"The Evening Hour" by A. Carter Sickels

Cole Freeman is in his late twenties, and has spent his entire life living on his family's land in the West Virginian mountains. It is all he knows, and all he wants to know - even if he can dream of a better life for himself somewhere else. His mother ran off when he was an infant, and he was left to be raised by his snake-handling preacher of a grandfather, and his grandmother. His stuttering problem was considered a mark of the devil, so you can imagine how easy life was for him in that house. But still, he would never turn his back on his family or his land like his mother before him. He couldn't just pick up and move to the bigger city, not even for nursing school. He is tied to his family and his land in a deeply fundamental way. But the land is changing, everything is changing, all thanks to the large coal mining company removing the mountain tops above him. It would take a monumental event, an event Cole could not even imagine, to make him wake up and fully realize himself, and the world around him.

This is a different kind of coming-of-age story, as the character in question has nearly reached thirty. Maybe it isn't so much coming of age as coming to a place of self-discovery. Cole is a well-crafted character that confused me at first, as I immediately wanted to like all of him at once. But he has some dark edges, and he doesn't necessarily do the right thing, but he still tries to do the wrong thing as morally correct as he can. Yes, it is a little twisted, but you will see what I mean. His heart is definitely in the right place. He is fiercely loyal to his family. I was left wanting a little more regarding Cole and his mother, especially as the story came to its conclusion, but I think I see why the author did what he did with that story line. I must also confess that that the homophobic slurs uttered by several different characters upset me, but I have to believe that this is one more way the author is displaying the overall ignorance of this community.

Overall, I did enjoy this story. I was continually intrigued by the different characters that came into play, and the relationship Cole had with them. I am a bit of an outdoorsy person, so the descriptions of the land captured my imagination. The cataclysmic event that changes everything will continue to haunt my dreams. The mining industry and the effect it has on the people who live above the coal seams should not be ignored. The damage to the environment, as well as the damage to the already impoverished communities is unbelievable. I admit that I hadn't thought much about it before, but this book has already changed that for me. This is not the happiest of stories, but one worth reading in my humble opinion.

*****

The Evening Hour

by A. Carter Sickels

Bloomsbury USA, 2012

336 pages

Source:  Publisher for honest review

*****

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