Book Review: A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash

Article first published as Book Review: A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash on Blogcritics.

About:
A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash is a novel taking place in a small town in North Carolina. I saw a lot of great reviews and articles about this book and thought that I might enjoy the story as well.

The pub­lisher is giv­ing away one copy of this book –to enter fill out the Raf­fle­copt­ter form at the end of the post.

• 320 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062088149

My rat­ing for  A Land More Kind than Home — 3

Buy this book in paper or in elec­tronic format*

Thoughts:
I had a tough time getting into A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash (website | Facebook | @WileyCash). The first 80 pages or so seemed to drag and only when the sheriff was introduced did the story pick up. even though the book is cataloged under the “mystery” genre, the story is pretty much straightforward and there is no mystery per-se.

From a technical aspect, this is a superb book. Mr. Wiley is extremely talented and even though I might not have enjoyed the whole of the story, I certainly enjoyed embracing the literary aspects of the narrative. The real star of the book is the atmosphere, which gives this timeless story a rich and expansive feeling.

The set of characters is fantastic; each one of them probably deserves a book of their own. I don’t say this often (actually, this is the first time I ever said this) but it would have benefited the book to have plus or minus 50 pages more of character development. The story is slow and steady, the drama builds up slowly but ends very quickly without giving any character it’s just due.

However, many things happen in the book, a lot of innuendos and dark undertones which could give book clubs hours of fun discussing what was, could have been or would have been in the story (see the Reading Group Guide). It’s too bad that the author chose to tell the story from the perspective of three characters that all share the same perspective; it would have been interesting if another character who doesn’t share their point of view has his or her say.

A Land More Kind than Home is a smooth, elegant and enjoyable novel. The characters are vivid and interesting. Mr. Cash has fantastic talent which is sure to make him a rising star in the literary world and I am waiting to read more from his pen.

Synopsis:
Jess Hall is a young man who has a lust for life and adventure, he is also protective of his older brother, Christopher, who is a mute and has developmental problems. One day Christopher, also known as Stump, sees something he’s not supposed to and the consequences are enormous.

Jess, Adelaide Lyle, the town’s midwife, and Clem Barefield, the sheriff, all narrate the story with their own unique perspective and painful history.

Buy this book in paper or in elec­tronic format*

Give­away

• Give­away ends: January 29, 2013

• US/Canada Ship­ping Addresses Only

• No PO Boxes

• Win­ners will have 24 hours to write back with their address, oth­er­wise an alter­nate win­ner will be picked

Congratulations:skkorman@

TLC Book Tour for A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash :

• Tuesday, January 22nd: Man of La Book
• Wednesday, January 23rd: The Book Garden
• Thursday, January 24th: Lit and Life
• Monday, January 28th: Book Addict Katie
• Tuesday, January 29th: BookNAround
• Wednesday, January 30th: No More Grumpy Bookseller
• Thursday, January 31st: Kritters Ramblings
• Monday, February 4th: My Bookshelf
• Wednesday, February 6th: Stephany Writes
• Wednesday, February 13th: Seaside Book Corner
• Thursday, February 14th: Reflections of a Bookaholic
• Tuesday, February 19th: Luxury Reading

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer: I got this book for free from TLC Book Tours.
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account

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