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Driftless (Audible Audio Edition) David Rhodes Lloyd James Inc Blackstone Audio Books

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Driftless is an unforgettable story of contemporary life in rural America. Words, Wisconsin, home to a few hundred people yet absent from state maps, comes richly to life by way of an extraordinary cast of characters.

Among them, a middle-aged couple guards the family farm from the mendacious schemes of their milk cooperative; a lifelong invalid finds herself crippled by her resentment of and her affection for her sister; a woman of conflicting impulses and pastor of the local Friends Church stumbles upon an enlightenment she never expected; a cantankerous retiree discovers a cougar living in his haymow, haunting him like a childhood memory; and a former drifter forever alters the ties that bind a community together.

At once intimate and funny, wise and generous, Driftless marks the triumphant return of a significant American writer.

Driftless (Audible Audio Edition) David Rhodes Lloyd James Inc Blackstone Audio Books

I read Winesburg, Ohio so long ago I can't remember anything about it except that it was a hybrid, a cross between a collection of short stories and a novel. The traditional novel has a hero or heroine, Huck Finn or Jane Eyre, for instance. In Winesburg, the reader has a window on a whole community. That's the case in David Rhodes' novel. The story starts with July Montgomery's return to Words, a town in an area of Wisconsin known as Driftless. Grahm Shotwell is a farmer barely hanging onto the land his family has owned for generations. His wife Cora is an assistant bookkeeper at a dairy co-op where she discovers that her employers are stealing. The beautiful and sensuous Gail Shotwell plays a bass guitar for a local band and works, unhappily, for a plastics factory. Pastor Winifred Smith serves her parishioners but dreams of having a child. Viola Brasso looks after her wheelchair-bound sister Olivia, and Olivia chafes at her imprisonment in her own body. Jacob Helm fixes machines and still grieves for his dead wife. There are other characters, and one thing Rhodes does really well in this novel is connect them all. The plot of this book is a little like that of a modern t.v. series that introduces multiple characters and multiple storylines over weeks of watching. All this is just the "mechanics" of novel writing, however. What I really like is Rhodes' characters. They are fully human, flawed yes, but wonderful too, just trying to make it through life like all the rest of us in the best way they can. Rhodes has some "word magic" for sure. I'm not religious in the traditional sense. I don't believe in a biblical, Old Testament God. I don't go to church. Nevertheless, I was captivated by Rhodes' description of Pastor Winifred Smith's encounter with God, with the life force all around us. It might sound like an LSD trip to some, but it's beautiful in any case: "She held this feeling for a moment and then realized something very uncommon was happening. The grasses in the ditch appeared to be glowing. The red, cone-shaped sumac tops burned like incandescent lamps in a bluish light unlike any she had ever seen yet instinctively recognized.... She looked at her hands and they seemed to be lit from inside, her fingers almost transparent. The light glowing within the grasses and the sumac glowed within her, within everything. They sang with her through the light, jubilantly, compassionately, timelessly connecting to her past, present, and future. Boundaries did not exist. Where she left off and something else began could not be established. Everything breathed." If Winifred encounters the sacred, other characters experience the profane--as when Wade Armbuster takes Olivia to a dogfight--but whatever Rhode's characters are doing, it's interesting. If you like this kind of story, a story that doesn't focus on a "main" character but on the interwoven lives of a group of characters, you might also enjoy Shelagh Shapiro's Shape of the Sky which takes place in small town in northern Vermont. Enjoy!

Product details Audible Audiobook Listening Length 15 hours and 18 minutes Program Type Audiobook Version Unabridged Publisher Blackstone Audio, Inc. Audible.com Release Date December 15, 2009 Whispersync for Voice Ready Language English, English ASIN B0030V51J6

Tags : Amazon.com: Driftless (Audible Audio Edition): David Rhodes, Lloyd James, Inc. Blackstone Audio: Books, ,David Rhodes, Lloyd James, Inc. Blackstone Audio,Driftless,Blackstone Audio, Inc.,B0030V51J6
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Driftless (Audible Audio Edition) David Rhodes Lloyd James Inc Blackstone Audio Books Reviews

I wasn't really expecting much from this novel but I was surprised. The structure is interesting, each chapter concerns a different character and all these characters' lives and experiences are intwined. As such, there are several stories going on at the same time and this propels the reader through the book to the end. It's hard to talk about this book without giving away certain aspects of the stories. Instead, I'll just say I like the nonjudgemental way the author presents his characters and how he presents a small community with it's disappearing culture. At times the author becomes a little too wordy and goes on too long, however, this never intrudes on the storytelling.

Recently, I have become drawn to small novels with a narrow scope and this book is a little gem. It's not perfect, but it's worth 5 stars since it exists within a book world filled of critically acclaimed mediocrity.
I listened to this book on Chapter a Day on WPR. I had to get the book and read it. It was so good! I love the fact that the story takes place in Wisconsin in the driftless region where I live. I could picture the roads and small towns that the author describes in the book. I know the smells of the summer, what it feels like when the seasons change, and how long winter seems to last. I loved this book so much that I also bought Rock Island Line and Jewelweed. I highly recommend reading all three, in the order that they were written.
Another great read from the mid west. I have been reading much of their literature, it is quite well done and interesting. And it is quite evident how much David Rhodes loves his place in the world, the Driftless Area of Wisconsin. He knows much about the natural world. The Driftless Area was overlooked by the glaciers so this small part of the mid western states is different than the rest of this particular part of the nation, the middle of the west.

