Serena

By: Ron Rash

Narrated by: Phil Gigante

Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton arrive in the North Carolina mountains to create a timber empire, vowing to let no one stand in their way, especially those newly rallying around Teddy Roosevelt's nascent environmental movement.

Yet when Serena begins to suspect that George's allegiances may lie elsewhere, she unleashes her full fury on the young mountain woman who bore his illegitimate child the year before. Rash's masterful balance of violence and beauty yields a powerfully riveting story that, at its core, tells of love both honored and betrayed.

©2008 Ron Rash (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Ron Rash = the real deal

Don't be swayed by the poppycock reviews above. Ron Rash writes with a clean, simple, and immersive style similar to McCarthy or Proulx. The narrator of the book does an adequate job of distinguishing between characters, and though he may not nail the accents Rash's dialogue is true to the language of the region. Being a native of the borderlands between Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina it is thrilling to read a skilled author write about my region with both accuracy and admiration.
Rash's fiction has been slept on for far too long, and his work is gaining well-deserved national attention. Academically his work has been respected for several years now, and his novel One Foot in Eden is now required reading for incoming freshman at the University of South Carolina.

A dark and troubling tale

The setting and beauty described during the action kept my attention. I'm familiar with the areas and parks involved in the story. It always adds to my imagery when action takes place in areas where I've visited and spent time. There's almost no town mentioned in this book I have not been to. It was difficult however to imagine how two people got away so easily with their level of murder!
The reader did very well at dialect but somehow Serena's voice just didn't sound like a woman who was in charge. He read her voice as "whining" which was detracting. I guess it's hard for a man to sound like a woman.

Boring story line.

Just not to my liking. Too much detail in describing tools and not enough definition of what was being described.

Great book! Narrator ok.

I loved the story but didn't care for the narrator's female voices. However he wasn't terrible. Definitely worth a listen!

Not to my taste

Would you try another book from Ron Rash and/or Phil Gigante?

I thought the narrator did fairly well switching between the different accents. The pacing and narration were fine.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I would not want to see this book, nor would I read it/listen to it again.

Any additional comments?

This was our book club's selection, based on the recommendation of a friend who thought this Ron Rash's finest. The story begins with a disembowelment and, to my mind, did not improve much. I kept waiting for additional information about the title character's past, but was disappointed. This seems like a lost opportunity for character and story development.

Great book!

This book was worth the purchase. The ending kept me on the edge of my seat!
Loved the narration and performance.

An alright book...slow paced.

It was mostly alright but very slow paced and predictable by the end. I still enjoyed it but wish there was some more excitement.

A WELL DESERVED 5+ STARS!

I listened to this audiobook several years ago, and enjoyed it just as much then as I did now. I think Ron Rash is a fine writer, and this story is superb. Very well done. Great kudos to the narrator who does an awesome job as well. I LOVED IT!!

NOTE: It occurs to me that this is actually a slow burn horror story about two utterly ruthless people who go after what they want, leaving a trail of devastating destruction behind them. Do they get it in the end? You’ll have to listen to find out!! ☺️

Not Sure How I Feel About It

It is hard to pin down why I didn't like the book. I think the narrator dis a good job with most of the voices but the I think his main reading voice was just a little too monotone for me. I get that the book is supposed to be in a somber tone but a little more inflection could have gone a long way. It could have just been the story though. I felt like I missed quite a bit of story that went on between the three employees but it was hard for me to keep track of all the people the talked about. I am glad I finished though.

Very Different from Screen Adaptation

I first heard of Serena after reading a review of the movie, which said the book was fantastic, which it was. If you've seen the movie, disregard all previous thoughts because the book is phenomenally better. The characters stay true to form throughout and, despite their wickedness, still manage to surprise the reader with how low they are willing to go to get what they want.