Chemistry and Other Stories

This 2007 collection features 13 stories, including O. Henry Prize-winner “Speckled Trout” and “Pemberton’s Bride,” which was later expanded into the novel Serena.


Fishing, hunting, faith, working the land – these are among the most stock elements of Southern writing, and it takes a certain virtuosity to make them seem bold and engaging. An established poet, Ron Rash has just that virtuosity and puts it to good use in this collection. In the title story, a boy finds horrors at the bottom of a lake when tries to emulate his father, who took up diving (and religious fervor) to cope with a mental illness. “Blackberries in June” deromanticizes the bedrock values of hard work and family by showing how a young couple’s relatively modest ambitions are crushed by obligation and misfortune.


As a self-professed fan of “gut-punch” fiction, the author’s penchant for uncompromising endings sits well with me. But for those who expect their fiction to offer at least a sliver of light at the end of the tunnel, “Deep Gap” shows how a father and a son are able to reconcile after the former loses everything. Rash’s fiction often ventures into strange territory – a woman encourages her husband to go on a date so he can write an article about the experience, a country woman hires a surveyor so she can accurately fill out her murdered son’s death certificate, etc. – but it never feels inauthentic.


These stories are not for the faint of heart, and some may feel that Rash incorporates a monotonous level of tragedy. But if ever there is a book that does the Appalachians right, this is it.


8.5/10