Helpful Score: 5
Ghost on Black Mountain sucked me in like drink thru a straw. Once I got a taste of Ms. Hite's first novel I knew I would not be able to get enough . Before I realized it I had read 17 chapters (they are short) & gosh i wanted to make it last. I'd close the book in my lap and find myself right back into it three mins later. Ann Hite can write a story that makes you keep asking yourself "is this true?" Her words just flow. Her description of life on the Appalachian mountain is mesmerizing. This story of folklore spirits & hoodoo conjures up an incomparable mystery.
Nellie is young & Hobbs has taken her heart with his sweet talk. He also has taken her to Black Mountain to live. I found myself so tangled in Nellie's life & a lot of distaste for Hobbs, I thought I was on this mountain with them until the story ended. But it really has not totally ended as there is a follow up & you'll want to get in line to drink in the next chapter of life on Black Mountain.
Nellie is young & Hobbs has taken her heart with his sweet talk. He also has taken her to Black Mountain to live. I found myself so tangled in Nellie's life & a lot of distaste for Hobbs, I thought I was on this mountain with them until the story ended. But it really has not totally ended as there is a follow up & you'll want to get in line to drink in the next chapter of life on Black Mountain.
Helpful Score: 3
Much more than a ghost story, this is actually several stories interwoven throughout the history of Black Mountain. This novel is written in parts. It is told through the voices of integral characters of the story. Each voice is true to character, time, tradition and place.
We meet many of the people of Black Mountain as we learn of its secrets and history. Within the shadows of Black Mountain are many roads with unexpected twists and turns.
The book begins with Nellie, a young woman who goes against her mother to marry. Hobbs is an abusive man. As Nellie learns the secrets and depth of his abusive nature, she comes to terms with not only his past, but her future. Through Nellie we also meet many residents of Black Mountain.
Josie, Nellies mother, is the second voice telling the story. She gives her viewpoint, as a mother watching her daughter make life-altering mistakes. She tells of things that happen after Nellie leaves home for Black Mountain.
The third voice of Black Mountain is that of Shelly, born and bred there. She is an unwilling helper to Nellie, knowing more than she wants to of Black Mountain and its dark secrets. She and her family know the truth of Hobbs and his evil ways.
Part four is told by Hobbs longtime lover, Rose. She is an outsider who comes to the mountain looking for Hobbs and answers. She believes in Hobbs, knowing nothing of his deeds. She gets more than what she came for, also becoming part of Black Mountain and its secrets.
The voices that tell parts five and six are tightly woven, as mother and daughter Iona and Annie shed light on Black Mountain and its dark secretive history. Also outsiders, they are drawn to Black Mountain by circumstance. They bring the parts of the book together, completing the circle of voices and questions long unanswered.
The twists and turns of choices, consequences, and secrets run throughout this novel. Only in the end is there understanding and forgiveness, much like real life.
Ann Hite is an extraordinary storyteller. The Ghost on Black Mountain is quite a story!
We meet many of the people of Black Mountain as we learn of its secrets and history. Within the shadows of Black Mountain are many roads with unexpected twists and turns.
The book begins with Nellie, a young woman who goes against her mother to marry. Hobbs is an abusive man. As Nellie learns the secrets and depth of his abusive nature, she comes to terms with not only his past, but her future. Through Nellie we also meet many residents of Black Mountain.
Josie, Nellies mother, is the second voice telling the story. She gives her viewpoint, as a mother watching her daughter make life-altering mistakes. She tells of things that happen after Nellie leaves home for Black Mountain.
The third voice of Black Mountain is that of Shelly, born and bred there. She is an unwilling helper to Nellie, knowing more than she wants to of Black Mountain and its dark secrets. She and her family know the truth of Hobbs and his evil ways.
Part four is told by Hobbs longtime lover, Rose. She is an outsider who comes to the mountain looking for Hobbs and answers. She believes in Hobbs, knowing nothing of his deeds. She gets more than what she came for, also becoming part of Black Mountain and its secrets.
The voices that tell parts five and six are tightly woven, as mother and daughter Iona and Annie shed light on Black Mountain and its dark secretive history. Also outsiders, they are drawn to Black Mountain by circumstance. They bring the parts of the book together, completing the circle of voices and questions long unanswered.
The twists and turns of choices, consequences, and secrets run throughout this novel. Only in the end is there understanding and forgiveness, much like real life.
Ann Hite is an extraordinary storyteller. The Ghost on Black Mountain is quite a story!
Helpful Score: 2
An excellent first novel by Ann Hite. Characters spanning several generations tell their stories, each somehow affected by Hobbs Pritchard, and the twist at the end was good. I plan to read more by this author.
Helpful Score: 2
Ghost on Black Mountain is one of those stories that can stick with you for some time even after you have finished the book. Told by the point of view from 5 women whose lives are intertangled with one another because of one man and many ghosts who live up on the mountain.
Helpful Score: 1
This is such a wonderful read! It is hard to put it in a single category. There are all sorts of ghosts on this mountain, good and bad. The characters and relationships are interwoven in some surprising ways.
It is told in six parts-each from a different perspective-Nellie, Josie, Shelly, Rose, Iona and Annie. They are all connected as we experience in the unfolding over the years from pre WWII to the early 60s. It is a tale of choices, consequences, murder, family, love. Most of all it is about the bond between mothers and daughters. Well done!
It is told in six parts-each from a different perspective-Nellie, Josie, Shelly, Rose, Iona and Annie. They are all connected as we experience in the unfolding over the years from pre WWII to the early 60s. It is a tale of choices, consequences, murder, family, love. Most of all it is about the bond between mothers and daughters. Well done!
Don't miss this book!!
Hite can weave a story. I had to pace myself, as I didn't want to put the book down, but I didn't want the story to end. Characters are well fleshed and each time period believable. I have spent time in those mountains and have known her people, spot on story.
