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A Land More Kind Than Home
A Land More Kind Than Home
A Land More Kind Than Home
Audiobook8 hours

A Land More Kind Than Home

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

“Bold, daring, graceful, and engrossing.”
—Bobbie Ann Mason

“This book will knock your socks off….A first novel that sings with talent.”
—Clyde Edgerton

In his phenomenal debut novel—a mesmerizing literary thriller about the bond between two brothers and the evil they face in a small North Carolina town—author Wiley Cash displays a remarkable talent for lyrical, powerfully emotional storytelling. A Land More Kind than Home is a modern masterwork of Southern fiction, reminiscent of the writings of John Hart (Down River), Tom Franklin (Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter), Ron Rash (Serena), and Pete Dexter (Paris Trout)—one that is likely to be held in the same enduring esteem as such American classics as To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and A Separate Peace. A brilliant evocation of a place, a heart-rending family story, a gripping and suspenseful mystery—with A Land More Kind than Home, a major American novelist enthusiastically announces his arrival.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateApr 17, 2012
ISBN9780062115591
A Land More Kind Than Home
Author

Wiley Cash

Wiley Cash is the New York Times bestselling author of A Land More Kind Than Home, the acclaimed This Dark Road to Mercy, and most recently The Last Ballad. He is a three-time winner of the SIBA Southern Book Prize, won the Conroy Legacy Award, was a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and the Edgar Award for Best Novel, and has been nominated for many more. A native of North Carolina, he is the Alumni Author-in-Residence at the University of North Carolina Asheville. He lives in Wilmington, NC with his wife, photographer Mallory Cash, and their two daughters.

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Reviews for A Land More Kind Than Home

