Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 8, 1994                   TAG: 9405010154
SECTION: HORIZON                    PAGE: D-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Reviewed by KENNETH LOCKE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`RIPSHIN' IS A FOND LOOK BACK INTO VIRGINIA'S MOUNTAIN PAST

Not many more novels will be written by authors who claim a first hand knowledge of mountain life in southwestern Virginia prior to the Great Depression. Fewer still will be written by authors who claim to have known Sherwood Anderson and to have worked for a circuit riding doctor.

If for no other reason, "Ripshin" is worth a peek.

Fortunately, there are plenty of other reasons to read this book. Author Kemp Battle Nye was 12 years old and working for the local doctor when Sherwood Anderson came to live in Troutdale in southwestern Virginia. As he drove the doctor's horse and buggy into the more remote rural areas, he listened as Anderson and the doctor told stories about the local "mountain people." Many of those stories have found their way into this lively recounting of life in what is now the Jefferson National Forest during the presidency of Teddy Roosevelt and the exploitation of the land by Northern timber companies.

The characters are lively, believable folks; drawn true to their mountain ways and accents. But perhaps more interesting than the characters are the events and scenes of rural mountain life Nye describes: revivals, tobacco curing, funerals, shot-gun weddings, Klan activity, chain gangs, gossipy old men drinking corn liquor out of a clay jug at the general store, blood feuds, early union activity against the timber barons, and the general sense of confusion and loss felt by a small town taken over by powerful commercial interests.

These descriptions of the raw, earthy, impoverished and yet immensely rich lives lived by so many of our grandfathers and great grandfathers are the real reason to read this book, and the reader will not be dissappointed.

A word about the style. At first it may remind you of watching a classic television show or an old Humphry Bogart movie; overly dramatic with a rhythm and pace all its own. But once you have read enough to "get into" the rhythm you will find yourself captivated by it. Enjoy.

- Kenneth Locke is a Radford pastor.