Serena

by Ron Rash

The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton arrive from Boston in the North Carolina mountains to create a timber empire. Serena is new to the mountains - but she soon shows herself the equal of any worker, overseeing crews, hunting rattlesnakes, even saving her husband's life in the wilderness. Yet she also learns that she will never bear a child. Serena's discovery will set in motion a course of events that will change the lives of everyone in this remote community. As the Pembertons' intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel, this riveting story of love, passion and revenge moves toward its shocking reckoning.

• ISBN10: 1847674879
• ISBN13: 9781847674876
• Publish Date: 6 August 2009 (first published 7 October 2008)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 27 January 2015
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Canongate Books
• Edition: Main
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[brokentune]

2.5*

I had high hopes. The book had been on my TBR for years (way before the film – and I haven’t watched the film (not a Bradley fan)) and came highly recommended by a friend with shared reading tastes. It looked promising.

Shortly after starting Serena, I already learned something: male authors too can spend a whole lot of time describing what clothes everyone is wearing.
The book was filled with seemingly endless of descriptions of clothes. Ironically, the descriptions of clothes annoyed me more than the male gaze descriptions of Serena’s body. And we only get to know her body, even tho she is the only fascinating character in the book.

“The Plotts circled and leaped, holding onto the bear with teeth and claw a few moments before falling away only to circle and leap again, the Redbones yelping and darting in to snap at the legs. Then Pemberton felt the barrel of a rifle against his side, felt its reverberation as the weapon fired. The bear staggered two steps backward. As Pemberton fell, he turned and saw Serena place a second shot just above the bear’s eyes. The creature wavered a moment, then toppled to the ground and disappeared under a moiling quilt of dogs.”

Serena had more true grit than any of the characters in Charles Portis’ classic Western True Grit. I mean, she had to be pretty badass to shoot a bear right between the eyes.

The story was slow to take off, and for the most part I enjoyed this meandering development and setup of the books crisis. I didn’t enjoy the writing, but it was – apart from the male gaze issue and the endless descriptions of clothes – not horrible.
The issue I had with the book is that when we finally do reach the point where the plot of the story turns into a Jacobean revenge tragedy, we get to know even less about our main character than we did in the first half of the book. This made the plot rather ridiculous. I ended up feeling very underwhelmed by this book. There was so much potential, but it was so underdeveloped.
For a book that plays obvious tributes to Greek tragedy and even more pointedly Shakespeare’s Macbeth, we do not get to see the tragic elements of the story at all because we do not get to see Serena’s internal workings. We don’t get to know her at all. For all the allusions to Macbeth (there are knives and bloodied hands etc.) Serena is missing the same internal conflict of the main character that Jo Nesbo skipped in his re-telling of Macbeth (which I whined about on my WP blog here).
I’m really peeved by this, because much like Nesbo’s Macbeth it reduces the story to a quasi “Western” (except set in the late 1920s Smoky Mountains). It certainly has the feel of True Grit – and about the same number of snakes.
It didn’t work for me as well as the book should have.

[Rinn]

Also posted on my book blog, Rinn Reads.

It isn't often that I buy a book brand new these days. I'm saving up so I can afford to go and do my Masters - problematic when I have a book buying habit. So normally I get them second-hand.

However, every so often, I encounter a book that just really stands out, and I have to have it now. Serena was one of those books, purely from the blurb. I mentioned briefly before that I have a thing set for books in the Southern US states, so this checked one box. Toss in a 1920s setting, plus a cunning and strong-willed, albeit murderous, heroine, and I'm sold.

Both the reader and Serena are immediately made aware of George's infidelity, it's not some great secret that hovers throughout the book waiting to be exposed. This is a brilliant way of setting up Serena's character - instead of getting upset or angry as many women would in such a situation, she reacts in a rather stoic manner (pg. 7):

"You're a lucky man then," Serena said to Harmon. "You'll not find a better sire to breed her with. The size of her belly attests to that."
Serena turned her gaze and words to the daughter.
"But that's the only one you'll have of his. I'm here now. Any other children he has will be with me."

