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Monday, October 11, 2010

Mountain People

I'm reading Silas House's novels these days. His depictions of the mountain people of Kentucky are subtle, heartfelt and spot-on. Reading his prose (which is more like love poetry to his people) is like wiggling a loose tooth. It aches, but it's the good kind of sore-pain that I find myself going back to again and again.

I love my Kentucky heritage and Silas House's writing feels like he's whispering a secret only he and I know. What surprised me the most about his take on mountain people is how much in common they share with the mountain people of India. We all suspect that, deep down, people are pretty much the same everywhere. But it's always slightly shocking to find familiar traces closer to the surface.

If only I were a doctoral student I might make it my thesis. Hmmm...

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