Status
Available
Publication
Ecco (2009), Edition: Reprint, 371 pages
Description
Fiction. Historical Fiction. HTML: The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton travel from Boston to the North Carolina mountains where they plan to create a timber empire. Although George has already lived in the camp long enough to father an illegitimate child, Serena is new to the mountains�??but she soon shows herself to be the equal of any man, overseeing crews, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving her husband's life in the wilderness. Together this lord and lady of the woodlands ruthlessly kill or vanquish all who fall out of favor. Yet when Serena learns that she will never bear a child, she sets out to murder the son George fathered without her. Mother and child begin a struggle for their lives, and when Serena suspects George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pembertons' intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel as the story moves toward its shocking reckoning. Rash's masterful balance of violence and beauty yields a riveting novel that, at its core, tells of love both honored and betrayed.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member rett01
How’s this for a bravura opener: “When Pemberton returned to the North Carolina mountains after three months in Boston settling his father’s estate, among those waiting on the train platform was a young woman pregnant with Pemberton’s child. She was accompanied by her father, who carried
Novels don’t usually start with a haymaker. Short stories normally lay claim to that punch. But “Serena” isn’t normal in ways novels usually are. That is to say the opening paragraph isn’t the only memorable aspect of the book that packs a wallop.
This is a spellbinding tale of unbridled greed driven by the resolute lust for power. It’s a thriller with a fleeing mother and her infant son in dire peril being pursued by a one-handed henchman. It’s also folklore that absolutely brings to life the Depression-era patois and heritage of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, the heart of Appalachia.
“Serena” is a story about the lumbering industry and the extreme toll it extracts from man and nature. It’s a gothic tale in the best Southern tradition piled full of bodies that have been dismembered, impaled, decapitated or met many of other forms of violent death. There is also poetry. There is also a dragon. And there are snakes, big writhing ones with venomous fangs and rattles, sometimes falling from the sky.
But it’s the indomitable Serena who sucks up all the oxygen in this cautionary tale and around whom the story swirls. Think first of Lady Macbeth. Also think of the larger-than-life Claire Zachanassian, the billionairess at the center of “The Visit,” the often-revived 1950s Expressionist parable by Swiss playwright Fredriech Durrenmatt.
Like Serena, Claire arrives in town on a train. Clomping around on her wooden leg and with her pet black panther in tow, Claire is an other-worldly character who attempts to avenge a long-ago lover’s slight by cajoling the townsfolk of an impoverished Central European village to sell their souls for a fortune that promises a return to prosperity. All the single-minded Claire asks in return is that the former lover be destroyed.
Serena, also has an unbridled lust. She, however, isn’t after revenge. She is driven by greed. For her, it’s a hunger for profit and power at whatever the cost. Here hubris is Shakespearean in its zeal. There is no ambiguity. Nothing is allowed to stand in the way. Just as trees are to be felled, people are to be removed.
Instead of a black panther, Serena has a majestic eagle as her pet. The bird is always perched on Serena’s right forearm as she rides her blazing white Arabian, overseeing the timber operations. She teaches the bird to hunt rattlesnakes, a scourge and constant threat to the lumbermen. The raptor is so effective that varmints the rattlers normally keep in check begin to encroach in camp.
“By month’s end the eagle had killed seven rattlesnakes, including a huge satinback that panicked Snipes’ crew when it slipped from the bird’s grasp mid-flight and fell earthward. The men hadn’t seen the eagle overhead, and the serpent fell among them like some last remnant of Satan’s rebellion cast from heaven.”
When a traveling side show shows up in camp, it’s the eagle that takes on the dragon, which we learn had been captured on the island of Komodo: “Six feet in length and two hundred pounds of reptilian muscle and meanness.” The death duel between dragon and eagle is over in a swoop.
The novel begins in 1929, the year of the stock market collapse, as newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton return to the mountains of South Carolina from Boston, where they had met and married. They have forged an alliance. They are empire builders planning to cut down forests to build their fortune in lumber.
Confronted on the platform of the railroad station by the father of the pregnant woman, husband follows his new wife’s urging to “Get your knife and settle it now, Pemberton.”
He unsheathes the elk-boned handled hunting knife that was a wedding present from his bride, grabs the father’s shoulder with his free hand, slips the blade inside the man’s coat and slices through shirt cloth to open “a thin smile across the man’s stomach.”
Taking her husband’s arm, Serena picks up the fallen man’s bowie knife and hands it to the daughter, who has leaned over to cradle the face of her dead father.