A woman ahead of her time, Serena is not afraid to get dirty, not phased by the possibility of injury and is completely prepared for her new Southern life. She takes an active role in the running of the camp, much to the shock of the workers, she wears trousers (dear god!) and rides horses. Refusing to be put down or excluded socially, Serena has wealth, a husband, an education and power, but not the one thing she wants most in the world: a child.

She is ultimately a very strong character, one that you can't help but admire - apart from that little niggling feeling at the back of your brain, the one that tells you she is cunning and capable of horrific acts, and prepared to kill an innocent child. It's difficult to decide whether to like her as a character or not, I suppose just as the workers are feeling when faced by Serena - she is a brilliant leader and boss, she knows exactly what she is doing, but she is female and that is not something they can easily overlook in that particular period of time.

I was expecting something dark and claustrophobic feeling, due to the isolation of the lumber camp - but the descriptions of the surrounding woods and neighbouring village make it feel huge, despite the camp and village being hours away from civilisation. The landscapes of the book were beautifully painted, and I got a real feel for the smells, sights and sounds of the forest. Unlike in The Snow Child, which felt very closed in due to the woodland setting, Serena only feels more broad. However, the chapters told from Rachel's POV (the young girl whom George gets pregnant) seem rather more claustrophobic. She is alone, with very little help, and in danger. This really juxtaposed the difference in social status between the two characters.

The jumps in time were a little confusing, sometimes months would pass and the only way to tell was the age of Jacob, George and Rachel's son. As for George, I was also unsure about how I should feel about him. The first impression the reader gets of him is that he is uncaring when it comes to Rachel, but he practically worships Serena. He is almost blinded by his love for her, unable to see what she is turning into and letting her wear the trousers (literally and figuratively) in the relationship. However, over time he starts to develop more of an interest in his young son, and also questions his previous actions and decisions, whilst slowly redeeming himself.

Oh, and the shocks in this book. There are so many events you don't see coming, or don't want to see coming, and they are brilliant. Starting with the very first chapter, they build up with intensity until the end - the most shocking of them all.

Definitely, definitely worth a read. You'll begin questioning whether you really support this strong-willed, independent young woman after all, especially with a lack of such figures in books these days. To have one waved under your nose and then have you wonder whether you like her at all is very effective.

Serena is also going to be made into a film, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper as Serena and George Pemberton. It is set for release at the end of October, and I will definitely be going to see it!

[jamiereadthis]

I’ve thought for a while I needed to revisit this. I think it was the mood I was in more than the book the first time, and when that happens, I want to make sure I’m not being unjust. I read it through this time. I didn’t skim. And I was in the perfect mood to find it fascinating, what with reading it alongside the history of the Smoky Mountains when so much of it is borrowed straight from the history books. The fictional incarnations of Horace Kephart, Horace Albright, Charles Webb, Champion Timber, and on and on. (Admittedly, my favorite part.)

I’m glad to report, I liked it better this time. ‘Pretentious’ was unfair, and untrue. I put my finger on what feels so stilted to me, though. It’s a stage play. It feels like actors and scenery and props and the voice of a dramatic chorus instead of living and breathing human people. Nobody has different sides, there are no surprises. And that’s fine, Godspeed, carry on, it’s just not my thing.

I’m glad I revisited it. I’m glad I adjusted my critique. I’m glad it’s mostly me.

Read May 2013

- - -

First read December 2012

Nope. Nooope. No.

I love a good book about a villain, or even better a villainess, but this was the worst offense: pretentious, stilted, and boring. You can judge me though, because I skimmed so much of this.

Sigh.

[Eve1972]

This was another just "OK" read for me. I found the story to be interesting, in fact while reading it I felt it had a bit of a "There Will Be Blood" (movie) feel to it, but the two main characters were just so unlikeable that it really turned me off. I found most of the characters to be very one dimensional, with really only one that seemed to be fully developed and it was her character that kept me interested enough to finish the book. As I mentioned the story was interesting, but was often bogged down with boring passages about politics and land rights, so ya, Just an OK read for me...