this is not a good fit for me. I love Southern lit, and I'm not afraid of Southern Grit but this was just too boring for me, I couldn't connect. I think this is more of what I'd call a 'manly book"

My rating: 3 stars

This book is a hard one to rate. Based on literary merit alone, I would say this one deserves at least 4 stars for its incredibly atmospheric, descriptive writing that made me feel like, from the very first paragraph, I was being transported deep into the mountains of 1950s North Carolina, into the world inhabited by a one-legged whiskey runner named Rory and his feisty folk-healer grandmother Maybelline (Granny May). Throughout the story, there was a generous amount of vivid description that often spanned several paragraphs, at times even several pages, of everything from the smallest minutiae to major plot points and character developments. I always appreciate descriptive writing, especially the kind that is immersive and makes the reader feel as though we are right there beside the characters, feeling what they are feeling, experiencing what they are experiencing – indeed, the writing here was gorgeous, even lyrical in places, and as I don’t read Southern fiction very often, plus I grew up on the West Coast in a big city, the many lush descriptions of the countryside and mountain region really helped establish time and place and put the entire story into perspective for me.

With that said however, this was not an easy read by any means -- even though I loved the writing, I found myself struggling through much of the story. The lyrical nature of the prose coupled with the descriptiveness already made this a challenging read in that there were parts where it was nearly impossible to understand what was going on without re-reading passages and then taking the time to absorb what I had just read. I’ve never been a fast reader, but for this one, I felt like I had to slow down my reading by several notches, which wouldn’t normally be too big of an issue except that in this case, I wasn’t particularly keen on the subject matter of the book. This was a dark, gritty, violent story that revolved around whiskey, bootlegging, and auto-racing (though on a deeper level it was also about love, revenge, buried secrets, loyalty, family, the long term effects of war, etc.) – this type of subject matter I’m not generally interested in, so at some point, especially in the second half of the book, I started to lose patience with the overly descriptive style (or perhaps it was exhaustion from how laborious this felt to read) and so I found myself skimming quite a bit near the end.

In terms of the characters – I actually did like most of the characters in this and for me, Rory and Granny May were two of the most complex and well-developed characters I’ve encountered in a while in a work of fiction. However, I still found it difficult to connect with these characters as well as everyone else in the story – the emotional element was mostly lacking for me.

Overall, I would say that I did like parts of this one, but as a whole, this book probably wasn’t for me. I’m still willing to give this author’s other books a try though, as I truly do like his writing style – perhaps with different subject matter, I may be able to connect with the story more next time.

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley

Anyone who grew up or has relatives who grew up in Appalachia needs to read this book! Its filled with descriptive narrative surrounding the charm and quirks of 1950's NC Appalachia: bootlegging, moonshine, drag-racing, Pentecostal delusion, importance of family, etc. The main character certainly has his flaws but is completely redeeming in several ways. This book has a mystery element that keeps the reader engaged. The interpersonal dynamics between characters is fascinating.

<b>**I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review**</b>

Where do I begin? When I saw this book up on NetGalley, I thought that sounds amazing. The title is so evocative of the time and place and the cover is absolutely gorgeous. After reading Gods of Howl Mountain I have to report this is the reason we were all cautioned about judging a book by its cover. The cover intrigues, but the story simply does not.

I won’t take anything away from Taylor Brown as an author. I’m sure he has his fans who love his verbose style of writing, but it just wasn’t for me. Even having said that, I was prepared to give this book 3 stars right until about the 90% mark. I’m used to stories that accelerate toward a powerful finish. This one did not. Not once throughout did I find myself engrossed or invested in this collection of characters. Though I did find myself repulsed by Granny and her libido. Believe me, ‘nuff said.

2 disappointing stars.

Taylor Brown knows his way around descriptive writing and brings the mountains of North Carolina, but I’m going to chalk Gods of Howl Mountain up to—not on a subject I care about. I’m all for reading outside my own experiences, but it turns out I’m not interested in 1950s Appalachians, moonshine-running, drag racing men. There’s a mystery at the heart of the novel but even that was never quite clear to me. Instead, the protagonist falls in love with a snake-handling Pentecostal woman while trying to stay ahead of the government and other bootleggers. He lives on the mountain with his granny, a former whore and whore house owner, who now offers natural and herbal healing and lots of pithy advice. This could definitely be great reading for someone else, but for me it never got past good-ish.

