Burnt Mountain

NOTE: I received a free review copy of this book from the publisher.

I have been a fan of author Anne Rivers Siddons for some time now. Although I was raised on the east coast myself, her sweeping southern novels have way of drawing me into their rich, lush context, particularly in her generational sagas such as [[ASIN:B002QGSX8W Peachtree Road]] and [[ASIN:0061099708 Colony]]. Plus, Siddons never fails to feature stories of deep, aching romance and invariably tragic consequences--a captivating combination.

At first, BURNT MOUNTAIN seemed to be of a similar tradition to my favorite Siddons works, and it definitely drew me in. The main character is Thayer Wentworth, whose first nine years, growing up on the outskirts of Atlanta, were fairly idyllic: her beloved father is the headmaster of a boys' school that his family founded, and the Wentworths live just off the school's grounds, it a beautiful Greek Revival house along the river. But the death of her father was the earliest tragedy to shape Thayer, followed by a devastating first love affair, and eventually, the relationship which forms the heart of the book and changes Thayer's life forever.

Overall, I did enjoy this novel; as mentioned above, I like Siddons' writing style--it can be a bit melodramatic, but reading one of her books always feels familiar and comforting. On the other hand, I also had several problems with this novel. During the period that Thayer is growing up (i.e., her adolescent and high school years), various references suggest that the story takes place in the 1950s or 60s. However, just a few years later, when Thayer is married (which occurs immediately after her graduation from college), the time is definitely the mid-1990s, as Atlanta is preparing to host the Summer Olympics. Not only does this seem incongruous with the earlier part of the story, but also Siddons includes additional references which don't fit for that time frame (e.g., there is a preponderance of cell phones in the story, which weren't so prevalent in the mid-90s). Finally, Thayer's growing dissatisfaction with her husband, Aengus, never quite feels right. Siddons seems to over-emphasize the point that in the times that Thayer and Aengus still spend together, everything is great, wonderful--if so, does Thayer really have cause to be so massively unhappy?

In the end, I would NOT recommend this book to those who have never read Siddons before, as this is not the best example of her work; instead, I would suggest trying one of the earlier novels that I referenced above. However, if you are already a fan of Siddons like myself and are willing to overlook some flaws in favor of just sinking into Siddons' writing, then you may still enjoy this latest foray into Siddons' southern world.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Sweet Mickey Mouse on a cracker. I don't even know where to start. This book is a mind-hump of crazy. Foreal.

Between Anne's:
incorrect use of the word "literally"

+ her endless descriptions of furniture and lawns (if I wanted that kind of shite, I'd be reading Better Homes and Gardens -- there is actually a full paragraph plus dialogue dedicated to a pot of fake flowers in a fireplace)

+ her inability to tell freaking TIME (head's up, old girl -- the Olympics were in 1995, so there were no cell phones, limited internet access and no Harry Potter movies... was her editor on drugs? unconscious? I'd seriously like to know... it would be a better story than this garbage was)

+ a recycling of old characters/details/word choice/plot points that BOGGLES SANITY. Oh, an architect old boyfriend? A terrible experience with first love? Characters who love mythology? A warped relationship with your parents? Wild amounts of money being granted to people with BA's in English who like to work menial jobs? Terrible death that marks a young person? Black people being portrayed as only vaguely literate and given the only real dialect in the text? CHECK CHECK AND CHECK. If you have Alzheimer's and want to re-read Siddons' early work, this book is for you! It's like she has decided to murder originality with a hatchet.

+ irritating characters that you're expected to like based on "tell" vs. "show." She beats it into the reader that we should looove the husband character (he's magical! And Irish! And with black wet-looking hair like a comma!) then informs us halfway through that no, nope, it was the first dude we should have been loving (he's Jewish! And an architect! With freckles on his arms!) Oh, and there is a 7-year-old who is like a teeny GPS and recalls exact, obscure directions after hitch-hiking 80 miles down a mountain. Also, a "tragic" moment that reads like a craptacular school play, after which we're treated to 5 pages of a bewilderingly histrionic character weeping copiously and inexplicably over said-event.

= The biggest load of bullcrap produced by Ms. Siddons ever. Throw in a completely implausible supernatural ending (WTF was going on with that camp?! Were they sucking out souls? Did Stephen King stumble in drunk one day and offer to write the end? What?!) combined with a total eclipse of all early plot points and characters and you have this novel.