Rating: 3.9381919055350556 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I enjoyed this tale spoken by 3 different characters and their perspectives. Small rural town in NC where evangelistic preacher/church impacts the lives of many, but in a dark way.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Easy to follow. Interesting plots and characters looking forward to more by this author
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A moving book about all the different ways people try to find redemption. The land and the weather are as important (and as well portrayed) as the characters. The various voices that tell the story are distinctive. Each story is compelling in its own right.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    If you loved “Where the Crawdads Sing” listen to this book!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I typically enjoy only a solid fare of mysteries...but... I am very glad that Wiley Cash caught my interest. I am from a small town (not a Southern town, but it is EASY to relate to - and even recognize - Mr. Wiley's characters). SUPERB author and narrator, a very well woven believable tale.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Dissatisfied with end, the otherwise successful character development petered out
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Set in Madison County, North Carolina, this was a beautifully written book, but a really sad story. I listened to the audio version of the book, and the narrators were very convincing conveying the various points of view of a 9 year old boy, an elderly woman and the local sheriff, whose lives were all changed by the pastor of a secretive church and its snake-handling congregation. In addition to the central plot, there are poignant back stories on each of the characters. I took the book as a perfect example of why there should be no such thing as organized religion. I also felt is was a representation of a passive, insular, anachronistic and superstitious community. I doubt that the author would agree with either of my assessments, but maybe he just made his book too realistic and convincing. This is the second book I've read from this author and I'd be happy to read any thing else that he writes.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book had a blurb saying it was like Cormac McCarthy rewrote To Kill a Mockingbird - I don’t actually agree with that, but there definitely are some Cormac McCarthy vibes here. A Southern gothic novel about blindly believing in a church that has no limits. The pastor has a rough past he’s trying to hide while pushing his “flock” to test their faith by putting their hands in rattlesnake cages. People have mysteriously died in the church, so the windows have been covered with newspaper. Very creepy story, interesting, and well-written overall, but there were a lot of flashbacks thrown in the middle of action, making it hard to keep the timeline straight.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The fictional debut novel, A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash, depicts the grievous tragedies that flooded the parishioners of The River Road Church of Christ in the 1980s. Carlson Chambliss, a self-proclaimed prophet, showed up in Marshall, North Carolina carrying a crate of snakes and proclaiming that the healing power of Almighty God was in his hands. He used his charisma to mesmerize and convince the townspeople that by following him, they would be following God.The message that Pastor Chambliss preached over and over was that if a person was pure enough and had faith, nothing could hurt them, not even a poisonous snake bite. Carlson Chambliss would test members of his flock who became disagreeable by trapping their hands in a crate full of angry rattlesnakes. He would then wait to see if the good Lord was going to call them home or save them before he stopped the beating of the drums.After witnessing a parishioner die from failing Paster Chambliss’ test of faith, Adelaide Lyle (a spinster and the town’s midwife) decided to start up a Sunday school program of her own. She needed to gather and keep her children safe, and out of the evil clutches of the devil incarnate, Pastor Chambliss.Nine-year-old Jess Hall and his mute brother Christian loved to spy on their mother. And although they knew it was wrong to do so, they just couldn’t pass up two golden opportunities. One was when their mother was attending a sacred healing service, and the other was when she was doing some grownup stuff in her bedroom with someone other than their daddy. They would pay dearly for both of these spying expeditions.People were dying in Pastor Chambliss’ healing services, and Sheriff Clem Barefield was determined to get to the bottom of it. He couldn’t understand why people were so close-mouthed about the mysterious pastor. And, why would they ever want to attend a church run by a pastor who covers the church windows with newspapers? It was time for the snake-wielding preacher to give up some answers.I found the storyline in this book fascinating. I also loved the way Wiley Cash was able to transport me to the back hills of North Carolina by capturing the townsfolk’s dialect and culture. The story was told from the point of view of Adelaide Lyle, Jess Hall, and Clem Barefield. I think, however, I would have understood and felt more for the parishioners if Wiley Cash would have also included a point of view from a parishioner, such as Julie Hall. It was difficult for me to read and understand how a mother could become so enthralled with a pastor’s teachings that she would jeopardize the safety of her own children.I found reading A Land More Kind than Home well worth my time. It was interesting and carried an important message of forgiveness. I did, however, find the pacing of the book a bit slow in some parts, but all in all I enjoyed it. I would recommend giving the book a read.~4 out of 5 stars~ Review by Peg Glover
