⋙ [PDF] Serena A Novel Ron Rash 9780061470851 Books

Serena A Novel Ron Rash 9780061470851 Books

Download As PDF : Serena A Novel Ron Rash 9780061470851 Books

Serena A Novel Ron Rash 9780061470851 Books

It is the slightly off-kilter, dark tone of this book that mesmerizes. Set in the year 1929, in the North Carolina mountains, George Pemberton arrives on a train from Boston with his cultured new wife, Serena. It is a rough-hewn, brass tacks timber camp dedicated to clearing the region of its trees for financial gain that Serena enters and assumes control. The daughter of a timber man from Colorado, Serena knows the business better than most men, and uses her wits and wiles to manipulate affairs to her liking as she plots to expand the business. With a mysterious background to her credit, both George and the reader come to know Serena through her ruthless, self-serving dealings; nothing is beneath her pursuit of expansion: no morals, ethics, nor even the law. In short order, George Pemberton becomes a man caught in a web, yet is so enamored of his wife, he is willing to go along as events spin out of his control and lead to the ultimate betrayal. This is the fifth book I have read by the author, Ron Rash, and I find his voice unlike any other. Ron Rash is a writer gifted with the poetics of economy. His settings exist in society's underworld, which he compliments through the use of language so pitch perfect in regional colloquialism it gives you the characters background and explains their individual mind-set. Ron Rash's Serena is a villain for the ages; she is canny, single-minded, attractive, and dangerous. This bone-chilling story is both gripping and blind-siding. It is another fine example of Ron Rash's deft handling of the darker notes of self-preservation at any cost.


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Serena A Novel Ron Rash 9780061470851 Books Reviews

There is a wonderful Shakespearean quality to this novel. But don’t let that scare you away, it is very readable and painted vivid pictures of the Great Smoky Mountains in my head… I plan on seeking out every book written by Mr. Rash and devouring them.

George Pemberton, young scion of a wealthy Boston family, is running a lumber company in Appalachia in 1929. He is a Hemingway-type protagonist he wants to work hard, play hard, make a fortune, and shoot a mountain lion. When he brings home his new bride, Serena, at first he does not realize that he has indeed bagged his mountain lion in the form of this blonde heiress to a Colorado lumber empire. Serena is lithe, graceful, beautiful, intelligent, and completely ruthless and remorseless about getting what she wants. The body count begins on the first page, and Serena continues to dispatch everyone who stands in her way. The lumber workers provide delightful Greek chorus interludes, in which they speculate on who is going to be the die next, and add a bit of (dark) comic relief. (My favorite paraphrased He should have known people such as them couldn’t be killed with fire, you have to drive a stake through their hearts) Serena galloping around on her white Arabian horse with her rattlesnake-killing Berkut eagle provides enough foreboding symbolism to make any Roman quake in his sandals.
Are there books that you can like and dislike at the same time? Yes - this is it.

What did I like?
- very bold and strong characters
- written in such a way as to keep me reading
- interesting historical references

What did I dislike?
- dark themes throughout the novel
- the lack of hope in the story

I can appreciate the talent of the author in the telling of this story. The plotline keeps moving and the characters are very well developed. But after reading this book, I can say I really do not want to see the movie adaptation. I don’t really want to “see” the grim scenes already envisioned in my mind.

So, if you like dark stories, then this might be the book for you.
I really wanted to like this book but I can't say I did. I love reading a book and enjoying it so much that you cannot wait to see the movie. I heard about the film being made in an interview on NPR and decided I wanted to get the book first. The book moves slowly to me, especially at the beginning. I can certainly appreciate the lush descriptions of the environment and characters, but felt that it was easy to skip over them in an attempt to just get to something interesting. I did not mind reading the story of the two main characters despite Serena seeming to be unlikeable. I just felt that the book lacked a clear path. It treads the line between a historical fiction, murder mystery and suspense. The lead up to a dramatic moment was slow, and the dramatic moment itself (trying not to be a spoiler) was disappointingly boring. You found yourself not invested in any particular character, I felt apathetic about everyone. I read the book in just two days but still found myself confused about some of the characters, having to go back to discern who was who, this was especially true of the sawyers and logging men. I can see why this book would be picked up to be made into a film, the lead character had many aspects reminiscent of Amy in the popular book and film Gone Girl. I actually enjoy the strong, dark and insane Serena, I just felt like the book left me wanting so much more. I am optimistic for the film, however, I feel that this may be a rare moment where the movie is superior to the book.
Serena is actually two completely different books struggling to survive inside the same title.
The first is a literary exploration of nature, logging, human obsession and one woman’s need for dominance. This side of the novel is full of gorgeous writing, subtle metaphors and tensions derived from the character’s relationships. Five stars.
The second Serena is more of a thriller. There’s a lot of murder and good vs. evil plot points. For me, these parts of the book were ridiculously melodramatic, unrealistic and hollow. One star.
The two Serenas attract two different types of readers. Many reviews, including this one, seem to be from one reader-type slamming the aspects of the novel they didn’t like. Without even seeing the movie, I would bet that it suffers from the same problem—it’s neither an art film nor a thriller.
Serena was published in 2008 and since then Rash’s seems to have gone in a more literary direction as seen in his stunning collection of short stories, Nothing Gold Can Stay.
It is the slightly off-kilter, dark tone of this book that mesmerizes. Set in the year 1929, in the North Carolina mountains, George Pemberton arrives on a train from Boston with his cultured new wife, Serena. It is a rough-hewn, brass tacks timber camp dedicated to clearing the region of its trees for financial gain that Serena enters and assumes control. The daughter of a timber man from Colorado, Serena knows the business better than most men, and uses her wits and wiles to manipulate affairs to her liking as she plots to expand the business. With a mysterious background to her credit, both George and the reader come to know Serena through her ruthless, self-serving dealings; nothing is beneath her pursuit of expansion no morals, ethics, nor even the law. In short order, George Pemberton becomes a man caught in a web, yet is so enamored of his wife, he is willing to go along as events spin out of his control and lead to the ultimate betrayal. This is the fifth book I have read by the author, Ron Rash, and I find his voice unlike any other. Ron Rash is a writer gifted with the poetics of economy. His settings exist in society's underworld, which he compliments through the use of language so pitch perfect in regional colloquialism it gives you the characters background and explains their individual mind-set. Ron Rash's Serena is a villain for the ages; she is canny, single-minded, attractive, and dangerous. This bone-chilling story is both gripping and blind-siding. It is another fine example of Ron Rash's deft handling of the darker notes of self-preservation at any cost.