“‘Here,’ Serena said, holding the knife by the blade. ‘By all rights it belongs to my husband. It’s a fine knife and you can get a good price for it if you demand one. And I would,’ she added. ‘Sell, it I mean. That money will help you when the child is born. It’s all you’ll ever get from my husband and me.’”
Later that evening alone together on their first night in the mountains, Serena wipes the knife clean. “‘I’ll take a whetstone to the blade tomorrow,’ Serena said, setting the knife on the bedside table. ‘It’s a weapon worthy of a man like you, and built to last a lifetime.’”
The weapon will be used many times. As they oversee their empire, the lumber baron and his baroness, consolidate their position, strip the land, wipe out centuries of Mountain heritage and confront a nascent environmental movement lead by the real-life Horace Kephart, who is allied with the federal government in a preservation effort to create the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The mountaineers who work in the lumber industry are, of course, the people most victimized. In this saga, not only is their way of life being obliterated, they are confronted by the lethal rule of the Pembertons and continually under assault by the inherent dangers loggers face.
The lumbermen, powerless to intervene or carve out their own destiny, watch from the sidelines as their heritage along with the forests is stripped away. “McIntyre raised his eyes and contemplated the wasteland strewn out before him where not a single living thing rose. The other men also look out on what was in part their handiwork and grew silent. When McIntyre spoke his voice had no stridency, only a solemnity so profound and humble all grew attentive.
“‘I think this is what the end of the world will be like,’ McIntyre said, and none among them raised his voice to disagree.”
“Serena” is a big novel. It is a lament to the heritage and folklore of Appalachia. It’s a dark tapestry of grand American themes of greed, power and the ruthless land-grabbing ethos of the early twentieth century. It is as dazzling as it is bleak.
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beneath his shabby frock coat a bowie knife sharpened with great attentiveness earlier that morning so it would plunge as deep as possible into Pemberton’s heart.”Novels don’t usually start with a haymaker. Short stories normally lay claim to that punch. But “Serena” isn’t normal in ways novels usually are. That is to say the opening paragraph isn’t the only memorable aspect of the book that packs a wallop.
This is a spellbinding tale of unbridled greed driven by the resolute lust for power. It’s a thriller with a fleeing mother and her infant son in dire peril being pursued by a one-handed henchman. It’s also folklore that absolutely brings to life the Depression-era patois and heritage of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, the heart of Appalachia.
“Serena” is a story about the lumbering industry and the extreme toll it extracts from man and nature. It’s a gothic tale in the best Southern tradition piled full of bodies that have been dismembered, impaled, decapitated or met many of other forms of violent death. There is also poetry. There is also a dragon. And there are snakes, big writhing ones with venomous fangs and rattles, sometimes falling from the sky.
But it’s the indomitable Serena who sucks up all the oxygen in this cautionary tale and around whom the story swirls. Think first of Lady Macbeth. Also think of the larger-than-life Claire Zachanassian, the billionairess at the center of “The Visit,” the often-revived 1950s Expressionist parable by Swiss playwright Fredriech Durrenmatt.
Like Serena, Claire arrives in town on a train. Clomping around on her wooden leg and with her pet black panther in tow, Claire is an other-worldly character who attempts to avenge a long-ago lover’s slight by cajoling the townsfolk of an impoverished Central European village to sell their souls for a fortune that promises a return to prosperity. All the single-minded Claire asks in return is that the former lover be destroyed.
Serena, also has an unbridled lust. She, however, isn’t after revenge. She is driven by greed. For her, it’s a hunger for profit and power at whatever the cost. Here hubris is Shakespearean in its zeal. There is no ambiguity. Nothing is allowed to stand in the way. Just as trees are to be felled, people are to be removed.
Instead of a black panther, Serena has a majestic eagle as her pet. The bird is always perched on Serena’s right forearm as she rides her blazing white Arabian, overseeing the timber operations. She teaches the bird to hunt rattlesnakes, a scourge and constant threat to the lumbermen. The raptor is so effective that varmints the rattlers normally keep in check begin to encroach in camp.
“By month’s end the eagle had killed seven rattlesnakes, including a huge satinback that panicked Snipes’ crew when it slipped from the bird’s grasp mid-flight and fell earthward. The men hadn’t seen the eagle overhead, and the serpent fell among them like some last remnant of Satan’s rebellion cast from heaven.”
When a traveling side show shows up in camp, it’s the eagle that takes on the dragon, which we learn had been captured on the island of Komodo: “Six feet in length and two hundred pounds of reptilian muscle and meanness.” The death duel between dragon and eagle is over in a swoop.
