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Summary: A Story of Humilty & Grace
Review: Just as Arthur Golden in "Memoirs of a Geisha" articulates a female protagonist with honesty and grace, so does Robert Morgan in "Gap Creek." This story shares life on the frontier at the turn of the nineteenth century. The protagonist Julie Harmon tells of the difficulties and challenges of that life with detail and the edge of reality that makes "Little House on Prairie" seem like a slice of Hollywood. The beauty of the story, for me, was Julie's wisdom. While she was uneducated and had a limited vocabulary--she had profound insights and was able to work through massive grief, lack of communication with her husband, and family dynamics. Despite all of the challenges the story is full of humility and grace. One of the prayers early in the story articulates this well, "Lord, for what we are about to receive make us truly thankful, and for the struggles of this life make us strong and worthy, and for the beauties of the world make us humble and grateful."(p.39) Words we can live by in this century.
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Summary: Down to earth
Review: I read this book a few months ago over spring break and could not put it down. Perhaps that is because I had nothing else to do, but I think it has more to do with the truthful way in which the story is told. The author maintains Julie's voice throughout the novel, and successfully belies her [Julie's] extremely rural upbringing. The reader easily forms a mental picture of Julie, her husband Hank, their shack, the flood, etc. One reviewer described the book as "depressing;" I disagree. I found the book uplifting. Even in what nowadays would be considered substandard living conditions, Julie remains optimistic and dedicated. She knows how to perservere, and that is admirable. I greatly enjoyed this book, and recommend it to anyone who likes whole characters, writing, and setting. Also - the pig slaughter scene that is constantly mentioned is not that gruesome.
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Summary: Interesting yet completely depressing
Review: Gap Creek is the story of a young couple's life in the beginning years of their marriage. Not only does practically everyone they know die, the couple is poor, unhappy, cold, and taken advantage of throughout the story. It would have been fine if it weren't so depressing. Robert Morgan did do an excellent job of telling the story through the female's point of view. Other than that, the story really did not have a point. I do not recommend this book if you are looking to be inspired or cheered up.
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Summary: gap creek rises up out of the ordinary
Review: Set 100 years ago near the NC/SC border in the Appalachians, Gap Creek is both a lesson in and a celebration of pure work. Julie and Hank touched my soul in their efforts simply to eat, stay sane, and to love. The story is simply told, without flowery language and with a definite let's-not-play-with-the-reader attitude. Julie and Hank's story is so powerful it can stand alone as an inspiring glimpse into a world where, without labor and faith, you die. I can't wait to read the rest of Robert Morgan's work.
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Summary: A delicate novel, full of simple sympathies
Review: The novel is about the story of Julie and Hank and how they struggle to live in a harsh condition of Gap Creek, South Carolina. Robert Morgan chose his words delicately, so that we can sympathise in Julie's and Hank's tragedies but also can join their happiness in simple pleasures like having a jar of cherry preserves. It's a pleasure reading, to see how love and willpower endure in a marriage.
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Summary: A man wrote this?
Review: Gap Creek is simply a wonderful book. Morgan gives such detail in how Julie feels and thinks... it is hard to believe a man can go into such detail of how a woman looks at such heart wrenching moments in her life... childbirth, deaths, marriage dissapointments. It's an easy read in the way you don't want to put the book down, but difficult to read because you're afraid to turn the page to see what Julie has to endure next. Oprah strikes again with a wonderful pick!
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Summary: I loved this book!
Review: This book is a true page-turner. I couldn't put it down. The characters strive against so much -- nature, poverty, dishonest folks. It is so real. You really get a taste of the time and culture the characters lived in (turn-of-the-century South Carolina). The book is written from the woman's point of view, which I liked. You won't regret reading this book for one minute. I read Robert Morgan's other books after I read this one and they were just as good. He is an excellent writer.
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Summary: Pathos and Poverty
Review: Morgan's writing style is understated, but poignant, saved from grimness by gritty honesty. The setting is severe poverty, at the beginning of the 20th century in the rural Carolinas. Julie is a strong and hardworking, responsible and mostly obedient teenager - not anything at all like our version of a teenager. Poverty permeates this story of a year in the melancholy marriage of a mountain girl of 17 and her 18 year old husband. Floods, fires, near starvation, joblessness, hard work, victimization, grit and the pleasures and responsibilities of marriage. Mr. Morgan really crawls into the head of a woman in this tale, better than any man this reader has EVER read. Julie is believable, uneducated but smart, with a simple faith - though hopelessness laces through this story from beginning to end. There is little laughter or light in this peek into the past, but simplicity, austerity and wisdom that is enriching.
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Summary: Boo to Gap Creek
Review: I have read many books on the appalachain woman, this is poor. Julie should have knocked her husband up the side of his head with a spoon! He lied to her . He did nothing to help her and ran home to fetch his mother; who was the cause of all the trouble. No mother -in-law should force her pregnant daughter-in-law to butcher and lift large kettles of lard! This book is not worth the money paid to read it. The character development does NOT portray a true pioneer. It needs a rewrite to become a true depiction of mountain people. I suggest you read Follow the River / by Thom to know the hardships of the wilderness or the books by Allen Eckart instead. For a fun set of mountain people read anything by Jesse Stuart-now that's true mountain magic
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Summary: This is a Must Read
Review: You will be happy to read Gap Creek, if you were raised in the country like me. The stories are just like the ones my older relatives have told me . And very factual.The hardships this family goes through are almost too much to bear for the reader and as most of Oparah's recommendations are, depressing. But the story is very real, and I am suprised at the voice of the story coming from a woman and written by a man. Put this in your library.
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