Something Rich and Strange: Selected Stories - Softcover

Rash, Ron

Softcover

ISBN 10: 006234935X ISBN 13: 9780062349354

Publisher: Ecco Press, 2015

Synopsis

[ Something Rich and Strange: Selected Stories By ( Author ) Aug-2015 Paperback

About this title

Review:

"This selection of 34 stories from four collections signals the growing prominence of a fine author... These superbly suspenseful stories evoke a world of hurt, but what makes them so deeply satisfying is that they enlarge our capacity for empathy."--Kirkus Reviews

"Rash's stories show the highs of lows of life in the Appalachians through the decades, from the hardscrabble years of the Great Depression through the current challenges of meth addiction... Something Rich and Strange showcase[s] Rash's narrative powers and convey why his work has won so many accolades."--Asheville Mountain Express

"[Rash] brings his poet's eyes to the images of his people and place and his native ears to the language of that locale... Rash's writing resonates with our lives."--New York Journal of Books

"Ron Rash's stories portray the Appalachian landscape in all its brutal, exquisite complexity... It is not an easy feat for a writer to portray a region so fully that enduring truths are found in local circumstance... [Rash] beautifully illustrates the appeal and vexation of the South."--New York Times Book Review

"Ron Rash occupies an odd place in the pantheon of great American writers, and you'd better believe he belongs there...Something Rich and Strange is a major short-story anthology that can introduce new readers to this author's haunting talents and reaffirm what his established following already knows."--New York Times, Janet Maslin

"Expect to be good for nothing for a long time after you read Ron Rash. His writing is powerful, stripped down and very still... Rash's spectacular stories may originate in the peculiar soil of Appalachia, but their reach and their rewards are vast."--NPR's Fresh Air

"[R]ich and strange are two words that aptly apply to this book. I have two other words to continue with: Simply beautiful... some of the stories are so searing, it's as if someone has taken a stick from a blazing fire and pressed it into your hand."--NPR's All Things Considered

"These are among the 'rich' and 'strange' tales Ron Rash shares from his Appalachian region, stories of country life so true, they are sure to strike deep chords among rural readers across the country..."--Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS)

"Ron Rash merges sound and sense in [this] new collection... Rash's themes are universal: man's struggle with nature, with others, with himself. "--Charlotte Observer

"Ron Rash knows that shadows are waiting to eclipse our lives, knows that no matter how desperately we search for places of respite, there are likely to be none...[This book] remind[s] us of that truth and of the unforgiving, barren landscape in which that truth resides."--Anniston Star

From the Back Cover:

From the critically acclaimed, award-winning author of Serena and The Cove, thirty-four of his finest short stories, collected in one volume

No one captures the complexities of Appalachia--a rugged, brutal landscape of exquisite beauty--as evocatively and indelibly as author and poet Ron Rash. Rash brilliantly illuminates the tensions between the traditional and the modern, the old and new south, tenderness and violence, man and nature. Though his focus is regional, the themes of Rash's work are universal, striking an emotional chord that resonates deep within our lives.

Something Rich and Strange showcases this acclaimed master's artistry and craftsmanship in thirty-two stories culled from his previously published collections and two available for the first time in book form: "Outlaws" and "Shiloh." Each story demonstrates Rash's dazzling ability to evoke the heart and soul of this land and its people--men and women inexorably tethered to the geography that defines and shapes them. Filled with suspense and myth, hope and heartbreak, told in language that flows like "shimmering, liquid poetry" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), Something Rich and Strange is an iconic work from an American literary virtuoso.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 006234935X
• ISBN 13: 9780062349354
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448