The novel begins in 1929, the year of the stock market collapse, as newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton return to the mountains of South Carolina from Boston, where they had met and married. They have forged an alliance. They are empire builders planning to cut down forests to build their fortune in lumber.
Confronted on the platform of the railroad station by the father of the pregnant woman, husband follows his new wife’s urging to “Get your knife and settle it now, Pemberton.”
He unsheathes the elk-boned handled hunting knife that was a wedding present from his bride, grabs the father’s shoulder with his free hand, slips the blade inside the man’s coat and slices through shirt cloth to open “a thin smile across the man’s stomach.”
Taking her husband’s arm, Serena picks up the fallen man’s bowie knife and hands it to the daughter, who has leaned over to cradle the face of her dead father.
“‘Here,’ Serena said, holding the knife by the blade. ‘By all rights it belongs to my husband. It’s a fine knife and you can get a good price for it if you demand one. And I would,’ she added. ‘Sell, it I mean. That money will help you when the child is born. It’s all you’ll ever get from my husband and me.’”
Later that evening alone together on their first night in the mountains, Serena wipes the knife clean. “‘I’ll take a whetstone to the blade tomorrow,’ Serena said, setting the knife on the bedside table. ‘It’s a weapon worthy of a man like you, and built to last a lifetime.’”
The weapon will be used many times. As they oversee their empire, the lumber baron and his baroness, consolidate their position, strip the land, wipe out centuries of Mountain heritage and confront a nascent environmental movement lead by the real-life Horace Kephart, who is allied with the federal government in a preservation effort to create the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The mountaineers who work in the lumber industry are, of course, the people most victimized. In this saga, not only is their way of life being obliterated, they are confronted by the lethal rule of the Pembertons and continually under assault by the inherent dangers loggers face.
The lumbermen, powerless to intervene or carve out their own destiny, watch from the sidelines as their heritage along with the forests is stripped away. “McIntyre raised his eyes and contemplated the wasteland strewn out before him where not a single living thing rose. The other men also look out on what was in part their handiwork and grew silent. When McIntyre spoke his voice had no stridency, only a solemnity so profound and humble all grew attentive.
“‘I think this is what the end of the world will be like,’ McIntyre said, and none among them raised his voice to disagree.”
“Serena” is a big novel. It is a lament to the heritage and folklore of Appalachia. It’s a dark tapestry of grand American themes of greed, power and the ruthless land-grabbing ethos of the early twentieth century. It is as dazzling as it is bleak.
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LibraryThing member Scratch
A novel about a bloodthirsty, beautiful woman who fascinates, terrifies, and kills men with nary a backward glance. She doesn't wear underwear beneath her evening dress, she rides a huge white Arabian horse, etc. etc. She is saved from cliche but hurled into caricature by the tame eagle she carries
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around for killing rattlesnakes. Despite Rash's considerable and obvious gifts as a writer--he's also a poet, and it shows--Serena is as cardboard a female character as any I've ever encountered in fiction. Peculiarly so, considering the larger-than-life persona Rash has given her. Plot steadily gathers speed and is woven together neatly; the logging-crew Greek chorus is a nice touch. Still, it's disappointing to see a writer of Rash's merit do so poorly by one of the main characters in his book. Show Less
LibraryThing member BluesGal79
Serena is Ron Rash's most ambitious novel to date, and wow.
When George Pembleton, lumber baron, brings his new bride Serena, back to his North Carolina home an act of startling brutality takes place before they even leave the train station. The tone is thereby set, and against the backdrop of the
Where Pemberton's ruthlessness has been confined to matters of business, Serena's knows no bounds. Her power over Pemberton is complete, and his descent into the depravity into which she makes him complicit is stunning.
Nobody writing today is more adept at breathing life into even the most minor characters in a novel, and again Rash doesn't disappoint. Even the loggers the reader "meets" become fully realized.
Highly, highly recommended by this reader.
When George Pembleton, lumber baron, brings his new bride Serena, back to his North Carolina home an act of startling brutality takes place before they even leave the train station. The tone is thereby set, and against the backdrop of the
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burgeoning National Parks movement of the late 1920's clashing with the timber industry's slash-and-dash heyday Rash has fashioned a morality tale par excellence. Where Pemberton's ruthlessness has been confined to matters of business, Serena's knows no bounds. Her power over Pemberton is complete, and his descent into the depravity into which she makes him complicit is stunning.
Nobody writing today is more adept at breathing life into even the most minor characters in a novel, and again Rash doesn't disappoint. Even the loggers the reader "meets" become fully realized.
