall; he shows up late, smelling of booze and cigarettes, and he’s got a million excuses for what should’ve or would’ve happened if the world wasn’t stacked against him. But sometimes we root for a man like this to “turn the corner.” Do you root for Jimmy? Do you think he can raise Jess?
Click and type in a question or comment I thought that Jimmy Hall was the most changed person in your book. I believe that he will be able to raise Jess and stay away from the booze. He seems to realize that he's been give a second chance to do things the "right" way. 8. The characters in this novel are linked to the land: it provides for them, it defines them, but it also limits them. Is the move away from rural living a positive or a negative? Is your opinion colored by where you live or what you do for a living?
Click and type in a question or comment I found Ben Hall to be the most changed character in the novel. He was steady, consistent, and loving toward Jess. Early on, it seemed that his marriage to Julie was in name only, so his insane response to her infidelity jolted me. I could see him saying, "Good riddance," as she walked out the door. To me it made sense that he would want to harm Carson Chambliss because of his responsibility for killing Christopher, but not for the cuckolding. Also, becoming an overnight bonafide alsoholic was a bit of a chink in the chain. Mind you, if someone killed my child, I can't say what I might do. I don't think I could abandon my child, as Julie did, underany circumstances 9. Did you notice any inconsistencies in the characters’ narrations versus their interactions? For example, does Jess speak to you in one way and then speak to Joe Bill in another? Does Clem seem to speak to you and his wife in different voices? How can this be explained? Do you ever struggle when attempting to share complex insights, thoughts, or emotions? Is language enough?
Click and type in a question or comment Iloved your use of dark imagery. The darker the human soul sank, the darker the environment. Same for storms. Enriching. I did wonder about the linguistic use of "sat it down" rather than set it down. Would Barefield have said that? Is set it down too formal? And I tried to think about whether Jess would actually have known the word mirage. Picky, Picky, Picky. I was confused in the first dozen pages or so because I assumed Jess was a girl. 10. Does the hope of redemption balance the pervading sense of tragedy in the novel? How did you feel when it ended?
Click and type in a question or comment Just want to thank you for your thought provoking, beautifully written book. I could see the landscape and people that you described. It transported me from my home, a village in England, to yours. Can't wait to read your next book. Thank you again. I felt that the hope of redemption did indeed balance the pervading sense of tragedy. I felt that there was hope for Jimmy and Jess. I was sad about the tragedies, particularly for Jess's mom. Jimmy and Jess will come out stronger for being touched by the tragedy but I don't think Julie will ever be able to move on from the experience. The rest of her life will be overshadowed by the tragedy. |
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