Chemistry and Other Stories

Ron Rash's short stories have a fullness and heft that seems incredibly rare in short stories. With most collections, I can enjoy all of the stories, but still move from one to the next without feeling like I need to take a breath in between; Rash's stories, though, so often carry the weight of novels. Each one is a full world unto itself, so that you want to pause after reading even the short ones and consider the characters/world you've just been allowed to fall into.

And beyond the undoubted reality of the Appalachia portrayed in these stories, there's a gorgeousness to the prose that can't be denied. It's worth sinking into even as it stuns with simple truth.

I don't have favorites in this collection--so many of the stories are worth show more not just reading, but re-reading. I'd absolutely recommend it; this is the best of what short story collections should be. show less

I love Ron Rash's writing. It is beautiful in description, lyrical, and in many ways poetic. The stories in this book are good stories, but also sad stories. I'm not looking for a book of fluff, just some hope thrown into some of the stories.

Great set of short stories and I don't like to read short stories, but Ron Rash is such a great writer, I will read a collection anytime I find one. Best line "varying degress of misfortune"

Ron Rash's collection of stories from Appalachia is a worthy addition to what one critic has called "the literature of place." Some of these stories are a little, dare I say it, obvious (for example, in "Honesty," Rash overplays his hand with characters that might as well be named Self-Doubt, Desperation, and Arrogance, a la John Bunyan) but when they aren't, they hit home. Rash's O. Henry Award-winning story "Speckled Trout" appears in this volume --it's stunningly rendered and every bit as powerful on repeated readings as it was on the first.

This collection contains 13 short stories with 1 being longer than the others. They all contain fantastic characters in a multitude of different situations, which are all settled in the South. Ron Rash has a very distinctive style and one that captivated me every time. Even though my personal ratings of the individual stories do not average a 4.5 (chalking that up to my lack of experience in reading and rating short stories), I think this collection on a whole is terrific and it deserves a place on my Best Reads of 2009 list. (4.5/5)

Every story in this collection is set in rural Appalachia, focusing on the people and ways of living in the area. I loved each and every story, especially "Blackberries in June"

These stories are about hard people in hard times. Rash has a distinct voice that I think as of right now is the loudest and best of all southern fiction writers. READ this book.

I'm not a short story fan, but really like the writing of Ron Rash. Some of these were thought provoking, some ok. At least one has been spun out into a full length novel (now a movie.)