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Meandering book takes an awful long time to tell a pretty simple story. Way too many digressions that have little bearing on the main plot, as if the author is just padding things out because he can't figure out how to make the main plot carry the story. The voice of the son is the best narrator and perhaps the most honest one. The old lady is annoying because she held the key to perhaps preempt some of these events. The sheriff is okay, but the whole book is more than a little bit overdone and doesn't really speak convincingly to the reader. Also, the narrative should end with the son--not the old lady. That would have made for a much more satisfying book. There are just so many opportunities here that are missed, it is sad. The situation is a good one and the characters are good--the author just doesn't know what to do with them.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I wanted to try a Wiley Cash book so I tried this one. I ended up not liking it all that much. I found the tone bleak and depressing.It has to do with a young boy who is protective of his younger brother (who cannot talk), the boys mother, a sinister minister who believes in snake handling, a well meaning member of his congregation, and the local sheriff. It did have enough tension that I wanted to keep reading, and the scenes were written well, but it seemed very grim and sinister throughout and not to my personal taste.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Three narrators, all convincing. Painful, perhaps especially for those of us who do not believe in "a land more kind than home".
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Inspired by a news story about faith healing gone awry, there is a decent short story in here, but the author bloats it up to novel length with unnecessary characters and scenes. I feel like I could rip one or two hundred pages out of the middle and still have enjoyed the book just as much as I did. Most of the sheriff's scenes seemed unneeded, as were the scenes with Adelaide past the first chapter. And the villain of the book was just a one-dimensional stock figure who literally lurked in shadows throughout the book. He reminded me of Boyd Crowder so much that I couldn't get the TV show Justified out of my head while reading, thinking this might have made a decent three-episode arc.Regardless, I liked the atmosphere of the book, even if it went on too long, the ending was simplistic, and the swerve to make it about fathers and sons was late and unwelcome. Really, I liked it, despite how much I keep criticizing it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Author Wiley Cash lets his debut work, "A Land More Kind Than Home", be told through three distinctly different voices: a young boy, an elderly lady, and a salt-and-pepper sheriff. This dark and disturbing blend of religion, superstition, and manipulation reveals painful human vulnerabilities. Even the most devout believers may have chinks in their armor. The elements of truth in this work of fiction are unsettling, and just as nature has its way in the wild, the weak are culled from the herd. The predator here is a preacher, but is he a man of God, or is he the Devil incarnate? The characters are well-drawn, and the story line is as old as mankind itself. My favorite "voice" was the sheriff, a seasoned lawman with keen Southern sensibilities. The contrasts in the ages and life situations of the three narrators add just the right balance. "Snake handling" and "speaking in tongues" is still a religious practice in parts of the United States. I live in a small town in the VA mountains, and I have heard of churches which partake of these rituals, but they are not located in my home area. "A Land More Kind Than Home" is set in rural North Carolina, and it has a true feel for the land and the people. Wiley Cash is an author to watch, and I hope he continues to tell his tales with a Southern accent.Book Copy Gratis Amazon Vine
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The author chose the perfect three narrators; a sheriff, an elderly lady, and a child. It's a great narrative about southern small time life. The characters are well developed from the crazy Pastor Chambliss to the brothers Stump and Jess. The novel is well written, but I found the ending too contrived.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The novel is a story of murder and deception in a small Appalachian town under the spell of a charismatic minister of the snake handling ilk. Rarely is Appalachia flattered in books or film, and this book is no exception. The story was engaging, if not original, the characters were well fleshed out with backstory, and the book held me until the end. This was a quick read, but definitely not for the delicate reader.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I read this for a book club. It was well written but it was a story to tragic for me to enjoy. And I HATE snakes and there were far too many for me in this book. I need a hero, and this sadly lacks anyone I would call a hero.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was an engrossing quick read. I enjoyed the drama, the characters and the southern setting. I heard Wiley Cash speak at our library and he gave probably the best author talks I have heard. Cash explained his background his education and what is involved in getting a book published.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Good story about good and evil with POV's from a child, a sheriff, and an elderly woman. Distinctly regional and best read in autumn. Really looking forward to reading his next novel 'This Dark Road to Mercy'.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Powerful gothic Appalachian tale, told with urgency and menace, covering three short days of tragedy. An impressive debut novel.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is a southern saga of a small North Carolina town where a minister has brought healing to a church. The church's windows have been covered in newspaper, which immediately foreshadows dark secrets within. With the healing minister comes evil and A Land More Kind Than Home is the account of how that evil effects one family in particular.

