A Land More Kind than Home by: Wiley Cash

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 a greater knowing; to lose the life you have, for a greater life; to leave the friends you loved, for a greater loving; to find a land more kind than home, more large than earth"- Thomas Wolf You Can't Go Home Again

I usually don't read opening quotes to books. They occasionally have some connection with the pending story but I often interperate them as simple kick starter that are not of extreme importance.  To be honest, I usually do not spend more than a few moments on them.  I don't think that I purposely ignore them, but I don't conciously acknowledge them. For whatever reason, this opening quote from Wiley Cash debut novel caught my attention.  A land more kind than home?  What could be more kind than home? Is not home is where your feet seem the most grounded? Is not home where you developed you identity?  Have we not all been away from home and longed to return?  The uniqueness of this opining epigraphy really drew me in immediately and sets the tone for this novel based in the North Carolina mountains.   

In the town of Marshall North Carolina, Carson Chambliss is pastor of River Road Church.  Most churches have a pretty standard look.  Beautiful facades, manicured lawns, a cross, possibly some stain glass windows.  River Road Church has its front windows covered with old news paper so you can't see in.  Not your traditional church building decor. Inside River Road Church the service is nothing but traditional either.  Chambliss holds a mystical effect and control over the congregations and to some extent over the town of Marshall. He can bend and mold the congregation like a snake charmer. In fact a snake charmer is a very accurate description of Chambliss as he uses snakes frequently during his services to test the "faith" of his congregation.  Do you believe enough for the snake to not bite you? Do you have real faith?  Our view into the town of Marshall and the River Road Church is seen through three main characters Adelaide Lyle, Jess Hall, and Clem Barefield.

The main character, Jess Hall, was a boy who was forced to grow up in the few minutes of a passing event. Boyhood to manhood passed over him like a clouds shadow without his knowledge. You instantly connect with him as you long for him to be able to remain in his childhood, but River Road Church won't allow that.  The church has always made Jess and his brother stump uncomfortable, especially Pastor Chambliss.  But they are just boys, so they look to Adelaide Lyle for some protection and guidance.  Adelaide is a former member of River Road Church.  Former member by choice and yet not by choice.  She tries desperately to keep the children of River Road Church away from seeing into those covered front windows.  Adelaide knows whats behind those windows, and does not want to be responsible when what was covered becomes uncovered.  Clem Barefield is Marshall's sherif.  Barefield is dragged into connection with River Road Church despite his reluctance.  Especially with his own tregedy not fully healed.  All three charters in their own way battle with the time and space before them and each tackle their own quest for a land more kind than home. 

I am going to do something I am sure is not recommended for a book review.  Especially the first one on a new blog.  I don't want to get into too many specifics of this novel because thats not necessarily what I loved about it.  For me this was not about the details of the story, It was not about the unexpected twist and turns, or a plot that develops appropriately.  It about the basic elements of this story that ring true in human experience.  Love, Faith, Power, Redemption, Regret, Forgiveness, Expectation, Loneliness, Brotherhood, and Selflessness to name few.  These are the emotions that we experience in our day to day lives. These are the elements that we all make connections too.  These are the roots, and the rest is just details.  A Land More Kind Than Home is able to tap into these main emotions foremost and orchestrates the details around these elements masterfully. When you come to the end you don't want it to end not just because its a great story (it is, but there area a lot of great stories), but because it tapped into an experience and emotion that we can collectively relate too.

This beautifully written novel gets better with each page.  It has all the same ingredients of another Southern set classics To Kill A Mockingbird. As any good book does, it makes you think and ponder.  The question that kept coming back to my mind was; what land for me is more kind than home?  Every time I sat and thought about that questions one quote kept sweeping back into my mind.  “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” -C.S.Lewis.  I kept thinking that this land we inhabit now, while good, is not perfect. And one day we will inhabit a land more kind than what we currently call home. 

As the young main character Jess Hall frequently kicks up dust as he walks down a beaten path, shuffle through this novel slowly. And as you do, watch the path you create as you ponder your own land more kind than home.