Title: The Secret Wisdom of the Earth
Author: Christopher Scotton
Published: January 5, 2016 by Grand Central Publishing
Pages: 496
Source: Publisher
Rating: 3/5
Goodreads
After seeing the death of his younger brother in a terrible home accident, fourteen-year-old Kevin and his grieving mother are sent for the summer to live with Kevin's grandfather. In this peeled-paint coal town deep in Appalachia, Kevin quickly falls in with a half-wild hollow kid named Buzzy Fink who schools him in the mysteries and magnificence of the woods. The events of this fateful summer will affect the entire town of Medgar, Kentucky.
Medgar is beset by a massive mountaintop removal operation that is blowing up the hills and back filling the hollows. Kevin's grandfather and others in town attempt to rally the citizens against the "company" and its powerful owner to stop the plunder of their mountain heritage. When Buzzy witnesses a brutal hate crime, a sequence is set in play that tests Buzzy and Kevin to their absolute limits in an epic struggle for survival in the Kentucky mountains.
Redemptive and emotionally resonant, THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH is narrated by an adult Kevin looking back on the summer when he sloughed the coverings of a boy and took his first faltering steps as a man. His story is one with a rich cast of characters and an ambitious effort to reclaim a once great community.
My review:
When I first started reading this book, I knew that it was likely going to be a 5 star review from me. The writing was exquisite, the characters were wonderful, the story sucked me in, and I was crying before I'd reached the halfway point! Unfortunately, while the writing remained stellar, shortly after the middle, it took a turn for the worse. Pops, Kevin, and Buzzy take off for a two week trek to an old camp up in the mountains. It turns into a huge adventure story that lasts almost until the end of the book, and despite the writing, I was bored stiff. I should note that adventure stories are not my thing, because I don't want to keep anyone who enjoys them from reading this book. It really was lovely, but I just can't give it a higher rating because of having to slog through 100+ pages of an adventure that seemed almost unbelievable at times. I very much enjoyed the sub plots about the hate crime that occurs in the town, and the fight to stop mountaintop removal. These were both very informative of that time, and very well done.
If you don't mind adventure stories, please pick this one up, I'm sure you will love it. For the rest of you, once they take off for the mountains, I would suggest skimming through this part. Your read will be all the better for it.
First time I have come across this book. I can see if you don't like adventure then skimming is good. So long as it doesn't advance plot or character development, I'd do it too!
Ah, what a disappointment! You are set up for one scenario and goes into a completely different direction. I'm not too fond of male-bonding trips and detailed descriptions of camping so I would pass on this, but if the writing was really special maybe look for the author's next work. Thanks.