The Line That Held Us | 
pickSometimes I read a book that‘s been languishing for years on my own bookshelves and wonder why I even bother purchasing books anew because treasures sit patiently on my shelf. That was this book. It‘s a story that is dark and gritty and visceral. I believed my feelings about each character were exactly what the author was intending. If you are looking for a reset from a stack of HEAs, dive in!
#14books14weeks2023 Book 5
📚Tagged a book recommended by author Nikolas Butler, that‘s enough rec for me lol!
🍇 I love most fruit, but good strawberries are #1.
🤩 The Storyteller comes@out 10-5, by Dave Grohl, my favorite rocket 🎸
💞 I‘m grateful for working from home, even one day, and a run at lunch!
#wondrouswednesday @Eggs Tagging @JenReadsAlot and @Kshakal my tagging peeps!
panThis one just didn't do it for me. Whatever was missing from the book was amplified by an ending that left me wondering what was the point of the whole book. None of the characters captured me & I really could not have cared less about them. The pacing was really awkward. The beginning sucked me in & the rest was just unrelatable religious ramblings. Ultimately, this book was underwhelming.
pickOnce again I seem to have an #unpopularopinion. I really enjoyed this work of #appalachiannoir. Yes, it‘s violent and sad, and yes the ending is a little…odd, but in its way, the book is beautiful & a great example of the genre. As for the ending, I think it highlights something that was brewing throughout the novel, but maybe the fact it wasn‘t explored more deeply doesn‘t bother me because of all the noir short stories I read. 🤷🏻♀️
so-soThis was very well-written, and with vivid detail, the author brought the Appalachian setting to life. Unfortunately for me, that same vivid detail did my weak stomach no favors when it came to describing other violent and gross stuff. 🤢 This is dark and gritty and explores themes of revenge and the consequences of our actions. But the ending seemed abrupt and unsatisfying.
#bookspinbingo
#booked2021 #appalachiannoir
so-soThis is a story of violence and revenge in the North Carolina mountains, painting a bleak picture of the community. While the violence does serve the story, it was a bit too brutal for my taste. My bigger quibble is that the ending was abrupt and just doesn‘t work—an idea is introduced and not interrogated, but the ending hinges on it. #botmbacklist
pickA tragic hunting accident and the subsequent cover-up put four people on a path that will change them forever. It was a great story that kept me wondering what could possibly be coming next. Joy created characters that I can place in my own world.
This was a great November #Bookspin!
1/4 #NovelNovember
#BookspinBingo
pickGripping, anxiety-provoking story of murder and revenge. 🌲🍁🦌
pickDavid Joy has fast become one of my favorite writers. The fact that his stories are about places close to where I live make them more special. Excellent storytelling!
#botm and #lmpbc mail in the same day! It‘s Christmas in May 🎉😍🙌👏💃🏽🎅🏽🎄💐🎉 @LMJenkins @irre @fandom_hellspawn99
pickReading chapter through chapter I was consistently shocked. 😱This read isn‘t for the light of heart. The imagery is powerful even when you don‘t necessarily want the visuals the author conjures. 🤢
I loved everything about the Appalachia settings and the depth of the central characters. The scariest part about this story was how much of it felt like it could happen to anybody. 🌲
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
pickI really enjoyed this. The pace is like a slow burn, leading up to the book's rather unexpected conclusion. I enjoyed the way he developed Dwayne's character and showed that there was quite a bit going on under his rather brutal exterior. I felt the setting was described so well - not just getting a feel for what it looks like, but the desperation that can exist in parts of Appalachia. I'll be checking out Joy's other books for sure!
so-soThe writing was well done but I was slightly bored with the story line.
An “Appalachian noir” about a cover-up of an accidental death and how it affects the lives of others.
so-soWas interested in reading “Appalachian noir” and wanted to support a NC writer, so picked it up on Amazon. The characterization was phenomenal but overall the message didn‘t do much for me.
pick4.5/5. The ending was strange and wasn't very fulfilling, but overall the story was great. Good pacing, decent characters, moral ambiguity. Would recommend. HOWEVER, I would NOT recommend to people that don't like graphic violence and gore, there is a lot and also pretty detailed accounts of post-mortem decomposition.
pickThis was a great novel. Great characters and the story itself moved at a fast pace. The detail of the Appalachian area was so vivid and beautiful. This was my first by this author and I will be reading some of his other books.
BOTM club from who knows how long ago. Finally getting to it.
This book is a southern/Appalachian noir and I am in 👏🏻 to 👏🏻 it 👏🏻
pickThe way this book was written made me feel nostalgic; like I already had a memory of what I was reading. The ending was a little disappointing but I enjoyed the complex characterization of bad vs worse.
so-soA fairly forgettable book. I‘ll give the author a ton of credit for doing a fairly accurate job of capturing Appalachian dialect. I‘m a mountain girl myself and we have a certain way of speaking. Otherwise, I didn‘t care for how the author wrote. I‘m not a big fan of detail heavy books where the details aren‘t really important. I don‘t need to know someone borrowed a truck from a guy who could skin a tomato with heavy machinery. #24b42019
“How old are you, boy?”
