Serena Ron Rash

Serena by Ron Rash

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Serena, oh my gosh, I loved her, despite her cold, calculating, murderous ways. I loved the whole story and once I got started I could not put this book down. George and Serena Pemberton are newly weds returning to North Carolina to manage their timber company, upon arriving they are greeted by a women, pregnant with Pemberton's child and her father. The father is killed by Pemberton and the women, Rachel Harmon, is told in no uncertain terms, by Serena, that she will get nothing from them.
In the first few pages we learn that the Pemberton's will stop at nothing to get what they want. After suffering a miscarriage and learning she will never have her own children, the one thing she wants and cannot get, Serena sets out to kill Pemberton's child with Rachel Harmon.
This book kept me hanging right up until the ending, I had ideas of how I wanted things to turn out and hopes for what would happen, but the ending snuck up on me, it was truly shocking, but fitting. I really enjoyed the authors writing style, the descriptions of the Smokey Mountains and all the minor characters through out.
There were times I felt like I missed something in the book, such as when the doctor and Harris were killed. I didn't need explicit details but felt like something was missing in explaining what happened to them.
The house fire, it sounds like Serena and Pemberton lost everything, yet for his birthday she wears her old green dress. It also sounds like other personal items of theirs were saved. A few inconsistencies such as these through me off, but not enough to ruin the book for me.
I would like a Serena prequel, it would be fascinating to learn more about Serena's time in Montana and why she was so cold.
As I read this book, I didn't see either Jennifer Lawrence or Bradley Cooper in these roles, but still excited to see the film version.



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Historical Fiction at its Best, Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Burial Rites is historical fiction at its best. The way the author intermingled historical documents, real people and places with the fictional story was masterful and spellbinding. The characters Kent imagined were perfectly imperfect people, multidimensional people who struggled with their situations, trying to do what was best for them and others. As Margret stated, “no one is all bad.”
Kent’s knowledge of Iceland and its history was evident throughout the book, her painstaking research into Iceland during the early 1800s was very much appreciated and I enjoyed the bits of everyday life, lamb slaughter, meat preservation, haymaking etc. This gave the novel a depth and realism it would have lacked without such detail.
Agnes is the most fully realized and central character of the novel, she was the last person executed in Iceland during the early 1800s, despite her conviction of murder, she is a sympathetic character. I often found myself hoping she would get an appeal, or that her story would end differently. You can’t help but root for her! Agnes grew up as a pauper, shuffling from foster family to foster family, enduing great hardship, loss, cruelty and loneliness. When she meets Natan, she thinks she has finally found someone who sees her and loves her. I wanted Agnes to see Natan for who he was before it was too late, but her infatuation blinds her to the truth.
This book is close to flawless. A few characters are stereotypical, such as Bjorn Blondal and to some degree Reverend Toti, but the character of Agnes was so well done I was able to overlook these characters. And, I really liked Reverend Toti and his approach to Agnes, sure it helped drive the story but he care and compassion for her was so real and so necessary.
I did struggle with the start of the novel, learning the Icelandic names and placing characters, but once I overcame those initial struggles I could not put the book down. The ending was very poignant; I finished it with tears streaming down my face.




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