    The narrative is told in four voices: A ten year old boy (Jess), his father, the sheriff and an old wise woman who was the first to recognize the evil. The centerpiece of the novel is a twelve year old mute boy, Jess's older brother, nick-named "Stump". Despite the efforts of Jess and the old lady to protect Stump and the love of his father and mother, things go awry for the boy and all the characters have to deal with it.

    This is an amazing book. If it is a debut book from this author then hats off to him. The writing style, the story, the premise, the ending, the character development, all was phenomenal.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this book for a fiction library book group. This book is the epitome of southern gothic literature if you like Flannery O'Conner you will enjoy WIley Cash who is a new voice in this genre. The story is told in three voices with each voice giving a different point of view of the events as they unfold. A preacher of questionable background who brings a new religion to a defunct church. A snake wrangler, a southern appalachian setting, religious fundamentalists, two questionable deaths and boys curiosity put this all together you have a story that grabs you by the shirt collar and does not let you go until the last word. I also chose to listen to an audio version as well as reading the book and would highly recommend both the audio and the book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    My take: 3 looks
    Disturbingly real, and ripped from the headlines, this was a very fast-paced book. Living about 45 minutes from a church that handles snakes, I can relate to the fervor in which these congregations whip themselves while testing not only the scripture, but the Holy God Himself.