He looked at Dwayne funny. “Sixteen,” he said.
Dwayne scrubbed at the back of his head with his knuckles, squinted his eyes like he was weighing a tremendous decision. “That‘s old enough,” he said. He pulled a 1911 pistol from the back of his waistline and aimed it square at the boy‘s forehead.
Well I've just realized I haven't read ANY classics this year- every single book I've read is less than 15 years old, and most are very new. I'm such a classics girl, this is nuts! 🥜 I am making a firm, reasonable goal of 2 classics by Dec 31st.
What's the oldest book you read this year?? Mine was The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (pub 2004). 🤓
Meeting David Joy at the Kentucky Book Fair was super awesome!! I had the pleasure of attending his panel with Crystal Wilkinson and Jane Hertenstein where they discussed Appalachian culture and society‘s failure to understand the diversity of this huge region. ❤️
pickThis was a great read for fall--but it was definitely not a cozy read. Extremely gritty and harsh--gruesome in parts. I felt like the main character ended up being the antagonist, almost an anti-hero, of sorts. I was rooting for the "good guy," yet the book ended with the "bad guy," as if the story shifted to his. In that sense it felt a little bit like there were some loose ends that weren't tied up. A satisfying, compelling read. ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
pickMy favorite David Joy novel so far. His writing is beyond beautiful. Such a talented author who instantly made me root for the characters who made really poor decisions. Such an emotionally powerful read. Can‘t wait to see him at the Kentucky Book Fair and grab a signed copy of this beauty! 😄
pickI seem to spend a lot of time reading like this! We're traveling to Des Moines to see our new granddaughter today! I finished this book on the way. I really enjoyed this book, in a sad, sometimes a little too grossly descriptive, way. I like it when books don't end the way you think they will... It was not tied up nicely at the end, which made me feel like this is a real story. An accidental death in the Appalachians, leads to revenge and death.
so-soI found this #botm pick to be a little disappointing (the comparison to Cormac McCarthy's work probably set my expectations too high). There were definitely compelling moments, and the characters are both complex and empathetic. I thought that the creation of the situation was more effective than the last section of the novel--tons of tension without as much payoff as I'd hoped.
so-soOddly, I could see this being a really good movie. But I want and need more character development in a book.
“The only reason we‘re here is because of the ones we loved. That‘s the line that held us. ”
#botm
pickGritty and uncomfortable with beautiful descriptions of Appalachia.
How such wickedness survived amidst the beautiful had always baffled him 🌲🍃🍂
After a crazy few months I‘m so happy to be getting back to reading seriously. I missed my library books!
so-soI really liked the "Appalachian noir" setting of this novel, and I enjoyed the beginning. But somehow the suspense didn't keep up all the way through, and I ended up a bit uninvolved and under-invested in the characters.
Perhaps it would have been better if I'd read it in one sitting?
Book 30 of #52Booksin2018
pickThis one was so deliciously readable - Joy has a real knack for descriptions and creating visual images for the reader. The tale of these perilous characters and their pursuit for "justice" was a very telling commentary on masculine emotion, fear, and love. This one definitely makes the "TBR Again" pile.
About 1/3 of the way through this one - enjoying it so far. Helps to be reading it in the woods!
Everyone is scared of dying, but having it held over you like some unflinching shadow, a darkness neither growing nor receding, always there, that was enough to drive a man mad.
At M Judson, Booksellers tonight, David Joy discussed his writing process, Southern Gothic, Laura Lippman and his new book. Bonus, there was beer.
pickso-soMeh. Book of the Month has been so movie of the week for the last several months. This was a quick read in a cool setting but could have used a lot more character development and more fleshing out of generational poverty and class conflict.
There are some things worth dying for and some things worth killing for and some things that could make a man do all sorts of things he never knew he was capable of until the time came to do them.
David Joy, The Line That Held Us
“For as tough as the men were in these mountains, the women had always been stone. They were used to loss, accustomed to never having enough. They were fit for the harshness of this world.”
Does anyone want this? BotM is sending me a new copy due to the loose pages you can see in the photo. I don't want two copies, but I'd feel bad donating a damaged (but still very readable) book to the library.
Anyway, comment below if you're interested.
pickI'm rating this a pick even though I strongly dislike how the female character was written, and how the plot seemed to hinge on her being totally helpless. Ordinarily I find the word "gritty" to be overused with respect to literature, but in this instance I can't think of a more applicable adjective. This was dark stuff- tonally and psychologically- and the disquieting character of Dwayne Brewer will stick with me for some time.
#botm