Loved the 1950’s setting in the mountains of North Carolina. I loved reading about Rory’s story. Would recommend

A story set in the 1950’s, Rory Docherty has returned from the Marines missing part of his leg in a battle in Korea. This and growing up with stories about what happened to his mother and visiting her in the hospital make up part of this story. The rest is bootlegging, running from the law in the Appalachian Mountains. You have two mystery’s one from the past and one from the present as to who is giving information to the government man as the route people are driving. They even know some of Rory tricks. You have Granny Mae who people come to when they are sick because people cannot afford a doctor. Plus she sees things as well. The story is fast paced and full action even when he stops in at a tent revival meeting. The author brings you to a time that is definitely forgotten. There are a few moments in the story that I am reminded of an old film noir movie with Robert Mitchum, titled “Thunder Road” where that character is out of the Korean War and is a moonshine runner, in the hills and also has a treasury agent. I still watch that movie and I like this book as well. The author here adds a mystery to this story that you wonder if it will ever be solved and the author will take you all the way to the very last pages so do not stop reading. You will not be disappointed. A fabulous book with excellent characters.

This book will pull you in and keep you until the very end. Keep you on edge and wanting more with each page. It’s wonderfully written and great character development. You have to read it.

Having grown up in the foothills of Appalachia, I find myself attracted to books like Gods of Howl Mountain by Taylor Brown that are set in the region. The author collects the colorful parts of the region in his book set in 1950s North Carolina from the snake-handling preacher to the competing bootleggers and the house of prostitution.

The central character, Rory Docherty, returns from the Korean War missing one leg to run whisky in an old Ford coupe and spend nights returning to the horrors of war in his dreams. He lives with his folk-healer grandmother since his mother is in a mental institution, not having spoken since a hidden tragedy some years before. To add to the mystery, he falls for the young daughter of the snake-handling preacher.

The writing fits the tradition of the Appalachian writers with this sample describing getting ready to kill hogs. “She had the fire crackling and smoking as the dawn light broke jagged over the hills. Rory set the pot on the fire and began sloshing it full of water quivering like silver discs as he rocked his way across the yard.” The killing itself is as graphic, if not as lyrical.

The book will probably not make you a better person, but it may bring some surprising sympathy for the bootlegger or the grandmother who ran the house of ill repute. If you are a writer, it will certainly have a model of how to turn a phrase.

So many things are done well in this book, but I’ll start with the atmospheric setting. When I read a book, I want to feel like I’m there. I want to be able to picture the topography, the vegetation, the weather; I want to understand the era through the clothes and cars and tools and technology. Brown does this on just about every page – I never forget it’s the 1950s, and that Howl Mountain (in North Carolina) is the setting of a whiskey-running empire at a time when the federal government (the revenuers) are cracking down—and looking for their share of the pie. There’s Granny, the local medicine woman who knows just where to dig the roots for her potions; there’s the snake-handling church that meets in the old service station, the weekend car races; there’s Rory Docherty, back from the Korean War with a wooden leg.

Reading this book feels a bit like taking a master-class in characterization and plot. The characters are clearly drawn; their wants and decisions and choices bump up against each other in ways that continually move the plot forward.

This was a great book with atmospheric storytelling. I would definitely recommend reading this with your book club or at least having a friend read so you could discuss.

Taylor Brown's descriptions are so lush and beautiful. He makes the darkest most barren landscape come alive. His characters are not perfect but they are like family. They resonate with you and when you have finished the novel you are sad to see them go. I loved this book so much I had to treat myself to Fallen Land and The River of Kings. Cannot wait to read them.

I did not finished this book. I felt the writing was just too convoluted. I felt like I was reading a college student's writing exercise.