Highly, highly recommended by this reader.
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LibraryThing member kren250
Set in 1920's North Carolina, the book starts with the wealthy timber baron Pemberton arriving back at the lumber camp with his new wife, Serena. Serena is very different from what the locals (poor but resilient mountain folk) are used to: she hunts and rides horse just like a man, knows as much
Rachel Harmon is one of the mountain folk caught in Pemberton and Serena's web. The teenage Rachel was seduced--and then abandoned--by Pemberton, and has given birth to his illegitimate son. Now she has to try and care for the boy with no help from Pemberton, since Serena forbids it. More and more people begin to feel Serena's wrath: from the business partner who is perceived as weak to the Sherriff who dares to interfere when things start to get bloody. It very quickly becomes obvious that Serena is not a woman you want to cross.
This book is hard to peg in just one genre. It's historical fiction, but it could also be classified as horror. It's a psycological drama, but with an environmental bent. The blending of the different genres makes this an interesting and unique book. I especially liked the descriptions of the woods and mountains, and the struggle to make the Smokies into a National Park. It was a fun little surprise to see Kephart and Albright make small appearances, especially after recently watching Ken Burn's National Park series. Serena herself is not a character you want to tangle with. She's very chilling and reminded me of what Rhoda from The Bad Seed would've been like all grown up. Not a comforting thought!
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about felling trees as the lumberjacks, and is a very savvy businesswoman. It soon becomes clear that Serena is running the show, with Pemberton taking the back seat. Rachel Harmon is one of the mountain folk caught in Pemberton and Serena's web. The teenage Rachel was seduced--and then abandoned--by Pemberton, and has given birth to his illegitimate son. Now she has to try and care for the boy with no help from Pemberton, since Serena forbids it. More and more people begin to feel Serena's wrath: from the business partner who is perceived as weak to the Sherriff who dares to interfere when things start to get bloody. It very quickly becomes obvious that Serena is not a woman you want to cross.
This book is hard to peg in just one genre. It's historical fiction, but it could also be classified as horror. It's a psycological drama, but with an environmental bent. The blending of the different genres makes this an interesting and unique book. I especially liked the descriptions of the woods and mountains, and the struggle to make the Smokies into a National Park. It was a fun little surprise to see Kephart and Albright make small appearances, especially after recently watching Ken Burn's National Park series. Serena herself is not a character you want to tangle with. She's very chilling and reminded me of what Rhoda from The Bad Seed would've been like all grown up. Not a comforting thought!
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LibraryThing member Jim53
Rash's latest is a near miss, one of those novels that has many strengths but can't quite support them all. Logging baron George Pemberton returns to his logging camp in western Norrth Carolina with a new bride, Serena. She is not what everyone expects of a woman in the 1930s. She rides a horse
Except for Pemberton's shooting of a weak partner during a hunt, we don't see the first few evil acts that Serena directs; we hear of them afterwards, mentioned or described by a group of loggers, who function as a Greek chorus, commenting on the actions of the Pembertons. Things progress and escalate, as the Pembertons seem to have all the local politicians on their payroll and feel free to knock off anyone who opposes them. One of their main concerns is the impending creation of Smoky Mountain State Park (also an issue in Cataloochee, which I read this year), and they hurry to log and despoil the area before the land can be seized by the state.
Serena is a wonderfully detailed portrait of an avaricious woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants, and essentially controls her husband. The problem is that we get no idea of how she bacame that way. We know that her family was killed by a common illness, and that she had their home burned to the ground, but this isn't enough to show us how a bright, assertive, capable woman became so conscienceless and evil. Giving us more of her development would have made this a truly wonderful book.
The style is for the most part descriptive and a pleasure to read. The story moves along quickly. Rash does a nice job with the dialog of the loggers and the locals, and he paints a detailed picture of the locale.
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like a man, trains a pet eagle, and supervises teams of loggers in their work. Rash does a wonderful job with imagery: Serena with her eagle, loggers being killed by falling branches, the poverty of Rachel, the girl whom George had impregnated before his trip, and their son, whom Serena will not let him acknowledge. Many scenes are vivdly described.Except for Pemberton's shooting of a weak partner during a hunt, we don't see the first few evil acts that Serena directs; we hear of them afterwards, mentioned or described by a group of loggers, who function as a Greek chorus, commenting on the actions of the Pembertons. Things progress and escalate, as the Pembertons seem to have all the local politicians on their payroll and feel free to knock off anyone who opposes them. One of their main concerns is the impending creation of Smoky Mountain State Park (also an issue in Cataloochee, which I read this year), and they hurry to log and despoil the area before the land can be seized by the state.
