Crum - Softcover

Maynard, Lee

3.94

654 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 067164842X ISBN 13: 9780671648428

Publisher: Pocket Books, 1988

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The narrator describes his adolescence in a small Appalachian town and his determination to move away

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Review:

"The first couple of pages, I'm cringing. I'm tempted to put it down. I imagine a schoolteacher somewhere in the Midwest having all of these awful stereotypes about us confirmed. Yet, despite myself, I continue to read, and I am moved. It is literaure. Its voice is true. It's a wonderful portrait of rural America. The book wins me over." John O'Brien, author of "At Home in the Heart of Appalachia" "Maynard is a Gonzo Mountaineer..." Pops Walker, musician and writer ""Crum"is great. Lee Maynard is a genius. No writing has captured rural America this well since Mark Twain. A masterpiece." Stephen Coonts," "author""Flight of the Intruder"" "It's a tale of growing up in and moving away from Crum, a jumble of shacks on the Tug River in the state's God-forsaken southern coal fields. As tales about coming of age in rural America go, "Crum" isn't that much out of place on a shelf next to Mark Twain and Harper Lee." David Bean," ""The Charleston Gazette" "Maynard presents a portrait of a young man's psyche which ranks just a small notch below great American portrayals of adolescence - "Huckleberry Finn" and "The Catcher in the Rye."" Michael Shannon Friedman, "The Charleston Gazette" "Whatever you do, don't read "Crum."" Jack Cawthon," Hur Herald" "For all its faults, "Crum "creates a hilarious, poignant, recognizable picture of a place and time, and of people I've known." Rodger Cunningham," Journal of Appalachian Studies" "Each time I read Lee Maynard s "Crum," I ask myself why this foul-mouthed, sexist, scatological, hillbilly-stereotyping novel is one of my all-time favorites." Meredith Sue Willis," "author" "Oradell at Sea"" "[Maynard] writes like Jean Shepherd on acid..."Crum" is one twisted little novel." Robert Beveridge," "Critic" "For all its faults, "Crum" creates a hilarious, poignant, recognizable picture of a place and time, and of people I've known." Rodger Cunningham, "Journal of Appalachian Studies" "Whatever you do, don't read Crum." Jack Cawthon, "Hur Herald" "Crum is great. Lee Maynard is a genius. No writing has captured rural America this well since Mark Twain. A masterpiece." Stephen Coonts, author "Flight of the Intruder" "Maynard is a Gonzo Mountaineer..." Pops Walker, musician and writer "Each time I read Lee Maynard's "Crum", I ask myself why this foul-mouthed, sexist, scatological, hillbilly-stereotyping novel is one of my all-time favorites." Meredith Sue Willis, author "Oradell at Sea" "[Maynard] writes like Jean Shepherd on acid..."Crum" is one twisted little novel." Robert Beveridge, "Critic" "Crum is great. Lee Maynard is a genius. No writing has captured rural America this well since Mark Twain. A masterpiece." Stephen Coonts, author "Flight of the Intruder" "Whatever you do, don't read Crum." Jack Cawthon, "Hur Herald" "Maynard is a Gonzo Mountaineer..." Pops Walker, musician and writer "[Maynard] writes like Jean Shepherd on aic..." Robert Beveridge, "Critic" "Each time I read Lee Maynard's "Crum", I ask myself why this foul-mouthed, sexist, scatological, hillbilly-stereotyping novel is one of my all-time favorites." Meredith Sue Willis, author "Oradell at Sea"

From the Back Cover:

Like lots of eighteen-year-olds, the boy at the center of Crum doesn't know where he's going, but he knows he is leaving. This novel, named after a real-life, gritty little coal town on the West Virginia-Kentucky border, offers a sometimes shocking, often outrageous, always irreverent look at this young man’s attempt to escape his home.

In Crum, the boys fight, swear, chase - and sometimes catch girls, and have unflattering things to say about their neighbors across the river in Kentucky. The adults are cramped and clueless, hemmed in by the mountains that loom over this tiny suffocating town. And to boys flush with the hormones of youth, this situation is full of wonder, dejection, and even possibility.

Lee Maynard, a native of Crum in Wayne County, West Virginia, spins this tale of a young man whose rebellion against the people and the place of his childhood allows him to reject the comfort and familiarity of his home in search of his place in a larger world.

This novel stirred deep feelings in West Virginia, as readers reacted in different ways to the poetry and reality of Maynard's creation. Since its highly successful first publication, this novel has become an underground classic, with used copies now scarce and costly. Maynard adds a brief epilogue to this new edition, and West Virginia writer Meredith Sue Willis provides an introduction. Crum shot to number eight on the Doubleday Best Seller list within its first month of publication, despite its ban in West Virginia. He has since published a sequel to Crum entitled Screaming with the Cannibals.

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