Witches On The Road Tonight (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
One Sentence SummaryA dying man reflects on the complications of his career as a TV Dracula, his complicated family life, and his Appalachian roots.Flashlights4/5 An eerie, bewitching, wonderful mixture of folk lore and reality. The only thing keeping me from giving it a 5/5 is that being written entirely in the present tense drove me crazy since there are numerous jumps in time.Would I Want to Live in This Universe?It’s tricky, because I like when you can’t really distinguish between fantasy and reality in books, but to actually live it seems like your life would be one perpetual, confusing drug trip. Why This Book Made My Week BetterIt was creepy and disconcerting, and books like that always leave a strong impression on me. Plus, it was published by an independent publisher, and I love reading books from smaller presses instead of one of the big companies.Reminds Me OfThe Tiger’s Wife, by Tea Obreht, and Swamplandia! by Karen Russell (which just happen to be two of my favorite books by two of my favorite authors). bookdrunkardreviews.tumblr.com This book started off wonderfully, with an intriguing setting full of menace (a sophisticated couple -- a writer and a photographer traveling for the WPA in 1940 -- get themselves stranded in a remote Appalachian cabin, with a woman who just might be a witch). Holman's prose is lush, and she creates some heartpounding scenes of dread -- there is never a problem believing in Holman's version of witchery. The problem is that the book becomes meandering -- we lose track (literally) of Tucker and Sonia, the couple that start the book off, and Holman's family tale lacks focus -- leaping through generations and from character to character without quite giving any of them the attention the big themes she explores (jealousy, sexual awakenings, fatherhood, fidelity) and the colorful settings she devises deserve. The loose ends are a bit maddening -- you keep expecting that your careful attention to her copious detail and many recurrent images will be rewarded by a sense of closure, but I felt the book just petered out. Promising, but not quite.
What do You think about Witches On The Road Tonight (2011)?
Really interesting story that draws you in. I didn't want to stop till it was finished.
—hag
Edgy - not for everyone but I really enjoyed it. Good writing.
—Ngamla
This book was spooky, poetic and slow. Thoroughly enjoyable.
—Shalee
I won this book as a Goodreads First Read.
—Michael
actually, I would give it 3.5 stars.
—christineandgeno