Serena is a wonderfully detailed portrait of an avaricious woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants, and essentially controls her husband. The problem is that we get no idea of how she bacame that way. We know that her family was killed by a common illness, and that she had their home burned to the ground, but this isn't enough to show us how a bright, assertive, capable woman became so conscienceless and evil. Giving us more of her development would have made this a truly wonderful book.
The style is for the most part descriptive and a pleasure to read. The story moves along quickly. Rash does a nice job with the dialog of the loggers and the locals, and he paints a detailed picture of the locale.
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LibraryThing member Rdra1962
i picked up this book because every time I read a review of The Cove, or any other Ron Rash books, readers mentioned this book, and how amazing it was. I did not stop to read the back cover or anything about the book, just opened it up and started reading. I am so glad I came to it that way - no
The characters in this novel are so well written and memorable. The settings, the descriptions of place, you are there, you see what the characters see, smell, taste. hear. The writing is so good. The story is engrossing, disturbing and unforgettable. The movie is being made - read the book first!!
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plot give-aways, no pre-conceptions.The characters in this novel are so well written and memorable. The settings, the descriptions of place, you are there, you see what the characters see, smell, taste. hear. The writing is so good. The story is engrossing, disturbing and unforgettable. The movie is being made - read the book first!!
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LibraryThing member writerbeverly
I'm truly puzzled by all the rave reviews of this book. Read this because my book club picked it, and continued reading because of the rave reviews, hoping to discover whatever I was missing.
I did like the beautiful descriptions of the western North Carolina wilderness and logging practices.
Granted, that's a nit. My big dislike is the main characters. Serena is a one dimensional villain: highly intelligent, beautiful, mesmerizing when it suited her, insatiably greedy, and willing to destroy anyone or anything that got in her way, from arson to clear-cutting a wilderness to murder. Why? We don't know why, we never really get in her head. Pemberton, her husband and pussy-whipped stooge, goes along with everything except murdering his bastard child, and the only reason we see for that is because the child resembles him so strongly. He doesn't even have the cojones to openly protect his child.
The only decent, disinterested person is Sheriff McDowell, but he's a minor character. Rachel is mildly interesting, but a) she too is a minor character, not appearing in too many pages, and b) she's protecting herself and her child.
Serena and Pemberton brutally mow down things that get in their way, be they trees or people. Most of the book is telling, not showing; I rarely felt tension or like I was IN the story. The repeated stylistic choice of burying dialogue within a block of description, without quotation marks, I found distracting, annoying, and to no real purpose, I said. (Yes, that's how it was done.)
There's an interchangeable trio of loggers who serve as something of a Greek chorus of commentary, "How long do you think it'll be before Serena has so-and-so-killed?" Their dialogue using local expressions is the second-best thing in the book, but it doesn't move the plot along (if there is a plot), and they don't themselves do anything but keep their heads down, chop down trees, and privately gossip on the side.
If you like dark characters from a safe emotional distance, and rambling stories, you might like this.
I did like the beautiful descriptions of the western North Carolina wilderness and logging practices.
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However, even those were often interrupted by stilted language, and sometimes verbs in past tense when they should've been in present tense, and vice-versa. (Editors, where were you?)Granted, that's a nit. My big dislike is the main characters. Serena is a one dimensional villain: highly intelligent, beautiful, mesmerizing when it suited her, insatiably greedy, and willing to destroy anyone or anything that got in her way, from arson to clear-cutting a wilderness to murder. Why? We don't know why, we never really get in her head. Pemberton, her husband and pussy-whipped stooge, goes along with everything except murdering his bastard child, and the only reason we see for that is because the child resembles him so strongly. He doesn't even have the cojones to openly protect his child.
The only decent, disinterested person is Sheriff McDowell, but he's a minor character. Rachel is mildly interesting, but a) she too is a minor character, not appearing in too many pages, and b) she's protecting herself and her child.
Serena and Pemberton brutally mow down things that get in their way, be they trees or people. Most of the book is telling, not showing; I rarely felt tension or like I was IN the story. The repeated stylistic choice of burying dialogue within a block of description, without quotation marks, I found distracting, annoying, and to no real purpose, I said. (Yes, that's how it was done.)
There's an interchangeable trio of loggers who serve as something of a Greek chorus of commentary, "How long do you think it'll be before Serena has so-and-so-killed?" Their dialogue using local expressions is the second-best thing in the book, but it doesn't move the plot along (if there is a plot), and they don't themselves do anything but keep their heads down, chop down trees, and privately gossip on the side.
