Charles Frazier's Nightwoods

Nightwoods by Charles Frazier
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A modern literary story, written like an old mountain ballad, about a dysfunctional family in Appalachia.

Through the beginning of the book, I was worried that this story wouldn't end well. Too many of the mountain ballads have sad endings and the prose is very reminiscent of a ballad (even if Mr. Frazier, unlike his character Maddie, didn't use the words that we still grow up hearing: "Yonward and thither. Hither. Sward").

Too many kids die in the ballads, so it was a relief to reach the end and find that my worries were ungrounded. I wasn't sure how the book would end until I got there (though I did begin to suspect the ending when Bud followed the kids up on the mountain).

Other readers have complained about the prose and too many descriptions. I thought the story was beautifully written and I loved the visual descriptions. The character Luce loves nature, the seasons, and plants. The descriptions help fill her out as a character.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

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