The Choiring Of The Trees (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
This is in my Top 5 Favorite Books of all time, and in terms of style, musicality and story technique, one of the best books in the English language. This book should be required reading for anyone interested in the human condition. It entertains while it breaks your heart; it induces fever-pitch anticipation while making you laugh out loud. I have read this book four times, and every time my appreciation of its sensibilities grows deeper. I have often thought to myself, "How can I care THIS much about a fictional character?" Then I realized that these characters exist only in the mind of the reader, which has the effect of bringing their lives into sharper relief in my own life. Stay More is not an idyllic place, but it is a good place. It is an honest place. This novel will make you believe in literature again, in "good reads" and storytelling. Donald Harington has written a hymn that celebrates all of us, who we are at our core. His lyrical, playful, deeply-felt understanding of the human heart will most likely change the way you think about everything... and, for the better.
Donald Harington might be the best American author you've never heard of. If that's true, it's not because Harington isn't trying. He's no Harper Lee in the production category. The man has written 15 books or so. Give yourself a treat and give the Arkansas writer a try. I'd suggest The Choiring of Trees, namely because I finished the thing recently. (I read Butterfly Weed 20 years ago.) His characters are ordinary, even downtrodden, folk. Nail Chism is one. In Choiring, young Nail, a mountaineer in 1914, is sentenced to the electric chair because of the testimony of the 13-year-old girl. Things are looking grim for Nail until a newspaper woman gets involved his case.Harington's characters are a delight to read about, even the scoundrels, of which there seemed to be plenty in the Arkansas of 100 years ago. You can't help but root for Nail, a plain and simple guy, but also true and determined.
What do You think about The Choiring Of The Trees (2005)?
Probably a 4.5 stars rather than a 5, because it took me a long time to get into this book. However once I did, when I had chance to read it uninterrupted on a two hour flight it really did fly past. As a rule I dont read chick lit, and if I am honest I was not expecting a love story when I started to read this book, but in essence thats what it is. Its about one womans belief in and love for man wrongly imprisoned. And it is beautiful. The characters are strong and engaging and you want there t
—Kathryn
I liked this book so much more than I initially thought. The story is based on a real prisoner, falsely accused, who escaped execution by electric chair 3 times and then successfully escaped prison, and focuses on his relationship with a local court sketch artist. I liked the setting in Arkansas, and the people there with their own customs and peculiarities. However, there were a few bits that I thought the young female narrator would never have come up with -- stupid ideas about sex -- and that put a bit of a tarnish on the story for me.
—Rebecca
Stay More and read a little longerI never grew tired of reading this book often times staying up later in the night to finish a chapter only to find myself into the next. A heart wrenching read with so much substance. the characters are beautifully depicted and descriptions are magnificent. some situations may come off too fantasy like or unrealistic and I did find myself stumbling at the end trying to figure out what was really going on but that could be just the excitement. I have a few of favorite scenes where I could not read fast enough to satisfy my thirst for what would happen next. some parts terror struck me and some made me blush. but all in all I did not cry or laugh out loud of which I usually require for a five star rating. I gave it a five star because it simply was another world that I was lost in and couldn't find my way home until it was finished.
—Lacey Martinez