We have no idea what happens between Thayer and her mom, a central plot device early on. There are strange references to a part of the grandmother's inheritance that wouldn't have been a legal option for the characters talking about them. Where does poor abused Lily go? Just keeps getting the tar knocked out of her by Goose?

MAGIC!

Ugh. Anne, please. If you're drinking or smoking crack, just let your editor know. Actually, no, please, for the love of kittens, fire your editor because they have clearly sustained a head injury.

Reading this was like being fired out of a cannon of incompetence into a sea of rat-humping insanity. You need a stiff drink for the last 50 pages, and don't skip on the whiskey. YOU'RE WELCOME.

What has happened to Anne Rivers Siddons? I'm a huge fan, have read everything she's ever published. But this book comes nowhere near what I've come to expect from her. First of all, the book was a full year late coming to market (I preordered it from Amazon last year), and when it arrived I saved it for a few days so that I could have time to sit down and savor the experience. And it began well, setting up the characters and painting the background. No one captures the South like she does, and it was rich and satisfying. The climax, however, was strange and disjointed. I had to keep going back and re-reading to try to figure out where we were. Timelines were split everywhere (Harry Potter movies were not out in the mid-1990s when Atlanta was planning for the Olympics). In the scene where Thayer runs into Nick after all the years, I had to re-read it twice to figure out where it was happening. The long build-up just crashed into confusion, as if the deadline loomed and the book had to be finished quickly, leaving so many threads dangling and poorly resolved. I'm feeling saddened and cheated. It is as if an old friend decided they didn't want to talk to me any more. I want the old Anne back.

Siddons is one of my favorite authors, whose books I have enjoyed for 30+ years. She writes exquisite prose, creates achingly haunting characters and memorable tales. I loved this book until the last 20 pages or so, when Siddons seemed to get, uncharacteristically, carried away into the realm of the unbelievable. Thayer was such a well drawn character, one about whom I cared deeply. My heart broke when hers broke. My heart swelled with joy when hers did. Having spent 15 years of my life in Atlanta, I could picture the well drawn characters in their respective venues in Georgia. I could hear their syrupy voices, and smell the fragrances of the deep south. I didn't want the story to end, but when it did, I was both confused and upset by the strangeness, and inconclusiveness of the final pages. I would love to sit down with Ms. Siddons to ask her what she really meant, what really happened on Burnt Mountain that last few days before Thayer's world changed.
The book is definitely worth the read, and is a quick, delicious pleasure, at that! I would love to know what others think of the pages leading up to the epilogue.

I just finished Burnt Mountain and I LOVED it. After finishing it, it reminds me of one of my favorites of hers - The House Next Door. Siddons leads the reader down the proverbial garden path, or in the case of this novel, forest trail, before taking off the kid gloves and showing the reader exactly what the story is about. Part generational saga, part magic, and part Grimm fairy tale, this novel is great storytelling.

I read a few other reviews that complained about inconsistencies in the storytelling. But, never does Siddons state a specific date or a specific year. In fact, in the side story about the Olympics in Atlanta, never does it state that it is 1996. I felt that Siddons deliberately left any dates out of the story, so any inconsistencies in dates that these other reviewers are complaining about are the result of their own preconceived notions.

I highly recommend this one! It was a treat!

Over the last two decades, I've read and re-read all of Ms. Siddons's books and I will continue this practice as long as she publishes because her narrative voice holds such charm for me. However, I cannot recommend Burnt Mountain, despite a sympathetic protagonist and compelling story. The technical errors in the plot detract from the narrative.

The author has a keen understanding of the misunderstood child who longs for magic and the joys and trials of small-town life, both of which are used here. Unfortunately, the true supernatural forces at work in the book are the time lapses that allow an undergraduate college student to become a professional architect with an international design contract in four short years. Another inadvertent nod to magic allows a character to describe in the mid 1990's two movies that were not released until 2004 and 2007 respectively.

The problem is, is that neither of these incidents are supposed to be the result of magic. No one is wearing one of J. K. Rowling's famous time-turners and no one waves a wand. Magic, in Burnt Mountain, is the practice of ancient rituals to obtain fortune's favor. Only the deranged accept this magic as real.

The true magic of this novel lies in the healing nature of love, a belief that holds up in the harsh light of day. This is the author's true metier and here she excels.

