Rating: 4/5
Review:
Compelling and atmospheric
This is another very compelling book from Michael Farris Smith. I
thought that Desperation Road and The Fighter were both outstanding;
Blackwood is equally readable, atmospheric and involving but I’m
not sure it said quite as much as the previous two.
Blackwood is set in
rural Tennessee where a small town has been surrounded and all but
taken over by the invasive weed kudzu, which covers and ultimately
chokes all other vegetation and any houses which aren’t constantly
defended. Into this town come a family of drifters headed by a
dangerous and increasingly unhinged man, and another man returning to
his childhood home and seeking some answers to tragedy from his past
and possibly some redemption. Sinister, sometimes violent
developments ensue and Farris Smith again explores issues of damaged
masculinity seeking salvation, repression, anger and the mores of a
small, isolated community – all with the unspoken metaphor of the
encroaching darkness and oppression of the kudzu.
Farris Smith’s
writing is, as always, brilliant; terse, compelling and realistic in
its portrayal of place and character. I was utterly involved from
the start and it’s a completely engrossing read which doesn’t shy
away from tough subjects nor go in for easy resolution. I did find
the ending a little odd and out of step with the rest of the book,
though, and afterward I had the sense that there was less new insight
than in his previous books.
These small
reservations aside, I can recommend Blackwood warmly.
(My thanks to No
Exit Press for an ARC via NetGalley.)
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