Gods of Howl Mountain is one of those Southern gothic novels full of magic and menace. Our main characters are Granny May, a fount of folk wisdom and healing, and her grandson Rory, a bootlegger with a souped-up car who left a leg behind in Korea. He and his best friend Eli work for Eustace, the most powerful moonshiner in the area. He is falling for Christine, a beautiful woman whose snake-handling preacher father may have been one of the men who attacked Rory’s mother and killed her lover–a tragic event that left her muted and committed to a state mental hospital. Rory hopes to discover who attacked his mother and seek his revenge even if he is the father of the woman he’s coming to love. Further complications are added by a rivalry with another moonshining family, the local sheriff (the preacher’s brother), and a federal revenuer without scruples.

As you can see there is a lot going on, but the central element of Taylor Brown’s Gods of Howl Mountain is the rich and fulsome prose. It’s often lush and poetic, such that I want to read descriptions out loud. Here is just one example:

“She watched a wolf spider creep through a slanted pane of light on the edge of the porch, hunting, and she could almost hear the whisper of its legs over the boards. She heard a brace of grouse explode to flight, startled by some predator, their wings thumping the air as they rose in a storm from the trees. Closer, the bottles sang faintly from the limbs of the golden chestnut, a shifting cascade of light as the breeze nudged them. Below this crouched the old bootlegging coupe, coal-black and mean, the hood opened like a great maw. That big machine-heart gleaming under the sun, full of chambers and valves and unmade song.”

I love descriptive prose and there is so much to love. However, not everything needs to be written as though life on earth depends on how fulsome the prose is. For example, describing a rash of people catching cold as “a wildfire of red-raw throats tearing along the ridges,” just made me laugh. Likewise, describing a sow as “gentle as a two-barrel Lincoln” just baffles me. What does he mean? The sow seems friendly, so the Lincoln a shotgun or a car? Why would either be gentle? If this was a one-off, I would not mention it, but there are plenty of examples of similes that seem forced and strange.

Nonetheless, the story is successful and moody, though perhaps the mystery is not completely fair. Rory is on the wrong track in investigating and is set aright by revelation, not deduction. The revelation is the result of his efforts, though so I won’t complain too much. There is enough groundwork laid so when the revelation happens, it does not seem impossible or even unlikely, just surprising. The story builds so slowly, though, the end seems unsatisfyingly fast. We spend chapters on building up this rivalry, the romance, the mystery, and boom, it’s over, and Rory slept through a good part of it. How did that happen? It felt almost like you could blink and miss it.

However, I enjoyed the story. I like the rich and colorful prose, the folk wisdom from Granny May, the suspense and anxiety of bootlegging. My uncle was a bootlegger and my dad worked on his car and loved to tell stories of his brother’s exploits. Let’s just say my uncle’s career was much less exciting.

I received an e-galley of Gods of Howl Mountain from the publisher through NetGalley.

Gods of Howl Mountain at Macmillan | St. Martin’s Press
Taylor Brown author site

This was an awesome Book!!! I thoroughly enjoyed it, the period writing is excellent. Characters are fully developed and interesting. There is a lot of violence in the book, but I didn't think it excessive, as that is the way it was then in the deep south. Great book!