So, read Burnt Mountain for the perception into people (especially small-town women) and the redemption of love. Avoid, if possible, the anachronisms that a reasonable editor would have caught and corrected. Praise Ms. Siddons for her gifts and hope her next novel will reclaim the fire and charm that her readers depend on.

I have read all of Anne Rivers Siddons books, beginning with Outer Banks. Her best is Colony. I fear this might be her worst. As it started, there was the Ms. Rivers I know and love - her use of language is mesmerizing, her command of being southern is captivating. I was drawn in as always. I couldn't wait for time to read more.

As I went along, however, I began to notice a great many things that her editor should have caught early on. It was as if we are in a time warp. First, it feels we are in the 1950's. Old fashioned summer camps, social climbing, society clubs. (Spoiler alert!) Then, the main character, Thayer, becomes pregnant and is tricked into an abortion that comes straight from the 1960's. Only four years later, we are reading about the proliferation of cell phones at summer camps, the Atlanta Olympics and Harry Potter (which started well after those summer olympic anyway). Although not really pertinent to the storyline, these discrepancies were terribly distracting nonetheless.

While the first two-thirds of the story slowly and satisfying builded to the antipated conclusion, that conclusion came in a terrible, hurry-up-and-finish rush. I finished feeling that 50-pages were accidently deleted somewhere.

I believe this would have been a great story had it been better edited and had more time been given to the end. I have read Colony a dozen times and felt this story had many elements taken from that one, but without the success. Indeed, I felt, for a time, that I was reading Colony. Alas, this was no Colony.

I have read all of Siddons' books, finding in them stories of family ties gone awry, love stories, and friendships. My two favorites are "Outer Banks" and "Peachtree Road." So this summer's issue of "Burnt Mountain" was one I have been waiting for.

Unfortunately, this novel does not quite reach the level of earlier books. There is the dysfunctional relationship between Thayer and her beautiful mother. The mother, Crystal, wants desperately to belong to Atlanta society, much like the mother in Conroy's "Prince of Tides" with her social climbing ways. However, too little time is spent developing the mother's story although Thayer's beautiful grandmother, Gran to Thayer, is at the heart of the book.

Because of Crystal's social climbing, the marriage of Thayer's sister to a regular guy seems incongruous, especially when compared to what Thayer endures when she brings home her first boyfriend, Nick.

After things dissolve between Nick and Thayer, Thayer sequesters herself in an isolated mountain college. She falls for her mythology professor, Aengus, who is portrayed as both childlike and a wondrous lover. Though Crystal isn't thrilled, Aengus and Thayer do marry. Aengus is supposed to be sort of magical, but he is more like the women in Tryon's "Harvest Home," creepy and untrustworthy.

Then the book gets weirder. There is too much left out in terms of their neighbor, Carol, and her three sons. There is too much left out in the goings-on at Forever Camp and Aengus's mental condition as he disappears for days at a time to speak at the camp. There are mixed up references to the Olympics coming to Atlanta (1996) and taking one of the kids to his choice of Harry Potter films (first one in 2001).

I would have loved this book had it had the depth and range of "Peachtree Road" or "Outer Banks." As it exists, it is the skeleton of a story, waiting to be fleshed out and fully realized (and better edited).

I pre ordered this and waited for it to come in. It was awful. Not up to Anne Rivers Siddons standards. I have read all of her other books, some twice. I would never have believed any of her work could disappoint me. So sad. The characters were not fleshed out and it did not really have an ending. It just stopped.

I love Anne Rivers Siddons' writing. Her descriptive and narrative skills make her among the best of contemporary writers. However, her character and plot development put her in a class with Dorothea Benton Frank and other writers of that ilk. Siddons can put a reader in a place where you absolutely hear the birds singing, leaves rustling, ice tinkling in glasses. I thought she did a decent job defining Thayer Wentworth, but the other characters seemed one dimensional. For instance, Carol was portrayed as a selfless, giving mother, yet her actions at the end were in no way consistent with this. Several plot features were implausible or just plain silly, and there were so many time frame issues that it became distracting. The ending felt jumbled, tacked on, and not at all in keeping with what was developed in the first part of the book. Although it was not necessary to drive the plot, I missed Siddons' adding a scene of confrontation between mother and daughter. This is a great beach read, however, particularly if you find yourself on a Southern beach. Wait for it to come out in paperback. I might not have been so hard on another writer, but someone with Siddons' gifts should do so much better.