Ghost Riders

Rating:
Summary: Spencer Arrowood is superfluous
Review: McCrumb's premise in GHOST RIDERS is that the Civil War in Appalachia never did end. In her author's note she compares it to the war in Bosnia. In order to dramatize this notion, McCrumb uses modern-day reenactors who attract the ghosts of the Civil War soldiers who died in the mountains but were unable to pass into the next world.
I ordered this book a couple of months before it was published so obviously I enjoy McCrumb's work, but I had trouble getting into this one, mainly because of the multiple viewpoints and the shifting back and forth from modern Appalachia to the 1860s. Also, as she did with Frankie Silver, McCrumb tries to fictionalize historical personages, namely Malinda "Sam" Blalock and Governor Zebulon Baird Vance (Tom Dooley even makes a cameo appearance). Blalock fought alongside her husband in the Civil War and Baird was governor of North Carolina. When she flashes back in time, Baird is the protagonist as is Blalock. In modern day Appalachia we have Sheriff Arrowood and Nora Bonesteel, as well as Rattler.
Because of these shifting viewpoints the novel never does gather any momentum. In McCrumb's earlier work, Spensor Arrowood was the center who made McCrumb's psychic elements believable. In this one he's almost a superfluous character, as is Nora Bonesteel.

Rating:
Summary: Fun to read
Review: Ms McCrumb did an excellent job! Her book is entertaining, informative (regarding the history of the Appalachians), and her prose was a joy to read. Other reviewers didn't appreciate her style of going back and forth between the past and present characters, but I thought it worked well into the story, and gave the novel another dimension. After reading Ghost Riders, I plan to read Ms McCrumb's other books; as I really enjoyed her writing style.

Rating:
Summary: More mountain magic
Review: Sharyn McCrumb's latest Ballad novel, "Ghost Riders," introduces several Civil War-era spirits who aren't quite ready to give up the fight. The story links historical unrest of the region with the lives of modern-day mountain settlers. As usual with McCrumb's work, the book contains a great deal of well-researched local mountain history delivered in a strong and interesting narrative.
The book incorporates real historical figures such as former North Carolina Gov. Zebulon Vance and the discorporate spirits of the "ghost riders" of the title. The Civil War comes alive in both not only its inglorious past but in its modern reenactment by thousands of hobbyist historians.
McCrumb's ancestors settled in the Smoky Mountains in the 1790s and her great-grandfathers were among the region's early circuit preachers. McCrumb still has that "preachering" in her blood, though her sermons are delivered with wit, charm, and great doses of delight.
Though her themes are broad in scope, the reader happily travels several different trails and time lines to end up in one location. From the slopes of Grandfather Mountain to the summer home of a misplaced Floridian, McCrumb paints a true picture of an Appalachian mountain region that has never had a single identity but rather harbores a large collection of individual identities.
Unlike many writers who find a winning groove, McCrumb has consistently improved as a writer over her career and continues to challenge herself with intense research and complex plots. Also unlike some writers who manage to "improve," she doesn't outwrite the patience of her readers, remembering from her Appalachian roots that first and foremost a storyteller is obligated to tell a story. "Ghost Riders" may be the best book yet among her litany of successes.