Dang, this is a good book. It's a collection of short stories based on the people of Appalachia, which is a place that is rapidly changing. The characters really grab you. I always love an author who can write a good short story. Not everyone can.

Very seldom, especially in a short story collection, do the stories get better as we continue to read. Well, this collection does just that

We start out with the books title story and it just gets better from there. The way Leah intertwines each story, not only to the story before it for an amazing transition, but throughout each story.

Parkway will rip your heart out, punch you in your face, then make you lose sleep due to fear. Fuckface will leave you questioning your reactions and relationships while Frogs will make you fear the dark.

Absolutely beautiful with Appalachian rich descriptions, this short story collection is for anyone who needs to explore this hidden landscape.

5/5 Dolly Parton glitter stars.

Netgalley and the publisher provided a free ARC in return for my honest review.

what a great collection of short fiction about Appalachia. Leah Hampton’s characters read as very real, and her stories show a rich life existing in a region many of us only know for its extreme poverty. The poverty is there, of course, at the heart of some stories and periphery of others, but so is a kaleidoscope of nature, sexuality, capitalism, parenthood, grief, and longing. My favorite stories were Eastman, Parkway, and Mingo. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for this honest opinion.

A terrific debut collection. Hampton delivers twelve slices of life in Appalachia, none of them sinking to the level of parody and nearly all of them bringing some measure of fresh understanding to the region and its people. More than that, though, these stories are just refreshingly bracingly ~human~ in nature: a woman unable to fully grasp her mother's death as she tries to save her mother's bee colonies; a park ranger on the sad legacy of death in the park system; the misunderstood legacy of sexual assault; teenage rebellion. It's all here and delivered in bright and vibrant prose. I'm looking forward to many more tales from Hampton to come.

A high average of 4 star rating. All of these stories are heartfelt and emotional.

Based on a foundation of Appalachian upbringing, the characters are adept at just going through the motions. Living life one day at a time. Sometimes it's beautiful, sometimes it's sad. At the same time, it's neither. There's a sense of, "it is what it is," that hangs heavy over every situation, over every kept secret, every desire left unchased but ever turned over in the mind.

Their desires run so deep, but they've been stifled by their culture - the culture of closed mines and chem factories that poisoned them for years. Left them with black lungs and cancer. Miscarriages and funerals. Adultery and a hard home life. There are abusive fathers and husbands, and cheating spouses, but the best best friends and the most caring church communities. Sweet sibling relationships and memories of lost mothers are woven throughout these stories.

If there were a theme, it would have to be the underlying resilience of the Blue Ridge community. Where grudges are long and hard, but set aside so one can hold a hand through a cancer screening. Or a lawn still gets mowed six weeks after the owner has passed. When the brother becomes a Saint in his sister's eyes, or a 32 year old tech sergeant curls up in his childhood bed for the last time. There is a lot of pain in these stories, and in Appalachia, but there is still hope and humor and desire. There is still life.

A few favorites include the title story, F*ckface, Boomer, Wireless, Eastman, Devil, and Sparkle, although just looking through the list of titles, each of them left an impression.
This is a hard one to pin for recommendations, but I would recommend it to fans of realistic characters and socio-economic literary writings like Zora Neale Hurston's recent book, <i>Hitting A Straight Lick With A Crooked Stick</i>, or the translated collection, <i>Bright</i> by Duanwad Pimwana.
I look forward to more work by Leah Hampton.

“I ain’t coming back. You hear? You done run the devil out of town.”

There are story collections about characters full of promising futures, born to wealth or at the very least sparkling opportunities- this isn’t about those kind of people. In F*ckface, the people often feel as ravaged as their environment. The book begins with title story F*ckface, in a town full of broken things that the narrator knows will never be fixed, a place where something can rot for an untold amount of time. Here something “pretty” is full of desires that are certainly not welcome in rural America. She wants out, a place less dark and mean, somewhere quiet and not filled with the smell of dead things. If only she knew how to reach for it.

Boomer tells the story of fires that need to be contained, put out, and prevented while a marriage is reduced to ash. Margaret explores the deep places in herself, and an old school friend after her fifteen-year high school reunion in Wireless. Parkway disturbs us with the tale about a park ranger on the Blue Ridge working in a place that people come to die or be killed. A Russian teenage girl draws one woman’s attention at a pottery lecture and her pity, until she realizes what she is trying to convey in her broken English. Towns, families full of cancer, these places people inhabit too poor or small to accommodate medical needs- the pressure and fear of waiting for results. Working conditions that are rumored to be the cause of so much ill health, gutted mountainsides and raped land. Once the coal towns were booming, then in fast decline, the people left to discover how to thrive.

