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Dramatic,
Dark,
Beautiful

1 review

The Cove: A Novel (P.S.)
by Ron Rash

Published: 2012-11-06
Paperback : 272 pages
1 member reading this now
7 clubs reading this now
4 members have read this book
Recommended to book clubs by 1 of 1 members

“Set during World War One, The Cove is a novel that speaks intimately to today’s politics. Beautifully written, tough, raw, uncompromising, entirely new. Ron Rash is a writer’s writer who writes for others.”
—Colum McCann

“Ron Rash is a writer of both the darkly beautiful and ...

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Introduction

“Set during World War One, The Cove is a novel that speaks intimately to today’s politics. Beautifully written, tough, raw, uncompromising, entirely new. Ron Rash is a writer’s writer who writes for others.”
—Colum McCann

“Ron Rash is a writer of both the darkly beautiful and the sadly true; The Cove solidifies his reputation as one of our very finest novelists.”
—Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls

Here is a magnificent tale that captures the wondrous beauty of nature and love—and the darkness of superstition and fear—from one of America’s most exciting contemporary novelists. With The Cove, Ron Rash, author of the acclaimed New York Times bestseller Serena, returns to the Appalachian milieu he has previously so memorably evoked. A two-time O. Henry Prize winner for his short fiction—and recipient of the 2010 Frank O’Connor International Story Award and the 2010 SIBA Book Award for his story collection Burning Bright—Rash can expect more honors for The Cove, a novel that brilliantly explores often dangerous notions of patriotism during wartime. This story of a love affair doomed in the rising turmoil of WWI resonates powerfully in today’s world.

Editorial Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, April 2012: Hank and Laurel Shelton live in a lonely Appalachian valley, on the same broken homestead where their parents toiled and died years before. Locals shun Laurel for her witchy birthmark, and Hank struggles to maintain the farm without a hand he lost in the Great War. When a mute stranger arrives, both (especially Laurel) allow themselves hope for a future outside the cove, away from small-town superstition and wartime fervor. But whose skull is that in the well?

In the lyrical prose that won him such acclaim with Serena, Ron Rash washes this novel's languid spaces with bucketfuls of atmospheric dread, pushing his characters into the currents of their fate with determined empathy. Murky and deliberate, The Cove solidifies Rash as master of modern Southern Gothic. --Jon Foro

Excerpt

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Discussion Questions

Suggested by Members

1. How does prejudice among the town folk impact Laurel's life? How does it impact Hank's?
2. What comparison do you see today with how average US citizens assume the worst about those who are foreign born who find themselves in our country while the US is in an active war with their country?
by CynKing57 (see profile) 02/27/16

The reading guide that came with the book have great questions.
by tina55 (see profile) 08/29/13

Notes From the Author to the Bookclub

No notes at this time.

Book Club Recommendations

Member Reviews

Overall rating:
 
 
  "excellent"by ELIZABETH V. (see profile) 09/06/16

In the book THE COVE, the cove is a place where nothing good has ever happened to anyone who lived there. At this point in history, the end of World War I, can that be changed?

THE COVE b

... (read more)

 
by Elizabeth G. (see profile) 03/29/16

 
  "The place is also a character in this novel"by Cyndee K. (see profile) 02/27/16

Ron Rash writes poignantly about Madison county North Carolina. His prose is beautiful and is as much a love letter to that area as it is a love story. The setting of the story in a dark cov... (read more)

 
  "The Cove"by Select H. (see profile) 08/29/13

Our book club enjoyed the book and the characters. We found that we enjoy Ron Rash's writing. His descriptions kept it a fast paced read. The book has an ending that surprised us!!

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