If the Creek Don't Rise

Seventeen-year-old Sadie Blue certainly isn’t the first girl in the hollers of Baines Creek to marry too young to a man who only knows how to use his fists, but when Roy Tupkin beats her so badly she loses her baby, she decides it’s the last damn time it’ll happen to her.
This richly layered story is divided into parts, each from a different character’s point of view, weaving together the secrets and hardships of a North Carolina mountain town in the 1970s and the people who inhabit it.
An excellent character study with dialect true to the hills, I loved the authenticity but wasn’t bowled over by the sometimes flowery writing that romanticized the stereotypes (no matter how accurate) of Appalachia.

A 1970s Appalachian mountain town is brought to life through the alternating first-person voices of Leah Weiss’ characters. Several different people speak about the happenings in Baines Creek, North Carolina, though the common thread throughout most of the book is Sadie Blue, a pregnant teenage bride in an abusive marriage.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I thought the writing was beautiful, and I especially enjoyed the folksy dialect of the characters. The lives of Baines Creek’s locals are hard and heartbreaking, and it was easy to empathize with them. What I didn’t like was the incomplete feeling I have after finishing. We’re introduced to several characters whose stories are left up in the air. Even with Sadie Blue’s show more story, there wasn’t a strong, cohesive plot linking everything together.

IF THE CREEK DON’T RISE is Leah Weiss’ debut novel, and she already has a talent for drawing readers in with her intriguing characterizations. Looking forward to seeing where she goes next.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. show less

This story is set in 1970 in Baines Creek, a fictional mountain settlement in Appalachia. This is a place of “catastrophic poverty,” an isolated community, as newcomer Kate Shaw observes: “a parallel existence, backward from the civilized world that has morphed into the modern day, leaving these people behind.”

Kate has come at the request of Preacher Eli Perkins, who is seeking a teacher for Baines Creek. Many in the community (not just the children) cannot read or write. Kate leaves her relatively comfortable life in Asheville because she was “looking for a place to matter.” She finds it in this troubled community.

She is greeted upon her arrival by two of the residents who typify many in Baines Creek. One is Sadie Blue, show more ignorant but good-hearted, and as the story begins, newly married to Roy Tupkin, who beats her almost every day, for no reason she can discern: “I figure Roy don’t need a reason no more.”

The other is Prudence Perkins, Preacher Eli’s sister, bitter and addled with hate, resentment, and jealousy. Prudence finds anyone else's happiness anathema to her, and does what she can to ruin it.

Some of the good women of the town try to look after Sadie, knowing she is in danger by being with Roy. Sadie's gran, Gladys, won't help: Gladys had a husband who beat her, and can't bear seeing a reminder of that with Sadie. Gran’s best friend Marris was lucky in her own marriage, but fears both for Sadie and Gladys. She tries to get Gladys to understand her rage at Sadie.

Sadie finds occasional refuge at Kate’s cottage, where Kate, along with her neighbor Birdie, “midwife, medicine woman, and storywriter for these parts,” help to care for Sadie after she is beaten.

Tensions mount as the beatings increase in frequency, and as Prudence decides to get rid of Kate. Prudence is incensed because her brother Eli likes talking to Kate, a situation which threatens to take his attention away from her. There is also a girl missing from a neighboring area, who, it was rumored, was the latest obsession of Roy Tupkin. Is she even still alive?

Meanwhile, after two and half months being legally wedded to Roy, Sadie vows that “Roy beat up on me for the last time and don’t even know it.” Roy and his best friend Billy go hunting, and while they are gone, Sadie contemplates spiking his private stash of moonshine with poison. She doesn’t like the idea of killing someone, and prays:

“Sweet Jesus, help me. I promise to be good after this. All I want is to not get beat up. Find my special life. Life up to my potential. Read by myself. Kill Roy Tupkin.” She tells her cat “We won’t live scared. Won’t watch for the kick of that man’s boot. . . . Oh, merciful Lord, please make my plan work.”

But events turned out much differently than Sadie anticipated. And now she has to make a choice.

Evaluation: A book about poverty, despair, and women stuck in marriages in which they get beaten regularly isn’t exactly a happy experience, but this is a good story, and the ending is both surprising and rewarding. show less

If the Creek Don’t Rise by Leah Weiss is a 2017 Sourcebooks Landmark publication.

Outstanding novel of feminine strength, southern grit, and escape-

I knew this book might be difficult, that some passages would be painful, but, I also couldn’t escape the feeling this book was important, powerful, and not to be missed.

What I never expected from this novel, though, was the atmosphere. I was taken completely off guard by the author’s writing and the presentation, which gives the story a Faulkner-like Southern Gothic undertone, something that always appeals to me.

The novel is set high up in the Appalachian Mountains, in the 1970’s, and is centered around a young pregnant woman named Sadie Blue, who after only two weeks of marriage show more as discovered her husband, Roy, is the devil incarnate.

As Sadie struggles to fight her way out of her dire circumstances, the novel goes on to feature the voices of other residents in this extremely small, impoverished community.

Potent characters such as Sadie’s grandmother, Gladys, and the new teacher, Kate, tell their own story, all of them interconnecting to the current situation with Sadie, and the disappearance of a stripper named Darlene who may have been involved with Sadie’s husband.

Each voice heard is a short story or vignette, of its own, which rounds out and deepens the impressions of the time frame, and the mindset of the folks in this harsh, isolated land. Each personality that emerged gave me a fresh look at how limited these people and their recourses were.

