Courtesy Barnesandnoble.com
Nearing the end of 2014, I began to hear buzz about Chris Scotton’s debut novel “The Secret Wisdom of the Earth.” When I realized that he was doing a reading at Square Books in early January, I decided to attend. The novel is set in rural Kentucky with a dialogue to match, so as soon as Scotton began to read, I could tell that “Southern” wasn’t his native language. After a few lines, he actually apologized for his “mispronunciation” of the Southern vernacular.
He explained later at the reading that he wasn’t raised in the South and had only been to Kentucky a few times while backpacking in college before writing this novel. To be frank, I was skeptical — how much could Scotton, a CEO in the technology industry, write about the rural South?
When I picked up the book for myself, my fears were quickly assuaged. Set in the coal mining town of Medgar, Kentucky, the novel revolves around Kevin, a 14-year-old boy who has come with his mom to spend the summer with his maternal grandfather “Pops” after a deeply scarring home accident that killed Kevin’s little brother. It has all the right ingredients for a fantastic coming-of-age novel, but it reaches so much further.
While spending his days as Pops’s veterinary assistant, Kevin becomes fast friends with the ingenious and dirt poor Buzzy Fink – one of the novel’s most endearing characters. Buzzy introduces Kevin to the wild Appalachian landscape and takes him on all kinds of adventures. When one of Medgar’s kindest and most polarizing residents is the victim of a horrific crime, Buzzy is one of the only witnesses. Presented with the deep-rooted beliefs and complicated ties present in every small southern town, Buzzy faces an incredibly tough choice about right and wrong.
This violence is far from the only unsettling occurrence in the little town, which is also home to an incredibly destructive mining scheme run by the despicable Bubba Boyd. This practice, mountaintop removal, is killing the town’s land, residents and water. Because it is the town’s only bright spot in the bleak economic landscape, casino online fighting it is incredibly difficult. Medgar’s strong anti-mining advocate, Paul Pierce, also happens to be a closeted gay man and the victim of the crime Buzzy witnesses.
Just as this novel is not merely a coming-of-age story, it is also far more than just a meditation on right and wrong. The novel builds slowly, much like the pace of summer in a quiet town, but the last half of the novel is the best kind of page-turner. I am not usually a fan of adventure, but I was up until three in the morning concluding this at once exciting and terrifying adventure complete with bloodshed and courage.
Contrary to Scotton’s own speech at the reading, the dialogue fell naturally into the timeworn rhythm that is the southern drawl. Scotton’s prose is vivid and seamlessly turns from passages of languid dialogue and Kevin’s inner ruminations to exacting descriptions of the haunting and scarred landscapes of this mining town. The writing is beautiful without ostentation, and I found myself recalling the prose in “To Kill A Mockingbird,” as so many others have, but there are so many groundbreaking themes and voices to be found in “The Secret Wisdom” that the book is destined to become a classic in its own right.
For me, this book recalled everything I love about the South – the breathtaking landscape, the inexhaustible warmth of the people and the slow pace of life. It also allowed me to reflect upon some of the more unpleasant aspects of the South, like ignorance and discrimination. Similar to Kevin, who is telling this story looking back from middle age, I was reminded of the necessity of cherishing the best parts of Southern culture and doing my best to rectify the parts that aren’t as kind and welcoming.
