Gap Creek

Gap Creek: The Story of a Marriage
By Robert Morgan

I’ve got two books to post for today because I had a two and a half hour train trip yesterday, so I read one book on the way there and another on the way home. The books were chosen on the basis of being small enough to fit both into my purse and still leave room for lip gloss and sunglasses.

Although I never read a book simply because it’s an Oprah book club selection, I’ve always really enjoyed all of the books she recommends. When I see the Oprah symbol on the front cover I think of it as a guarantee that the book won’t suck. I have to say that Gap Creek is the first Oprah-endorsed book that I have really not liked. First off, I had an uncanny sense while reading this book that I’d already read it, although I know that I haven’t. I think it just really reminded me of Jewel, by Bret Lott (another Oprah book, incidentally), which I read fairly recently.

I found Morgan’s use of dialect when writing from the first-person perspective of Julie, the protagonist, to be distracting and tiresome. The book is titled Gap Creek: The Story of a Marriage, which I don’t really think is an apt title because it implies that the relationship between Julie and her husband is the focus of the book. In reality, Julie is the focus of the book, although her husband is a significant character. Most of the other characters in the book are really despicable, including Hank, Julie’s husband. Morgan tried to end the book on a hopeful note, but I just didn’t buy it. He’d painted such a bleak picture of Julie and Hank’s life together that it seemed unlikely that anything would ever change between them.

What Gap Creek lacked in character development it made up for in its detailed description of the hardships of life in the late 1800’s in rural America. Each obstacle or struggle seemed to be resolved in the same way – Julie would display amazing courage, strength and endurance and she would overcome. It got a bit old for me.