If you like dark characters from a safe emotional distance, and rambling stories, you might like this.
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LibraryThing member tangledthread
Set in the Blue Ridge/Smokey Mountains of western North Carolina during the depression, Pembridge and his new wife set out to be the premier lumber barons of these mountains and onto Brazil when they've finished. This is a couple who will stop at nothing to achieve their ambitions. A Greek chorus
It's hard to provide too much more information without spoiling the story, except maybe to say, "Wow, what a bitch!"
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of local lumbermen provide a narrative to the deeds and misdeeds of this ambitious couple. A bastard son and the historical founding of the Great Smokey Mountains Nat'l Park contribute to the plot development. It's hard to provide too much more information without spoiling the story, except maybe to say, "Wow, what a bitch!"
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LibraryThing member bookczuk
If you're wanting warm fuzzies, inspiring female role models*, altruism, or characters you'll hold in your heart, this is not the book for you. But if you want a well written novel about the early days of the depression, logging in North Carolina, development of the US National Park System, and one
This book takes place near our cabin, just over the NC state line, which is one of the reasons I like to read Ron Rash -- he sets many of his works in my stomping grounds. I've hiked and camped in these hills, and treasure the beauty of the land. It amazes me whenever I realize how much of this breathtaking landscape was brutalized by the forces of man. In Serena the reader is given a back seat into the logging industry, circa 1929, and a glimpse into the lives of the George and Serena Pemberton, and their partners in a large logging company. George Pemberton had the misfortune to not follow the advice my mother-in-law gave her teenage sons (the bit about having a good time, but "keep your pecker in your pants") and before his marriage to Serena impregnated a local girl. As the Pembertons narrow their focus on their plans for the company ("narrow their focus" being a euphemism for killing off their partners and competition), the Missus shifts her focus to the problem of to her husband's bastard, and the plot thickens.
Beautiful, clever, passionate, ruthless -- that's Serena. And this book plays out the suspense of the rape of the land, and the single-minded quest for power of one intense, memorable woman.
**unless you want to be the next Lucrezia Borgia or
Cruella de Vil.
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of the most ruthless women you'll meet in literature, pick Serena up.This book takes place near our cabin, just over the NC state line, which is one of the reasons I like to read Ron Rash -- he sets many of his works in my stomping grounds. I've hiked and camped in these hills, and treasure the beauty of the land. It amazes me whenever I realize how much of this breathtaking landscape was brutalized by the forces of man. In Serena the reader is given a back seat into the logging industry, circa 1929, and a glimpse into the lives of the George and Serena Pemberton, and their partners in a large logging company. George Pemberton had the misfortune to not follow the advice my mother-in-law gave her teenage sons (the bit about having a good time, but "keep your pecker in your pants") and before his marriage to Serena impregnated a local girl. As the Pembertons narrow their focus on their plans for the company ("narrow their focus" being a euphemism for killing off their partners and competition), the Missus shifts her focus to the problem of to her husband's bastard, and the plot thickens.
Beautiful, clever, passionate, ruthless -- that's Serena. And this book plays out the suspense of the rape of the land, and the single-minded quest for power of one intense, memorable woman.
**unless you want to be the next Lucrezia Borgia or
Cruella de Vil.
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LibraryThing member witchyrichy
I wasn't sure I was going to keep reading after violence of the opening pages, but I found myself drawn in to the rough, almost lawless lives of these characters. They were a bit flat in some cases, almost caricatures, drawn with broad strokes, but then the grays begin to appear and while I had
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suspicions about the climax, when it came it was in that same straight prose that I almost missed it. Show Less
LibraryThing member BookPurring
I was pleasantly surprised, the book held my attention and I found myself eager to continue. Which brings us to my main issue with the book. Serena does have a pacing issue, it's basically divided in Pemberton's chapters, Rachel chapters and interlude where the workers at the Pemberton's "discuss"
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what's happening around them. I didn't find Rachel's or the workers sections that interesting, and I felt there could have been a lot of juicier things going on with Serena (the character). All in all, this is definitely a favorite book of 2012. Historical fiction with a little murder/thriller extra going on. Show Less
LibraryThing member techeditor
In SERENA by Ron Rash, Serena is married to Pemberton, co-owner of a lumber company, in 1929 North Carolina. From the start, you will see that the two deserve each other; they are both ruthlessly ambitious. Eventually you will see that Serena is much more than ruthless, and Pemberton, as mean as he
Although Serena’s heartlessness is obvious to the reader, other aspects of this character are mysteries. For example, of her past we know only that she grew up out West with her father, also owner of a lumber company. After he died, she burned down their house and moved to Boston. That’s it.
