Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1123844 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Joe Robert Kirkman has been dead for 10 years, and his wife, Cora, is ailing when their son, poet and college professor Jess, returns to the mountains of western North Carolina in the final volume of the Kirkman saga, Chappell's chronicle of this curious Appalachian family. Strong-willed but incurably depressed, Cora has already begun preparations for her own death. Because of a mixup at the local cemetery, the family burial plot must be relocated, and Jess and his sister, Mitzi, are ordered to find a suitable new plot, for which they begin entreating neighbors who may have land to spare. Meanwhile, Jess must finally clean out his father's abandoned shed of a workshop. During the excavation, Jess discovers a map marked with the names of women, which he believes may be an adulterous "black book." He sets out to find the women in question, and to perhaps discover his father through the evidence of his sins, though what he finally unearths is both more honorable and more bizarre than anything he could have imagined. The unfolding tale is both a traditional mystery and a journey of introspection, the former shaped by oral history while the latter is governed by private memory. Both follow a pattern dictated by Jess's struggle to translate passages of Dante's Inferno, which acts here as a thematic chorus. Chappell studs his novel with autobiographical quirks (Jess writes under the pseudonym "Fred Chappell"), and narrates with his trademark voice, one both poetic and inclusive of the idioms of the Appalachian Mountain region. Fans of Chappell (Farewell, I'm Bound to Leave You; Brighten the Corner Where You Are) will find this an intelligent and rewarding if sentimental closure to the Kirkman cycle. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Prolific poet/novelist Chappell again chronicles the lives of the Kirkman family, who have appeared in three previous works, most recently Farewell, I'm Bound To Leave You. Son Jess Kirkman returns to the North Carolina mountain town where he grew up because his mother is dying and there are still many loose ends associated with his late father's estate. Jess and his sister, Mitzi, must find a final resting place for both parents, and Jess must also locate his father's mysterious workshop and dispose of its contents. The treasure map and large bunch of keys he discovers in the process help Jess to know his father better after death. The townspeople's personalities and picturesque charm supply a unique perspective, and Chappell's irrepressible humor and homespun wisdom depict a long-gone way of Southern Appalachian life. A loving look back to a long-ago time and place; for public libraries and Southern fiction collections.AEllen R. Cohen, Rockville, MD
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The New York Times Book Review, Beth Wolfensberger Singer
You can't imagine a more trustworthy narrator than Jess, yet Chappell occasionally has him stretch things into the realm of magical realism.

Customer Reviews

favorite author.
This is one of Chappell's best. Great images of the way the south is today.

Why LOOK BACK ALL THE GREEN VALLEY?
Fred Chappell is an author that can create a story full of southern charm and "gentile folk" but can still have you on the edge of your seat wondering what Jess Kirkman's adventures will bring. His character development allows you to fall in love with Joe Robert while identifying with a man's quest to posthumously know his father. Chappell's books make you want to move to Appalachia and learn to play the banjo, yet contain a subtle and intellectual beauty through his use of language. If you enjoyed books such as MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL and off-beat characters, Chappell is the author for you.

Disappointing
I grant that I have not read any of Chappell's other novels (and the bulk of reviews seem to indicate their superiority), but I found this work to be a terrible disappointment. The mystery was not intriguing and the characters were, largely, not compelling. These faults were compounded by poor writing. The dialogue was forced and the language contrived. The use of local idiom profoundly unimpressive. From reading reviews, I was expecting something between Clyde Edgerton and T.R. Pearson but was met instead with something devoid of storytelling grace, depth and Southern charm.