Rating: 
Summary: A tremendous let-down
Review: Maybe I just didn't get it... Gap Creek is subtitled The Story of a Marriage. I suppose it is that story, but I don't see why the story had to be told.The narrator is Julie, a hardworking teenaged mountain girl. The first chapter tells us how Julie watched her young brother die. It did get me hooked, but it ultimately had absolutely nothing to do with the story. Then she watches her father die. Then she chops wood, gets married, cooks grits, butchers a hog, cooks grits, catches the house on fire, cooks grits, gets duped out of money, cooks grits, gets lost in a flood, cooks grits, has a baby, and cooks some more grits. That's pretty much it. I enjoyed the book until I was about half way through. It really did keep me interested. But I eventually realized that nothing was really ever going to happen. And nothing did. Even the tragedies were anti-climactic. They simply happened, then Julie cleaned the house and cooked a meal. Every now and then the author would throw in an element that would make me catch my breath, but it would turn out to be absolutely nothing. So many storytelling opportunities were missed. The story of Julie and Hank falling in love is boiled down to: they meet, they have dinner, they kiss, he proposes. Yet, the author spends pages upon pages telling us the finer details of butchering a hog, dressing a turkey, chopping wood in the winter, and cleaning up after a flood. That's what has me puzzled. There's just not a story here. It reads like a diary, which reveals that life, for all its struggle, is really pretty darned dull. Given that this is a work of fiction, surely the author could have thrown in some conflict. But for every would-be conflict, the moment simply passes and is quickly forgotten. Nothing has any true consequence in the end. Gap Creek truly reminded me of Little House on the Prairie, but it was not as exciting. The story of a marriage? Perhaps. The story of the daily routine of the first year of marriage between two people who barely know one another. By the end they know one another perhaps a little better, but don't appear any closer because of it. And then it moves on, where Julie will undoubtedly chop some more wood, scrub another foor, and cook some more grits.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: I didn't want to read this book because I thought it would be too much like "Cold Mountain". How wrong I was. When I finished the book, I was exhausted,frozen from the ice storm, burned from the fire and soaking wet from the flood. How can a person write like this!!!! It was excellent!
Rating:
Summary: Addicting
Review: This book was great. It really told a great story of family, and even though Julie and Hank went through the roughest of rough times, they still stuck together. I couldn't put this fabulous piece of literature down, it was addicting. I kept saying, just one more chapter and then I'll stop, but I found that I kept reading and reading. The book was thoroughly engrossing, so I reccomend it to everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: "Gap Creek" is a Waste of Time
Review: After the great reviews, I was looking forward to reading this novel. I enjoyed "Cloud Mountain" and am particularly fond of southern writers and fiction. I have also found that good writers can write from either a male or female perspective. "Gap Creek" misses it on all fronts. It has a thin story-line, (the historical narrative approach suggests great depth and although it's reasonably long, I read it in one sitting) and poor character development. I was especially put-off by the fact that the main character (Julie) clearly spoke from the authors personal male perspective on marital intimacy (sex cures all) and marital abuse (it's acceptable in certain situations). Marital abuse is a reality, especially for this period, but the response of the character Julie in both these circumstances did more to perpetuate a male fantasy than to relate the impact of both those experiences on a teenage girl. To be fair, other aspects of her character development (though not of any others) were reasonable and consistent. "Gap Creek" will might make an okay movie on HBO or published as an excerpt in a mass-market magazine, but a great (or even good) novel it's not.
Rating: 
Summary: A Strong Woman Can Endure Anything
Review: I found Julie to be a very strong woman who stuck by her family no matter what. I felt for her having to watch her brother and then her father die. I felt even worse when her mother and sisters depended upon her for almost everything. I think she just married Hank partly to get away from her family. Then Hank takes her into a foreign world and makes her work just as hard. Then the owner of the house dies and they are able to withstand a flood and the loss of their first born. Throughout it all Hank looses it and takes his frustrations out on Julie. As if loosing a baby wasn't enough to finally get the farm working again and getting kicked out because the greedy heirs.....so she picks up and endures yet another move (pregnant again)
Rating:
Summary: COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN!
Review: I would sincerely rate this book as one of the best that I have EVER read! Being from Appalachia myself, I related Julie's hardships to those that my great-grandparents had to endure on a daily basis. Additionally, reading this well-written book will make you rethink how hard you believe your everyday life is. Read the book....you'll love it! I promise.
Rating: 
Summary: Gap Creek - a novel of honor.
Review: Gap Creek leaves you in awe of the power of a solid work ethic. Julie's persistence in the face of hardship and her sweetness of spirit hold lessons for us all. This novel does an outstanding job of reminding us of the honor in hard work, putting one foot in front of the other when you think you can't go on, and the redemptive power of dedication to another human being.
Rating:
Summary: A study in perseverance
Review: This was a really good read. It followed the life of a young Appalachian girl at the turn of the century. I thought the descriptions in this book were very in-depth and engrossing. Julie, the main character, is a study in strength of mind and body. She is able to do what needs to be done simple because there is no one else to do it. She cares for herself and others in a fascinating, no-nonsense manner that is very engrossing. Although, it is a book without alot of happiness, it is a study of life and survival.
Rating:
Summary: Gap Creek
Review: A very sad, depressing book. Granted it makes you appreciate the things you have in life more but who needs to be brought down by someone's continuous hardships. I kept waiting for something positive to happen; it just kept getting more depressing. Life is difficult enough; read the newspaper to get depressed. Read a novel to escape, be enlightened, and dream.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty vacuous novel.
Review: A self-described "story of a marriage," this novel follows a young couple through the first year of their life together, living in a falling-down house on the edge of Gap Creek in Appalachia (arond the end of the 1800's, I'd say). Just about every bad thing that can happen, does. Which is fine with me. But the characters are poorly drawn and the storyline seemed kind of pointless to me. Now, that doesn't make a lot of sense, I know. It's just a novel that is supposed to be a year pulled out of these people's lifetime. There doesn't HAVE to be a point. Yet other novels that do the same thing haven't left me feeling like I missed something. I enjoyed this book, but it isn't anything special. If you want to read a book about the hardships, triumphs, and strengths of people living under harsh conditions, read the "Little House on the Prarie" books again. This was a lot like them, except it lacked everything that made those books great. Like depth. I'm not sure why Oprah selected this one -- there ain't much to talk about.
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