The opening paragraphs of this book are some of the most beautifully written I have ever read, and they foreshadow the tone of the entire novel.
“The machine started at dusk, headlights slashing their way down the old switchbacks that ribbed the mountain’s slopes, thunder and echo of thunder vaulting through the ridges and hollers on every side. The road sawed out of the high country, angling against valleys welled with darkness, past ridges hewn by dynamite, at times following the pale sinews of logging roads that lashed these hills half a century before.”
How could a reader not be intrigued?
Taylor Brown is giving David Joy and Wiley Cash a run for their money when it comes to the dark side of life in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina.
The book is set in the early 1950s. Money is tight, especially in mountain communities.
Granny May is known for her work with herbal remedies, and by the end of the book, readers will discover that it’s not a good idea to mess with her!
Her grandson, Rory Docherty, is known for his ability to deliver moonshine. Rory lost a leg while in Korea, and still has nightmares about his time there.
His mother, Bonni, was committed to Dix Hill, where Rory was actually born. It’s her story that is interwoven in the narrative and forms the basis of what transpires over the course of the years.
A bit of humor creeps through (and a surprise appearance by Junior Johnson), but be forewarned that much of what happens is dark and brutal. Not for the squeamish.
What really kept me reading was the beautiful and descriptive prose of the novel.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
After returning from the war, Rory Docherty is a changed man. He lives in a shack in the woods with his Granny, the infamous “Granny May” known for her potions and poultices, and runs a not-so-legal moonshine transportation business. Rory is on the run from the law, while still keeping up the search for the man who, long ago, ruined his mother’s life.
“Gods of Howl Mountain” by Taylor Brown fits into a rapidly increasingly new genre of fiction that I am calling Southern Fiction. Simple, peaceful landscapes, full of characters with heart and spirit, with some moonshine and tobacco thrown in (don’t blame me for stereotyping- this novel has it all!).
“Mountain” started off very slow moving, and it took me awhile to get into the plot. The first few chapters seemed to be nothing but beautifully poetic descriptions of the mountain landscape. Once the plot picked up, and I was able to form a deeper relationship with the characters, my view of this novel changed.
Rory and Granny May are full of bravery and spunk- each one willing to sacrifice it all for the other. I would’ve loved to have seen more of the elusive character that is Rory’s mother, spending her days in an asylum, trapped in her mind. What happened to her is the most captivating part of the story for me, and I loved how Bonni’s narrative was interspersed throughout this novel.
As mentioned, Brown has one heck of a knack for writing. The language he uses is poetic and beautiful, although in the beginning of the book (when language is all we have as the plot is slow to build), it gets to be a little much. However, once the story develops, Brown’s creative and lyrical language creates the perfect backdrop of southern mountains and its surrounding community of ramshackle cottages and makeshift car racing tracks.
This novel would suit fans of “southern fiction” and anyone else seeking some moonshine with a slow burn. I would’ve liked to have a faster-moving, more entertaining storyline, but this novel was definitely something I wanted to see through to the end.

I love the bookcover!

Rory was in the Korean War and he was a Korean War Vet. He comes back home to Howl Mountain with a wooden leg. The time is 1952. The story takes place in the mountains of North Carolina. Rory is now living with his Granny May. His Mom had something terrible happen to her and she is in a mental hospital and she can not speak. This is a mystery to Rory, and he wants to find out why she is locked up in the mental institution, which he finds out is a dark family secret. When Rory's life is threatened, Granny May must decide whether to reveal what she knows or to protect Rory from the past.

Rory runs bootleg whiskey in a 40's Ford white Coupe. His Granny May is a folk healer, whose powers are rumored to rival those of a wood witch. She concocts potions potions for the people of the mountains.

Rory falls for Christine, who is the pastor daughter. Her father is a snake handling preacher. Rory also gets into stock car racing.

This is a historical fictional novel plus Southern Grit Lit which is written in beautiful prose. This is one of my favorite genre' s. The beautiful writing is so descriptive that I actually thought that I was there in the mountains. The writing was so vivid that I could vision everything.
He paints a beautiful picture while he writes. Taylor Brown's writing brings this book to life. I really loved also how he described the mountain's and the nature surrounding it.

The story has a slow burn to the first half, then it gets better and better. It is gritty and dark. It is a very well crafted story and I loved it!

This is a character driven novel and the characters were done very well. I thought they were fantastic. I loved Granny May the best and also loved Rory. There are also some gritty characters too.

I highly recommend this book to those that love Southern Grit Lit and historical fiction novels.

I want to thank NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Taylor Brown for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rory Docherty cares for only a few things. His Granny. His Ford. Making money as whiskey runner.

And perhaps, that dancing girl who makes hats.

Life after war has proven a tad unpredictable, but he’s been able to find solace in the whispers of the familiar mountain of his childhood. While the memories of Korea will haunt his nightmares forever; the ghosts of friends lost and the faces of his enemies permeating the very air he breathes while both awake and asleep, Rory has been able to find a semblance of peace wrapped up in that mountain and the old, creaky home that resides there.

