ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603250141
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY CAMILLE WRIGHT MILLER
THE SHARPSHOOTER BLUES. By Lewis Nordan. Algonquin. Price not given.
In the bayou where Mr. Raney's island fish camp was located, "turkey buzzards floated above the swamp like prayers and admired their own reflections in the water. Blue herons and cranes and snowy egrets stood on long legs and ate snakes and minnows in the shallows."
This was home to Mr. Raney and his son, Hydro, so named for his large head. They were part of a slow-as-molasses community where all were accepted, perhaps more because of personal problems than in spite of them. Such is the way of the Deep South. There's right and there's wrong, and there's being human.
Hydro's killing of the young couple who attempted to rape and rob him as he tended store would likely have been accepted, but, however limited his mental capacities, Hydro understood the result of his actions. Unable to cope, he eased into the swampy water and drowned, only to become a folk hero.
Nordan brings community, parental love and deep Southern slowness to life. He knows his people and their voices. The novel's pace slows the world and makes bayou living vivid enough to evoke the smell of the swamps.
Camille Wright Miller is a sociologist and organizational consultant based in Lexington.
LENGTH: Short : 34 linesby CNB