The main character is July Montgomery who drifted into the small village of Words twenty years ago. Words is surrounded by farmland and is about twenty three miles from a good size city. July is a loner, his former life unknown, but his character ties the other characters together. He owns a farm, loves being a farmer, this is the only life for July. The others respect him and ask his opinion about different matters going on in their lives.

Two sisters, Violet and Olivia are as different as day and night. Violet is a caretaker, she needs being needed, she has taken care of others, outlived two husbands, no kids. Now she is Olivia's caretaker. Olivia is frail, in a wheelchair, looks much younger than her age. There is a great difference in the ages of the sisters. Violet is old enough to be Olivia's mother.

There are a few quirky characters in this book as there is in real life. Readers meet a militia group and a group of Amish among the many characters. The chapters are short and drift from a family group to a lone character, back and forth among the characters, but not hard to keep up with.

Jacob Helm has been widowed for five years. He grieves, he cannot get over his wife's death. Rusty Smith is badly needed work done on his house. His wife's relatives are coming for a visit. He is prejudiced against the Amish. July recommends this group so Rusty hires them. They do a good job. Gail Shotwell is none too fond of wearing clothes. She wears as little as she can when in her home embarrassing folks who come unannounced. Gail wants to get into music, is attractive, has a good voice, writes music, works a job, and plays and sings in a low class bar. Winifred Smith is a reverend and a pastor in the small and only church in Words. She feels being a pastor is the only way for her, but many times she feels she is not the one for religious life.

Grahm and Cora Shotwell have problems. Cora is a whistle blower. Cora, an accountant for the American Milk Corporation, finds her company is using adulterated milk, shorting the public, manipulating reports. Cora lets state government know. She is found out, loses her job, complaints are made about her family's dairy. This family is in trouble for Cora speaking out.

Characters make serious mistakes. Two children, sent home from school during a bad Wisconsin winter day, decide to play out in the snow and become lost in a blizzard. A very naive young woman wanting to make needed money, takes family funds, personal funds adding up to forty thousand dollars goes to a casino and loses every penny. There is this beautiful, black wildcat living in Rusty's barn making characters afraid.

The book is good, different philosophies about life from characters. This book won the Milkweed National Fiction Prize of 2008. This is how I heard about this book and decided to read it. The book cover is beautiful, bright orange and yellow, the colors of a hot summer noon or of the morning sun rising in the east to awaken the earth.
I read Winesburg, Ohio so long ago I can't remember anything about it except that it was a hybrid, a cross between a collection of short stories and a novel. The traditional novel has a hero or heroine, Huck Finn or Jane Eyre, for instance. In Winesburg, the reader has a window on a whole community. That's the case in David Rhodes' novel. The story starts with July Montgomery's return to Words, a town in an area of Wisconsin known as Driftless. Grahm Shotwell is a farmer barely hanging onto the land his family has owned for generations. His wife Cora is an assistant bookkeeper at a dairy co-op where she discovers that her employers are stealing. The beautiful and sensuous Gail Shotwell plays a bass guitar for a local band and works, unhappily, for a plastics factory. Pastor Winifred Smith serves her parishioners but dreams of having a child. Viola Brasso looks after her wheelchair-bound sister Olivia, and Olivia chafes at her imprisonment in her own body. Jacob Helm fixes machines and still grieves for his dead wife. There are other characters, and one thing Rhodes does really well in this novel is connect them all. The plot of this book is a little like that of a modern t.v. series that introduces multiple characters and multiple storylines over weeks of watching. All this is just the "mechanics" of novel writing, however. What I really like is Rhodes' characters. They are fully human, flawed yes, but wonderful too, just trying to make it through life like all the rest of us in the best way they can. Rhodes has some "word magic" for sure. I'm not religious in the traditional sense. I don't believe in a biblical, Old Testament God. I don't go to church. Nevertheless, I was captivated by Rhodes' description of Pastor Winifred Smith's encounter with God, with the life force all around us. It might sound like an LSD trip to some, but it's beautiful in any case "She held this feeling for a moment and then realized something very uncommon was happening. The grasses in the ditch appeared to be glowing. The red, cone-shaped sumac tops burned like incandescent lamps in a bluish light unlike any she had ever seen yet instinctively recognized.... She looked at her hands and they seemed to be lit from inside, her fingers almost transparent. The light glowing within the grasses and the sumac glowed within her, within everything. They sang with her through the light, jubilantly, compassionately, timelessly connecting to her past, present, and future. Boundaries did not exist. Where she left off and something else began could not be established. Everything breathed." If Winifred encounters the sacred, other characters experience the profane--as when Wade Armbuster takes Olivia to a dogfight--but whatever Rhode's characters are doing, it's interesting. If you like this kind of story, a story that doesn't focus on a "main" character but on the interwoven lives of a group of characters, you might also enjoy Shelagh Shapiro's Shape of the Sky which takes place in small town in northern Vermont. Enjoy!