He spends his days tinkering on Maybelline, his precious retro-fitted Ford coupe. The work is done lovingly and thoughtfully at the side of his old friend and expert mechanic; each touch put upon the Ford a caress given as lovingly as though they were lovers. The woman who watches over the two young men has a steely eye and an even sassier mouth – Granny May Docherty, a bawdy firecracker of a female. A former prostitute who sold her body for practical means, she now makes her living as a healer or as some say, a shaman or witch. The dirt of her land runs deep under her fingernails, and she can cure what ails anyone – if she so pleases to do so. Her dependence is solely upon the land, and her roots run as deep as any chestnut tree. The mountain breeze runs through her veins as well as the moonshine that saturates its valley.

Nights are spent on the road with the purring of the Ford set as the sweetest of melodies. Running liquor for his clan, Rory takes his job seriously. He’s well-known around the area, both by customers and by the law. The federal men have him firmly in their sights, jockeying for first place with the trouble he’s also having with a local boy who’s a bit too big for his britches. But Rory is focused, and he’s aware, and the steady work puts food on the table for his Granny and helps support his mother. The woman who gave birth to him but did not raise him is settled in a home for those who cannot support the mental faculties of their mind. The secrets of his mother’s emotional demise are hidden deep within the mountain, and Rory doesn’t know if he’ll ever figure them out.

The foot of the mountain has its own secrets. A brothel full of love for the night is in full view of the evangelical church across the street, and it is in the parking lot where things change for Rory. Captivated by the tangible beating pulse of the Holy Spirit and bewitched by the beautiful preacher’s daughter, Rory allows his heart to take over his head. But in the shifting of his focus all things surrounding him become blurry, leading to mistakes that have unbreakable consequences.

Taylor Brown is a critically acclaimed novelist best known for his lyrical style of writing. Gods of Howl Mountain possesses a deep richness of voice; the mountain and its valley beneath are as much a part of the character catalog as are Granny May and Rory Docherty. While the stylized writing is indeed undeniably beautiful and layered with care, I found the book to be overtaken by the descriptions of people, places, and things, leaving the plot to be almost non-existent.

It was really a shame. I was drawn in from the first few pages. A setting as humid and dark as I’ve personally known the back-woods to be. A healing woman, a purveyor of the earth and its natural tools. As a native Louisianan, I am not unfamiliar with the workings of herbalists and their particular kinds of magic. But while Brown is an master at weaving together the descriptions of both settings and characters, he equally failed at moving them forward. The book had no true meaning, no point of circumstance, and in all actuality – no point.

It is with much regret that I have to give Gods of Howl Mountain a meager 2 out of 5 star rating. The writing is beautiful and the story held so much promise, but as a reader I found myself in the same position on the final page as I was on the first one.

When I saw this on NetGalley, how could I refuse? Shades of Carolyn Chute and Sharyn McCrumb... this is possibly a bigger catnip for me than my beloved Rock Fiction. And you can ALWAYS depend on the writing to be stellar.

And, of course, when it's written by a veteran like Brown, it is. Sometimes, I would get lost in the prose, in the words and their magic. Interestingly, that also became one of the book's downfalls: I'd get lost in the words and their magic, and lose sight of the greater story.

That, then, became my other issue with this book: the greater story. What is it? Is it Rory's story? Is it Granny's? Is it the story of how life is changing on the mountain? Rory's search for the truth about his mother? His falling in love? His own personal metamorphosis?

I'm just not sure, and because of that, it felt like the book meandered--and like it took me *forever* to read it. At times, I had to force myself to pick it up. And yet, at times, it was impossible to put down and walk away from (those were the times when I was so caught up in the prose that I couldn't care about the plot).

I'll read more Taylor Brown. A LOT more. I just think this book wasn't what I was expecting and it didn't deliver in ways I'm used to looking. Reading his backlist will, I'm sure, teach me more than I want to know about the guy's writing style... and it'll also teach me a few things I can use in my own work, too.