Fiction Monday: Appalachian Justice by Melinda Clayton

I like finding “new” or “new to me” fiction authors to read and explore. When I pick up a novel by an author I’m familiar with, I’ll often only read the cover blurb to see if the subject matter interests me. If it does, I’ll purchase and read the book and form my own opinion of it. With a newer author, I’ll often seek out and read other readers reviews of it. I look mostly for books that have a lot of good reviews of course, but I make it a point to read the “bad” reviews too. Often times, if a mainstream work of fiction has overwhelmingly positive reviews and only a few of negative ones, the negative reviews focus on “nitpicking”. With highly reader rated books that are gay or lesbian themed, the bad reviews tend to run a gamut between nitpicking and the disgust of a homophobic straight reader who did not appreciate the gay content.

Some will say reading negative reviews before reading a book prejudices me. I disagree. As a responsible reviewer, I feel it’s my duty to ferret out all of the issues with a text. I’m human, I miss things. If I know in advance what to expect, I can determine as I read if those things really are an issue for the average reader like me or if the reviewer was just blowing smoke to have something different to say to stand out and feel important.

The December 2010 first book by psychotherapist and novelist Melinda Clayton, Appalachian Justice is a highly rated mainstream novel with a bit of a gay theme in the form of a lesbian main character who suffered an incident early in her life as a result of being gay. The overall feel of this book was dark but it had it’s light moments. One of the things that makes it gripping for the reader is the way the author, again a psychotherapist, can really get inside the heads of the characters.

I felt this novel to be an excellent first outing for Melinda Clayton. Other reader reviewers, for the most part, agreed. I did take minor issue with a couple of things and, honestly, they were things I had been prepared for because I read the negative reviews.

Here is they publishers synopsis of the story and, following that, the few things I took issue with:

Deep in the mountains of Appalachia, Billy May Platte learned the hard way that 1940s West Virginia was no place to be gay. ‘We was sheltered in them hills. We didn’t know much of nothin’ about life outside of them mountains. I did not know the word lesbian; to us, gay meant havin’ fun and queer meant somethin’ strange.’ In 1945, when Billy May was fourteen years old and alone, three local boys witnessed an incident in which Billy May’s sexuality was called into question. Determined to teach her a lesson she would never forget, they orchestrated a brutal attack that changed the dynamics of the tiny coal mining village of Cedar Hollow, West Virginia forever. Thirty years after the brutal attack, living in solitude on top of Crutcher Mountain, Billy May discovers the hideout of a young girl – a girl who just happens to be the daughter of one of the boys who attacked Billy May so long ago. No one knows better than Billy May the telltale signs of abuse, and she must quickly make a decision. Will she withdraw into the solitude in which she has lived since the horrific attack, or will she risk everything to save the girl from a similar fate? In spite of the heartbreaking incidents that take place in the novel, the book is ultimately a tribute to the resiliency of the human spirit and a celebration of the beauty of second chances. Underneath it all, Appalachian Justice is also a powerful love story, though certainly not a conventional one.

Bearing in mind that this is the first literary effort by this author, there are going to be mistakes. One is trying too hard. There are so many characters involved, especially at the end of the book, it’s hard to keep everyone straight. I took issue with the same sort of thing with my previous review of a first work, Miss Timmin’s School for Girls by author Nayana Currimbhoy.

The only other issue I had with this piece of work is one of semantics. I completely understand the repeated dropping of the “g” off of a word that ends in “ing” in dialog to make it sound more folksy and realistic given the Appalachian setting. The author uses this device almost to a fault. Unfortunately, not being from the area and, apparently not having done much research, she doesn’t have a feel for the true dialect and the idioms in use. This is a point that would be lost on most readers anyway since many won’t be familiar with the language of the area, so I do term this a minor issue. It didn’t take away from my ability to enjoy the book.

Finally, I would like to note that Ms. Clayton seems to have continued the story with a second novel published in June of this year, Return to Crutcher Mountain. I haven’t had the opportunity to read that one yet but, the first book proved the authors talent in my eyes. The second book should do well for her.