In the vein of Forrest Gump, The Ballad makes the implausible seem possible. Weaving in regional themes, dialects, and histories, the story follows Trenchmouth, equal parts gifted savante and ignorant WV mountain man. Beware the ridiculous: yep, he lets snakes rest in his strange mouth; yep, he m...
This novel is written in a standoffish and brusk style, with short, matter-of-fact sentences that aren't exactly brimming over with emotion. It's the sort of book where you might read a passage like: "Ma died that fall. The corn harvest was good. We got a new dog." Thus it took almost the full bo...