There is a mystery to solve, conflicts to overcome, but overall, this is a story that highlights the inner strength these characters, especially the women, manifested under extreme duress, as well as the juxtapositions of the character’s personalities- such as Marris/ Prudence. Morris is a shining light, as opposed to Prudence’s bitterness and to some extent, Gladys’s saltiness.

Kate is smart, and makes an immediate impact, is very bold and helpful, but her lack of Appalachian savvy could come back to haunt her if she isn’t given some prudent advice, perhaps from Birdie’s book of truths.

Some storylines float around with no real follow-up, but serve to give us insight into the community, the dialect and vernacular, various conflicted emotions and circumstances, as well as highlighting the obvious poverty, and lack of basic education, which can keep people trapped in a vicious cycle or force them to take drastic measures, in the name of self – preservation, or escape.

There is much to ponder within the pages of this novel, due to all those vivid characterizations and descriptions which created a powerful, intense drama, steeped in country traditions and lovely, but heartbreaking poignancy.

The conclusion was slightly abrupt, but packs a hefty punch, which left me slack jawed and stunned, at first, but ultimately, I must confess, I loved it.

Overall, the novel is a nice piece of rich southern literature. It’s Loretta Lynn soundtrack provides a nice, and appropriate backdrop to the harsh, lush darkness of the tale, with it’s lacing of black humor sprinkled in here and there, which pays homage to the land, to the people, and to a genre of fiction that is all too rare these days.

This is quite an impressive debut, which honored and respected the time and place, and vividly created unforgettable characters who will remain in my mind and heart for a long time to come.

5 stars show less

Have you ever read a book, seen a movie, or watched a play that made you shift in your seat because what you were reading, seeing, hearing made you so uncomfortable you couldn’t keep your body still? Leah Weiss’ book IF the Creek Don’t Rise had that effect on me. This book was horrifying in its simple descriptions of how cruel men can be to women, women can be to other women, women can be to outsiders. It was also uplifting in its descriptions of those that see the destruction, hurt, and pain and try to heal, cure and protect.

“It’s the same tired story these hills hear a million times.” Written in the vernacular of Baines Creek, a mountain town in Appalachia, the story is told from the viewpoints of all the major characters. show more I fell in love with Sadie Blue, Marris Jones, Birdie Rocas and Kate Shaw. I found it disturbing that I could feel such extreme antipathy toward Roy Tupkin, Billy Barnhill and Prudence Perkins. The author states in her notes; “No detail was too small to bring authenticity to Baines Creek residents in 1970”. Those details made the story live for me and evinced strong emotions. Great writing, fabulous ending.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an ARC. show less

4.5 stars.

If the Creek Don't Rise by Leah Weiss is a gritty yet incredibly poignant character study of Appalachian life. With most of chapters written from different characters' points of view, this debut novel offers an in-depth peek into the various people living in the fictional town of Baines Creek, NC.

The starting point of the story is pregnant Sadie Blue and her brand-new marriage to Roy Tupkin. Taken in by the charm that belies his true nature, Sadie discovers the violent truth about her husband right away as he takes his frustrations out on her with shocking brutality. Her Granny Gladys Hicks offers no help other than a temporary place to stay but Sadie does find warmth and compassion with her Granny's neighbor and friend Marris show more Jones. Hope for her future arrives with outsider Kate Shaw, the town's new teacher and Sadie eagerly accepts the newcomer's offer to teach her to read.

The fictional town of Baines Creek serves as a character in the story as well as the novel's setting. These small, rural towns tend to be extremely insular where everyone knows each other's business and gossip abounds. Despite this knowledge about both the good and bad things that are occuring in their neighbor's lives, the prevailing attitude tends to be more of a live and let live as friends and family turn a blind eye to abuse and criminal activity. The perfect example of this is Sadie's situation with Roy. There is not a single person in Baines Creek who is unaware he is beating her but, with very few exceptions, no one steps in to help her. Yet if an outsider tries to intervene, the townspeople immediately close ranks in order to protect the person under threat. They are also quick to rally around one another when disaster strikes.

There is also an underlying sense of inevitability and hopelessness within families. This is certainly the case with Sadie's Granny Gladys. She has firsthand experience with her granddaughter's situation, yet she never extends her a helping hand. When Gladys is confronted with Sadie's bruises and beaten down countenance, there is a pervasive sense of "you've made your bed and now you must lie in it". Gladys remains passive and without empathy for Sadie's plight as she fails to even bring up Roy's abusive treatment of her pregnant granddaughter.

For much of the novel, readers have no idea when the story is taking place. This omission feels deliberate since an exact time period is somewhat irrelevant due to the fact time tends to stand still in rural or isolated areas such as Baines Creek. A few clues are dropped as the story unfolds that are helpful in narrowing down an approximate year but this sense of timelessness remains even after the specific time frame is eventually revealed.

If the Creek Don't Rise is a heartbreaking yet occasionally uplifting debut from Leah Weiss . This deeply affecting novel is a compelling and sometimes stark portrayal of Appalachian life. The story comes a somewhat abrupt but immensely satisfying conclusion and readers will revel in the healthy dose of poetic justice that is served to those who so richly deserve it. show less

Like the pieces of a patchwork quilt, Weiss uses narratives from an isolated community to wrap the reader in Appalachian culture. Although domestic violence drives many of the events of the book, this is a multi-layered story where hope and compassion are also allowed to exist. I loved the unfolding of each character's backstory and the glimpses into their needs and desires. Weiss's writing is luminous and filled with respect for her characters; in this, she stands among the long tradition of Appalachian storytellers. I'll be eagerly waiting for another novel by Weiss. This novel should find a ready audience given the continuing popularity of Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance.