The Trail of the Lonesome Pine

Rating:
Summary: Bob Likes
Review: Bob feels that this book was very good. Bob liked this book very much. This gripping tale of love and survival is deeply etched into the soul of every reader that reads this heart-wrenching novel. Fox tells a story of a facinating undying love for others and the Big Pine that always seems to know the answers to life's most difficult questions. Bob encourages anyone that likes a wonderful well wrote book to pick this one up, hold it close to your heart, and never let go.

Rating:
Summary: Bob Likes
Review: Bob feels that this book was very good. Bob liked this book very much. This gripping tale of love and survival is deeply etched into the soul of every reader that reads this heart-wrenching novel. Fox tells a story of a facinating undying love for others and the Big Pine that always seems to know the answers to life's most difficult questions. Bob encourages anyone that likes a wonderful well wrote book to pick this one up, hold it close to your heart, and never let go.

Rating:
Summary: A lyrical telling of an unlikely romance
Review: The Page Turners Book Club of Greensburg Kentucky selected this book by John Fox, Jr. as its June 1999 selection. The club rated it a 7 on our scale of 1-10. We felt this Kentucky author captured the spirit and essence of pre-coal mining life in the Eastern Kentucky mountains. This love story unfolds against the devastating changes which occurred when the coal companies came and ravaged the mountains and exploited the local people. Fox weaves the story of an enterprising "furriner" and a local mountain girl against the background of a beaconing lonesome pine tree which provides shelter, solace, and hope from the first page to the last. In language lyrical and poetic, he describes the beauty of the mountains and the promise of love delayed. While accomplishing this he doesn't shirk from descriptions of the rigors and harshness of mountain life and the terror of an unseen enemy. John Fox, Jr. was the first author in the U.S. to write a book which sold a million copies, "The Little Sheperd of Kingdom Come" also set in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky.

Rating:
Summary: A Lovely Love Story
Review: The Trail of the Lonesome Pine is set in the Kentucky mountains of the 19th century. June Tolliver is a very poor young mountain girl who meets an engineer from the outside world. He takes June out of the mountains so she can go to school and get an education. He is also interested in mining coal in the Kentucky hills. The story of how their love for each other grows and of the Tolliver family's feud with the Falin's is a classic American tale. I read this story out loud to my teen-age children and they just loved it! This is the first of a trilogy by Fox.

Rating:
Summary: An enchanting Tale
Review: The Trail of the Lonesome Pine proves to be an enchanting tale about love. A tall pine tree stood in solitary splendor on the top of a mountain in Kentucky and through its fame lured a young engineer to find it and leaad Hale on a trail of love which I felt was an overall wonderful plot for this book. Since the plot of the book was set in Kentucky June and her family along with the many nountaineers had our good ole country accent which also portrayed that they had not received very much education. In a waaay I feel that it was an insult to Kentuckians knoweledge even though it did portray June's remarkable learning rate when Hale helped her to attend school. I think the beauty of the state could have been captured morewhile telling of how beautiful the land was while looking at the view of the lonsome pine. Many flowers in Kentucky are mentioned throughout the novel and June also had a flower garden built for her of Kentucky's wildflowers. Although I didn't like the waay the law stepped in during the Falins and Tollivers family feuds which continued throughout June's childhoodBecause I think their battles could have been a book by itself rather than to combine them with the love and romance of Hale and June even though they greatly affected their lives. I felt that the novel was deeply expressive in many ways and throughout all encounters portrayed by John Fox Jr. you were sure to experience the poetic side of life in the Kentucky mountains.

Rating:
Summary: The Trail of the Lonesome Pine~
Review: The Trail of the Lonesome Pine takes place in the Kentucky mountains, bordering Big Stone Gap, Virginia. It is a story of love, as well as change. At the heart of this novel are the Tolliver & Falin families, who have been in a feud with one another for as far back as anyone can remember. The story begins as life in the mountains is beginning to change..coal mining is starting to boom, and the oustide world is creeping into the simple ways of mountain life. A town is blossoming in Big Stone Gap Virginia..and the Trail of the Lonesome Pine connects the town with Lonesome Cove, home of the Tolliver family, and a pretty little mountain girl named June. When John Hale enters the Tolliver/Falin territory, June is immediately drawn to him. The entrance of this "furriner" will change June's life forever.

Not being from the region that the Trail of the Lonesome Pine is written about, I was definitely reading it from a "furriner" point of view. The Trail of the Lonesome Pine is really two stories in one. Part of this novel is a love story, centering on a young girl, June Tolliver & her love interest John Hale, the "furriner." The other side of this novel focuses on what life is like for the "mountain people" and the effects of the coal mining boom, and the influx of foreigners into their way of life. Both stories are very interesting and blend well together. At times though, I felt the writing was hard to get through and difficult to follow. The last 1/4 of the book really picked up, and by the time the story concluded, I was glad that I read this and look forward to reading more by John Fox, Jr.