Book Review and Giveaway: The Night Train By Clyde Edgerton

The Night Train By Clyde Edgerton

Product Details:

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (July 25, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316117595
• ISBN-13: 978-0316117593

Usually, I'll post a description of the book provided from the publisher, but in this case, I think it's truly best if Mr. Edgerton describe his book for you...(or rather ya'll):

The Night Train Book Trailer - Clyde Edgerton from Mark Teachey on Vimeo.

About the Author: (from Goodreads)

Clyde Edgerton is widely considered one of the premier novelists working in the Southern tradition today, often compared with such masters as Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor.

Although most of his books deal with adult concerns--marriage, aging, birth and death--Edgerton's work is most profoundly about family. In books such as Raney, Walking Across Egypt, The Floatplane Notebooks, and Killer Diller, Edgerton explores the dimensions of family life, using an endearing (if eccentric) cast of characters. "Edgerton's characters," writes Mary Lystad in Twentieth-Century Young Adult Writers, "have more faults than most, but they also have considerable virtues, and they are so likable that you want to invite them over for a cup of coffee, a piece of homemade apple pie, and a nice long chat."

Raised in the small towns of the North Carolina Piedmont, Edgerton draws heavily on the storytelling traditions of the rural south in his novels. Without the distractions of big-city life and the communications revolution of the late twentieth century, many rural Americans stayed in close touch with their relatives, and often shared stories about family members with each other for entertainment. He currently teaches creative at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where he lives with his wife, Kristina, and their children.

My Thoughts:
The Night Train is southern literature at its finest!  Full of wit and humor as well as that charming regional dialect that only a true southern writer can capture on page, Edgerton has given us a novel that reveals the  prevailing racial prejudices of the early 1960's and the music that crossed both sides of the color line.  During a time when Martin Luther King. Jr was speaking of Civil Rights, a young boy by the name of "Till" goes missing and is found dead,  and the "Greensboro Six" made their infamous lunch counter sit-in, racial tension was at it's peak.  But for Dwayne and Larry Lime, life, as well as their friendship, was all about the music.  I absolutely loved this novel and had many laugh aloud moments as well as moments of reflection.  Edgerton doesn't simply tell us about race relations in the South....he shows us in a way that appears so natural  which is the essence of a truly gifted storyteller.  His characterization is impeccable and I couldn't help but develop a fondness for Aunt Marzie...as well as the chickens!  I easily give this a Five. And as a side note...my sixteen year old son picked this up "just to have a look" and is now half way through the book!

And for the Giveaway.... 

A special thank you to Anna Balasi of Little, Brown, and Co. for giving me this opportunity to offer three copies of this novel. This is open to residents of the US and Canada only, and please, no P.O. Boxes.  To enter, simply follow my blog (new followers are always welcome) and leave a comment on this post.  I'll announce the three lucky winners on Wednesday July 6th