    I come away with a fundamental question: how can people be so blinded by a man? Look at Hitler. Look at Jonestown and Jim Jones. This happens.

    The book answers me: "It was like Mama was lost in the desert and had gotten so thirsty that she was willing to see anything that might make her feel better about being lost."

    Simply said, these people are hungry for a leader, and once they find a charismatic and narcissistic man willing to lead them, they follow blindly. Even if it means dying.

    Although, for those who are not this desperate, the book offers this explanation: "But since then I've learned to just go ahead and take fairness out of the equation. If you do, things stand the chance of making a whole lot more sense."

    The book is more than a story of a church flock led astray. There are several dynamics here: marital issues, sibling relationships, friendships, and a dose of redemption. There is much more here than meets the eye. Maybe a little too much. It was on the heavy-side of drama in a number of areas, but the story moved nicely and it was a very interesting book with a satisfying resolution.

    One of the best parts of the book was the Epigraph in the beginning:


    Something has spoken to me in the night...and told me I shall die, I know not where. Saying:



    "Death is to lose the earth you know, for greater knowing; to lose the life you have, for greater life; to leave the friends you loved, for greater loving; to find a land more kind than home, more large than earth."

    -- Thomas Wolfe, You Can't Go Home Again.

    Recommended
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A small town in North Carolina, a very fundamentalist church, the death of a young boy. combine to make this a compulsive read once started. Told mainly in three voices, an older woman, the brother of the dead boy, and the local sheriff. While reading, I wondered how people could believe in the things the characters did and could not come up with any answers. And I know it to be true in light of a recent news article regarding the death of a southern preacher who used poisonous snakes in his service. This book was sad and dark, yet a few glimmers of hope shone through. I read it for a book club and a challenge and I'm glad I did.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This story begins with two brothers seeing things through windows that they should not, and one of them, a mute, then mysteriously dies during a service at a snake-handling church. It's described on the cover as Cormac McCarthy rewriting Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, but honestly, the only thing Wiley Cash has in common with those two other authors is that he's from the South. He doesn't have Lee's depth of insight nor McCarthy's breadth of worldview. In fact, this novel is barely a short story, stretched out with too much back story. It's told from the points of view of three characters who are all peripheral to the main events, a frustrating choice because they aren't close enough to the central plot to give readers a real sense of what's happening and they keep interrupting the main flow to reminisce, which I found confusing in keeping current events straight (the main story also takes place in the past, by the way). The most interesting character is Carson Chambliss, pastor of the aforementioned church, a truly threatening guy who was the only person keeping me reading but barely appeared on page, certainly not enough to get to know him, to really feel his menace, or to understand the hold he had over the boys' mother, Julie. Another troublesome character, Julie seems to do only what the plot requires of her, often at odds with her character as established, and has no real personality of her own. Yet if it weren't for Julie's and Chambliss's relationship, none of the other events would have followed--it seems crucial that we understand them, yet we are kept tantalizingly distant. Cash is a promising writer, and this book has been incredibly lauded, which probably explains my disappointment with it. But this story never gets a chance to take root and thus can't favorably be compared to the greats of Southern literature.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Told in alternating chapters from three different viewpoints, A Land More Kind Than Home is a strong mystery, a lyrical evocation of place, and a heartbreaking family story.An elderly woman named Adelaide Lyle introduces us to the little flyspeck of a town about an hour north of Asheville, North Carolina, and its church with the papered-up windows. Why doesn't Pastor Carson Chambliss want anyone to see inside the old storefront that houses his church? And why did such a deeply religious woman as Adelaide Lyle stop attending?We next hear from Jess Hall, a little boy fervently attached to his older brother, and finally the local sheriff, Clem Barefield, shares what he knows. The focus of this book starts out soft and misty, but as we learn the story from these three people with their vastly different ages and life experiences, that focus sharpens dramatically-- and a feeling of dread begins to grow. One of the things I enjoyed most about this book was the fact that the story wasn't all spelled out for me. An old woman who doesn't get out much isn't going to see everything that goes on. A little boy may see many things that he can't understand or put words to. And a sheriff may have suspicions but no cold, hard facts to back them up. I had to piece everything together from these three narratives, and Cash's writing style made the work a pleasure. But for some strange reason, I couldn't come completely under the spell of his story or of his characters. I'm at a loss to explain it. The closest I can come is to say that I felt as though I'd read this story before. The particulars may be different, but the basic story is very familiar. Will this keep me from reading more of Wiley Cash's work? Absolutely not! And if you're in the mood for a mystery that's strong on setting, suspense, and characterization, I urge you to read A Land More Kind Than Home.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A Land More Kind Than Home takes place in rural North Carolina and is told by three different narrators: Jesse, a nine-year-old boy, Clem, the town sheriff, and Adelaide, the town midwife/Sunday school teacher/person who is always there in times of crisis. The story follows suspicious events that take place in the local church, where the preacher practices snake handling, drinking poison, and healing rituals. The book was a really fast read, and I didn’t want to put it down, but apparently it didn’t have time to leave a lasting impression on me.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Every once in awhile a book comes along that seems to grab hold of the reader‘s emotions. For me, A Land More Kind That Home by Wiley Cash was one of those kind of books. This is a rather grim story, told in beautiful prose, about how a preacher turns a small town congregation into a cult of darkness with snake handling, speaking in tongues and hands on healing. The story unfolds in three distinct voices, young Jess Hall, Sheriff Clem Barefield, and Adelaide Lyle, each character having their own viewpoint of the events that unfold.Jess and his mute brother Christopher decide to look into their parents bedroom one day but instead of their Mother and Father, they see their Mother with Preacher Chambliss. The preacher sees Christopher spying, and before too long he is encouraging their mother to bring young Christopher into the church to have him healed. Adelaide Lyle, the local midwife, had years ago pulled all the children out of the church fearing for their safety. She ran a Sunday school for them, but over her objections Christopher was taken into the church and a tragedy occurs.A Land More Kind Than Home is a southern gothic tale of good versus evil, cruelty versus innocence and as all the pieces mesh together to form a flawless narrative, the reader is engulfed by this powerful, unforgettable story. This debut novel introduces an author that is able to deliver an inspired, substantial and heart rendering story and shows promising possibilities for his future efforts.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Someone around here warbled about Wiley Cash. I checked the library, and there was a copy of his first novel, so I read it. This is the kind of stuff I inhale and stay up late to finish even though I have to get up early and be somewhere in the morning. Pitch-perfect story-telling about people living outside the circle of incessant "news", the internet, and celebrity gossip, some of whom might not even have a telephone, and who wouldn't use it to call the Sheriff if they did. People who could maybe use a little of that manufactured escapism to help them cope with the reverses and disappointments that drive some of them to drink...to violence...to pathological religion (there's snake-handling). It won't appeal to everyone, because it is a hard beauty to appreciate, and the glimmer of redemption and hope it offers is faint. But I'm keeping my eye on Wiley Cash. Nearly five stars.Review written in September 2014
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book tells the story of the Hall family. Growing up north of Asheville, North Carolina in the Appalachian mountains, Jess loves his father, a tobacco farmer, his mother and his older brother, nicknamed Stump, who doesn't talk, but who is his constant companion. His mother is involved in the local Church of God with Signs Following, a small, secretive pentecostal congregation led by a charismatic pastor. In this rural community, everyone knows everyone else and what their parents did. And then one event precipitates another and things go badly wrong.This is a book whose sum is greater than its parts. Yes, there's fantastic atmosphere and a solid sense of place. And the characters are complex and even the secondary ones are fully fleshed out. The plot is well put together and moves with a sort of inevitable speed toward the conclusion, but this book just works. There are a few false notes. Cash missed a step by not fully exploring the beliefs of the church, which are more complex than he set forth, but as a whole, this was a fantastic book that fully deserves its reputation.