Throughout the book Serena is mysterious. I expected answers to the mysteries, but that’s not Rash’s style.
For some reason, another character is often overlooked in most other reviews of this book: Rachel. Rachel is a former kitchen worker for the lumber company. She is also the sixteen-year-old who Pemberton impregnated, then left to fend for herself after he killed her father.
Rash writes beautifully and that may keep you reading long enough to see that SERENA is American literature. But this literature has the problem I find with several other books of literature: it lacks enough story, at least in the first 200 pages. Throughout the book, Rash describes characters and scenery so well, but he doesn’t do much with plot until after a couple hundred pages.
However, please DO STICK WITH IT. There IS plot as well as character development. It is an excellent story, and it DOES get unputdownable.
The end was no surprise to me, though; I expected it. But I didn't expect that to be the end. I wanted the story to continue. Good books end too soon.
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is, didn't know what he got himself into.Although Serena’s heartlessness is obvious to the reader, other aspects of this character are mysteries. For example, of her past we know only that she grew up out West with her father, also owner of a lumber company. After he died, she burned down their house and moved to Boston. That’s it.
Throughout the book Serena is mysterious. I expected answers to the mysteries, but that’s not Rash’s style.
For some reason, another character is often overlooked in most other reviews of this book: Rachel. Rachel is a former kitchen worker for the lumber company. She is also the sixteen-year-old who Pemberton impregnated, then left to fend for herself after he killed her father.
Rash writes beautifully and that may keep you reading long enough to see that SERENA is American literature. But this literature has the problem I find with several other books of literature: it lacks enough story, at least in the first 200 pages. Throughout the book, Rash describes characters and scenery so well, but he doesn’t do much with plot until after a couple hundred pages.
However, please DO STICK WITH IT. There IS plot as well as character development. It is an excellent story, and it DOES get unputdownable.
The end was no surprise to me, though; I expected it. But I didn't expect that to be the end. I wanted the story to continue. Good books end too soon.
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LibraryThing member AshMeinders
"What about you, Snipes?" Dunbar asked. "You think there to be mountain lions up here or is it just folks' imaginings?"Snipes pondered the question a few moments before speaking."They's many a man of science would claim there aint because you got no irredeemable evidence like panther scat or fur or
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tooth or tail. In other words, some part of the animal in questions. Or better yet having the actual critter itself, the whole think kit and caboodle head to tail, which all your men of science argue is the best proof of all a thing exists, whether it be a panther, or a bird, or even a dinosaur.""To put it another way, if you was to stub your toe and tell the man of science what happened he'd not believe a word of it less he could see how it'd stoved up or was bleeding. But your philosophers and theologians and such say there’s things in the world that’s every bit as real even though you can’t see them.”“Like what?” Dunbar asked.“Well,” Snipes said. “They’s love, that’s one. And courage. You can’t see neither of them, but they’re real. And air, of course. That’s one of your most important examples. You wouldn’t be alive a minute if there wasn’t air, but nobody’s ever seen a single speck of it.”… “All I’m saying is there is a lot more to this old world than meets the eye.”… “And darkness. You can’t see it no more than you can see air, but when its all around you sure enough know it.” (65-66) Show Less
LibraryThing member Mumineurope
Hard hitting Serena and wimpy husband George in N California as it is being logged
LibraryThing member CarolynSchroeder
I had never heard of Rash, when I found this book at Border's, just perusing for something new to read. I read the first paragraph at the store and was hooked, went home with "Serena." I love Rash's writing, the folklore of Depression-era 1930's "highlander" North Carolina/Appalachia and the
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burgeoning environmental movement juxtaposed to the brutal logging/timber industry. The plot was pretty good, but it got SO far-fetched as it went along, it became of farce really. I also agree with some other reviewers in that the main character, Serena, is just "too evil" and bizarre to be believable or even that interesting. All of the murders too, and the one-handed henchman, Galloway, just got so out of control and ridiculous. The ending was a bit too Hollywood and goofy as well. Despite those complaints though, it's a quick read and there are some very, very funny observations among the highlanders as they discuss Serena and the other protagonist, Pemberton (and their cronies). Rash is actually a wonderful comic writer too. I will look for other things he's written, but this one is just "okay" overall. I think you just have to not take it too seriously, which is too bad, because it had the underpinnings of a very spooky book, had it just remained on this side of believable. Show Less
LibraryThing member bettewhitley
A page turner. Serena is quite the character.
