Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls

I absolutely loved Walls' The Glass Castle.  I also love NASCAR, which of course has its roots in moonshine running.  When I read the summary on Amazon, I thought a book written by Walls set in the Appalachians of Virginia during the Prohibition era about a girl from a family of bootleg liquor runners would be awesome.  

It was..."readable".

I wish I liked it more, but, eh.  

Sallie Kincaid is the middle child of The Duke, a local big wig.  She's a free spirit, and her stepmother Jane has her banished to a maternal aunt (Faye) when her actions injure her young half-brother Eddie.  Upon her stepmother's death from the flu several years later, she returns to The Big House a young woman. 

It is like the Kincaids are cursed: one death after another.  Some from standard deadly illnesses, but most of accidents such as drowning, a suicide, and a few gun fights.

Sallie ends up running bootleg whiskey, as her older half-sister Mary turns the county dry.  The running scenes are the only real action in the book.

The rest of the novel is one revelation about the men of The Duke's family's philandering about the county.  Sallie seems in the dark about her father, grandfather, and great-grandfather's activities, and learns she has several more siblings/cousins/aunts/etc, of multiple races.  It became somewhat annoying and stereotypical of the region.  And also the "man who is secretly (but obvious to the reader) gay in a community that could never accept such" trope.

I wish there was a lot more action on the back roads of Appalachia running 'shine than "I have a(nother) sister!" *gasp* moments.        

All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.