This Rock

August 27, 2001
Morgan follows up his bestselling Gap Creek
with another tale of the Carolina wilderness in the 1920s. Muir Powell is three years younger than his brother, Moody, but the two are light years apart in temperament and attitude. Muir is his widowed mother Ginny's clear favorite, a position he earns by being unselfishly supportive of the family's needs. A callow youth who dreams of building, he tries his hand at preaching, trapping and a variety of other occupations, only to fail miserably and return home in frustrated disgrace every time. Moody, who's wild and undisciplined, hardly works at all and spends his time in the company of bootleggers and prostitutes. Jealous of Muir's favored position in the household, he derides his younger brother's efforts to find his way and support the family. Told in a gentle, flowing prose that shifts unevenly between Muir's and Ginny's points of view, the novel maps out life in a remote, tradition-bound region. Underscoring all is the family's fundamentalist religion and their devotion to old-fashioned family values. Muir's capricious decision to build a church on the family land forces matters to a crisis that tests the family's faith and commitment to one another, and in the final chapters, Muir's discovery of his true calling sustains and validates their belief in the strength of love and the ties that bind. Although the novel suffers from overdetailing, episodic pacing and seemingly pointless anecdotal tangents that leave many loose ends dangling in the mountain breeze, it's an entirely pleasant read and a testimony to the power of faith and integrity in the face of life's severest hardships. (Sept. 28)Forecast:It's unlikely that sales of Morgan's latest will match
Gap Creek totals—
Gap Creek was an Oprah selection and an international bestseller—but
This Rock is in much the same vein, so new and old fans should be satisfied.

November 5, 2001
This coming-of-age tale is rather like a Cain and Abel saga, set in the Carolinas in the early '20s. Ginny, a widow, raises her children on prayer and homily. Moody, her older son, is a lazy, cynical bad boy who grows into a whoring, alcoholic bootlegger. His brother, Muir, in contrast, is self-flagellating and guilt-ridden. He bumps his way down life's river, but his faith always seems to lead him to salvation. Morgan, author of last year's Gap Creek
(an Oprah selection), fleshes out this family's story in a predictable but satisfying manner. While his tale develops with mounting drama, the production of this version does not do it justice. Alexander has the difficult job of reading the passive mother's dialogue; she often sounds like she's on tranquilizers. And Clotworthy tries hard for feeling, but gets bogged down in reading long, overly detailed descriptions with little connection to the narrative. Thus, the audio version disappoints, depriving listeners of the best of Morgan's sensitive work. Based on the Algonquin Books hardcover (Forecasts, Aug. 27).