LibraryThing member cas_ar
The main characters in this book are full of shelfishness, and a need to become rich no mater what. It has some historical content of the conditions in the US at this time. All of it ties together in an interesting book.
LibraryThing member amandacb
I agree that this book is exceptionally tedious. I could not care less about the characters. The writing is bland. In fact, I had to read a few reviews and read the synopsis to even remember a slive of what this book was about, and I only read it a year ago. Definitely one to skip.
LibraryThing member Mathenam
I wasn't familiar with the book "Serena," until I discovered that a movie adaptation is in production, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. They play the Pemberton's, wealthy and ruthless timber barons in depression-era North Carolina. Mr. Rash vividly describes the North Carolina
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landscape. In a novel that has many characters, they are all written well. I enjoyed this book, and am looking forward to the movie. Show Less
LibraryThing member CatieN
"Serena" is set in the western mountains of North Carolina during the Depression. George and Serena Pemberton are newlyweds who are obsessed with each other and with the power and money that comes with building their lumber dynasty. Rachel is a poor, motherless, country girl who lives in the
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mountains and who fell under George's spell and into his bed, before he met and married Serena, and is now pregnant with his child. What follows is a story of greed, destruction, and murder. Excellent writing with lots of interesting facts about the lumber industry. Unfortunately, the book just does not do justice to the huge story and the many colorful characters. I was left wanting more. Show Less
LibraryThing member ibkennedy
Excellent period blend of history and fiction
LibraryThing member ecataldi
Wow, all I can say is... what a stone cold bitch! Serena is like a magestic, powerful panther that will gobble you up first chance she gets! I can hardly imagine how Jennifer Lawrence is going to play such a vile and twisted woman later this year on the big screen, so obviously I'll have to go see
This award winning novel takes place in the North Carolina mountains amidst the Great Depression and follows newlyweds Serena and George Pemberton as they build focus on building and improving their timber empire in the mountains. Serena has decided that nothing or no one will get in their way, she is a resourceful woman and all men lay in awe of her, even her husband. When she discovers that she can bear no children she decides that if she can't have an heir then neither can her husband and she uses her one handed servant to track down and kill the illegitimate son that George sired before they had met.
This is a dark and twisting tale that explores just how deep greed and lust can go. Violence ensues.
Great book, but not a light read.
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the movie version as well.This award winning novel takes place in the North Carolina mountains amidst the Great Depression and follows newlyweds Serena and George Pemberton as they build focus on building and improving their timber empire in the mountains. Serena has decided that nothing or no one will get in their way, she is a resourceful woman and all men lay in awe of her, even her husband. When she discovers that she can bear no children she decides that if she can't have an heir then neither can her husband and she uses her one handed servant to track down and kill the illegitimate son that George sired before they had met.
This is a dark and twisting tale that explores just how deep greed and lust can go. Violence ensues.
Great book, but not a light read.
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LibraryThing member andsoitgoes
What an interesting book! Don't mess with Serena! Interesting characters and learning about the process of acquiring land for the National Parks was great. Loved the ending.
LibraryThing member michellebarton
very violent. I really wanted to like the main character, she was so strong and confident, but unfortunately she was also completely psychotic! Interesting setting in a logging camp with hardly anyone blinking an eye at the total denudement of every tree in sight, except perhaps the drunken
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environmentalist who has a very teeny tiny bit part in the novel. Hard to see almost every character I started to like brutally murdered... Show Less
LibraryThing member anissaannalise
Spectacular! I finished this book & needed a couple days to just think about it before saying anything. I'm always thrilled when a book won't leave me alone after the reading is done. I loved this story & can honestly say that Serena was beyond formidable. I can't give away the best bits but
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honestly, there's something heartbreaking & altogether alluring in Pemberton when he's confronted with the truth of his end & is still determined to prove himself worthy of her. That was fascinating. I can't say Pemberton was blameless but I certainly don't think he deserved all that he got. The Coda at the end was a great bow on the story but I can honestly say that even without it, I would have been completely satisfied with the ending. Great characters & lush writing. I highly recommend this one. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2010)
PEN/Faulkner Award (Finalist — 2009)
Southern Book Prize (Winner — Fiction — 2009)
North Carolina Book Awards (Winner — Fiction — 2009)
Weatherford Award (Fiction and Poetry — 2008)
Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year (Fiction — 2008)
San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year (Fiction — 2008)
Christian Science Monitor Best Book (Fiction — 2008)
Language
Original language
English