Loss of autonomy and the intricate dance between aging parents and their children creates an unlikely bond for daughter-in-law Tina with the tale Mingo. Lewd humor is often catharsis, even if it is lost on Tina’s husband. Frogs serve as a study during a nature hike as twins attempt to learn about them alongside a naturalist- who probably isn’t even ‘from here’. It ends up in humiliation for the woman as her twin brother gamely tries to understand her refusal to finish the trek, which was her idea. A soldier returns to his childhood home in the Kentucky mountains before shipping out to Bagram, a plan at the ready to slip in unannounced but his domineering father beats him to the punch. Can you always go home? Should you? Is the devil you know always better than ones you don’t? Devil reminds us how easy some father’s knock their children down to size. Queen offers up a hive of bees for Maisy’s mother to present a playful bond with her grandchildren until her health fails her. Maisy keeps herself from feeling too deeply the sting of loss by keeping her body occupied with muscle memory. Meat is on the menu when a student interns at a hog facility and can’t escape the screams. A brother is receding, but not every moment foretells the tragedy to come and nothing can prevent it- such a good brother, a Saint really. Dollywood could be a character when Sparkle introduces the reader to Beth, who is definitely not “a country-fried fool”, but thinks this is the place to explore desires and possibly get to see Dolly perform! Nothing happens and everything happens. Ordinary days weighed down by the disappointing realities of life in places the rest of world ignores. How much more brutal are the grievances of life when choices are limited? Who pulls you down when you try to escape? Yet the world keeps turning in Appalachia, even if the characters feel like they are off the map and the world has forgotten them. There are no happy endings, but what exactly is a happy ending anyway? Sometimes it’s about just keeping your head above water, trudging on. It takes grit!

Publication Date: July 14, 2020

Henry Holt & Company

I really enjoyed this story collection and Leah Hampton's writing style. Full review for forthcoming from Chicago Review of Books

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A collection of 12 short stories taking place in various parts of Appalachia. While the stories are not interconnected they are connected in that they take place in the same vast geographic region. Each story focuses on a character and how living where they do affects various aspects of their lives, but the amount of time we're with each character varies - we're with some characters over a period of several years, we're with other characters over the course of a day, others are somewhere in between. For most the stories, the location is as much a character as any of the living breathing ones. The overarching theme of the book focuses on how a place impacts us or affects us in ways that are either obvious or invisible - in this case, it's focusing on the various parts of Appalachia. While there are some characters who are desperate to escape (moderate levels of success), there are others who are resigned to staying where they are.

Each story is different enough from the others so reading the book in one sitting doesn't fill one with a feeling of deja vu that some short story collections tend to. The book is also neither front-loaded or back-loaded, I felt the stories stayed consistent throughout. Short story writing is different from novel writing. It requires an author to set a scene, set the characters, and set the situation up quickly and resolve things quickly but without the reader feeling like it was rushed or underdeveloped. This book has the craft of short story writing down to a T, technically, I think the author executed it perfectly.

1. Fuckface -4.5/5 - the titular story that deals with what we hide from those around us and what they hide from us; also about the urge to leave but the inability to do so
2. Boomer - 3.5/5 - a man fighting never ending forest fires, but also dealing with his marriage which is also up in flames
3. Wireless - 4.5/5 - a woman returning home and facing aspects of her past she didn't think she'd have to deal with again
4. Parkway - 5/5 - A Park Ranger and all the things he's had to see and deal with over the course of his entire career.
5. Eastman - 5/5 - The health consequences of keeping secrets because of the small town gossip mill.
6. Mingo - 3/5 - Marrying to get out of a situation but getting into a new difficult situation.
7. Frogs - 3.5/5 -The never ending search to better oneself after the ending of a marriage and the support needed to do it. Or, outside conservationist versus locals.
8. Devil - 4.5/5 - Having to return home before a redeployment brings more hurt than comfort.
9. Queen - 3/5 - The death of a matriarch and her bees.
10. Meat - 4/5 - The meat industry and the environmental and economic affects of a community.
11. Saint - 3.5/5 - The death of a sibling, or is it?
12. Sparkle - 3/5 - Unrequited love in Dollywood.

Averages to 3.92/5 rounds to 4/5.

F*ckface and Other Stories is a short story collection by Leah Hampton. This collection features stories mostly set in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The slightly dark stories feature everyday people going about their lives. The standout for me was the story Eastman which was about a number of people who have become ill after working at a chemical plant.

All together, this was a pretty solid collection. Overall the tone of the stories was on the dark side. These stories feature people just trying to live their lives in rural or small town America but faced with the challenges that people often encounter, whether illness, job-challenges, or difficulties in their love lives. The stories are honest, a bit raw, and full of heart and wit.

A masterful short story collection. I am completely in awe of Leah Hampton's writing style. There was so much depth and emotion in these stories. My personal favorites being: "F*ckface", "Eastman", "Devil", and "Parkway". I can't stop thinking about "Wireless" and "Sparkle". These ones actually hurt when I was reading them. I felt connected to the characters which is hard to do with such short narratives. "Saint" is a tearjerker and "Frogs" is delightfully weird. I didn't want this collection to end. Absolute perfection. I will definitely read more Leah Hampton in the future. Wow. I'm impressed.

Thank you, Netgalley and Henry Holt for the digital ARC.

Release date: May 19, 2020

I"m an anthology fan and this is a nice collection with a nice variety of stories. Very interesting or compelling characters in each story written in a simple and effective style. Some of these will probably stick with readers for a while. I look forward to her next book.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

A solid collection of short stories expressly written with hints of dark perseverance. The simplicity of each storyline is the ironic brilliance of the collection’s depth. Leah Hampton writes of the true human condition through an entourage of wildly expressive, yet simplistic characters. Hampton holds the reader captive with a kaleidoscope of oddly perceptive tales. The set was creative and a joy to read.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC of #Fckface which was read and reviewed voluntarily.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good collection of short stories that I enjoyed very much. Will recommend the book to others.

Really enjoyed this collection of short stories for the most part. As with any collection of short stories there may be one or two that don't really do it for you, I think that is expected.

Dark, dank, and enveloping.