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Amazon.com Review
Oprah Book Club Selection, January 2000: Robert Morgan’s Gap Creek opens with one wrenching death and ends with another. In between, this novel of turn-of-the-century Appalachian life works in fire, flood, swindlers, sickness, and starvation–a truly biblical assortment of plagues, all visited on the sturdy shoulders of 17-year-old Julie Harmon. “Human life don’t mean a thing in this world,” she concludes. And who could blame her? “People could be born and they could suffer, and they could die, and it didn’t mean a thing…. The world was exactly like it had been and would always be, going on about its business.” For Julie, that business is hard physical labor. Fortunately, she’s fully capable of working “like a man”–splitting and hauling wood, butchering hogs, rendering lard, planting crops, and taking care of the stock. Even when Julie meets and marries handsome young Hank Richards, there’s no happily-ever-after in store. Nothing comes easy in Julie Harmon’s world, and their first year together is no exception.Throughout the novel, Morgan chronicles Julie’s trials in prose of great dignity and clarity, capturing the rhythms of North Carolina speech by using only the subtlest of inflections. Clearly the author has done his research too–the descriptions of physical labor practically leap off the page. (Suffice to say, you’ll learn far more about hog slaughtering than you ever dreamed of knowing.) Yet he resists the temptation to make his long-suffering characters into saints. Julie simmers with resentment at being her family’s workhorse, and Hank flies into a helpless rage whenever he feels that his authority is questioned. In novels like The Truest Pleasure and The Hinterlands, Morgan proved his ability to create memorable heroines. In Gap Creek, he writes with great feeling–but not a touch of sentimentality–about a life Julie aptly calls “both simple and hard.”
Product Description
The National Bestseller A New York Times Notable Book
There is a most unusual woman living in Gap Creek. Julie Harmon works hard, “hard as a man” they say, so hard that at times she’s not sure she can stop. People depend on her.
She is just a teenager when her brother dies in her arms. The following year, she marries Hank and moves down into the valley. Julie and Hank discover that the modern world is complex, grinding ever on without pause or concern for their hard work. To survive, they must find out whether love can keep chaos and madness at bay.
With Julie, Robert Morgan has brought to life one of the most memorable women in modern American literature with the skill that led Fred Chappell to say “Gap Creek is the work of a master.” |
| Customer Reviews: Read 358 more reviews…
 A real joy December 19, 2008
Sally Fallen
When a book is good, it’s good. There’s not much more that needs to be said. This is simply the perfect novel. The definition of a novel. When works like this appear there’s little to say. It all works. All cylinders are clicking.
The words pack emotion, from the first word to the last. That what it’s all about. A must read. A real joy.
 depressing October 5, 2008
pamela burk (springfield, Missouri)
I read books to learn about places and people and history–I already knew enough of what these people experienced and went through–I had a hard time finishing the book (I read at least one book a day)–but finished it because I never do not complete a book–I kept thinking maybe something would happen wonderful in the end–anyway, it is the most depressing book I’ve ever read & I have read 1,000’s of books!
Vivid, elemental, relentless September 6, 2008
Nico (Cherry Hill, NJ USA)
“Gap Creek: the Story of a Marriage” by Robert Morgan relates the early marriage of 17-year-old Julie and 18-year-old Hank at the rustic start of the twentieth century. Julie is the narrator; sometimes her relatively uneducated, although perfectly fitting, first-person voice becomes a bit wearing.
“Whatever man marries you will be the lucky one,” Papa once said to Julie, “For you’re the best of my girls, the best one.” Papa had gotten gravely ill, and Julie hated that all the heavy work on the farm just naturally fell to her. Sister Lou helped some, but Rosie stayed in the kitchen, and young Carolyn was spoiled by everyone. The very young, only brother, Masenier, had recently died of a misunderstood and grossly disturbing condition.
Because of hard life on the farm, Julie had not been around boys much. But the first time she saw Hank she thought he was the handsomest she had ever seen. She was too embarrassed to speak, she says, but uncharacteristically she boldly looked right back at him and couldn’t take her eyes away.
Mama invites Hank to church. And afterwards, to dinner. In a very funny scene Julie, all nervous and clumsy, splashes hot coffee on his knee, thinking she has “ruined everything.” Not so. Less than a month later, they marry, and leave Mama’s mountain home in the North Carolina, and walk to a valley called Gap Creek, in South Carolina.
They move to a farm there and a house owned by Mr. Pendergast, who still lives in the front bedroom. Rent is the meals Julie fixes and the wash she does for him. The young married couple’s first night together is quite tender and humorous. As one might expect, the house situation becomes quite horrendous, even more so when Hank’s mother, Ma Richards, comes for an extended visit.
In relentless, elemental, unbelievable detail, Robert Morgan portrays the whole gamut of the human condition, in a year of strife, fire, death, deception, theft, raging flood, famine, and childbirth. Yet it is not without understanding, resilience, and unexpected reliance.
What came to my mind on finishing the last page, were the words of the Preacher (Ecclesiastes 1.9):
“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be;
and that which is done is that which shall be done:
and there is no new thing under the sun.”
Still there is hope and promise. A stirring exposition.
Beautiful book, must appreciate simplicity! August 25, 2008
I love Smarties! (Indiana)
This is by far one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. The writing is simple, but deep. The heroine is young and nieve, but she learns many wise lessons while at Gap Creek. This is a story that any woman can relate to!
It made me want to get off the couch and get work done around the house!
I liked this one…. June 19, 2008
A. Blaylock (in my house!)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Normally, I search out Oprah’s book club books just because 9 out of 10 are a good read. I’m a big reader. This one held me to the end, and really had me wanted another installment. If you are a fan of any of Jodi Picoult’s novels, Anita Shreve, or 9 out of 10 of those Oprah books – get this one. |
