The Rosewood Casket

by Sharyn McCrumb

Book Overview

"Eloquent, lyrical, and richly textured . . . There is no one quite like McCrumb] among present-day writers. No one better either." --San Diego Union-Tribune With a career spanning decades, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451184718
• ISBN13: 9780451184719
• Release Date: April 1997
• Publisher: Signet Book
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 4.1" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

What's Rosewood?

That's just one thing you will learn from this book. Whether you are from the Appalachains or visit there you will be transported in Sharyn McCrumb's books. She not only accurately decribes the land but the people and culture as well.

Sharyn wrote it

If Sharyn McCrumb wrote the book you know it will be great. She is a wonderful author and all of her books are so good. She makes you feel like you are there and that you know the people that you are reading about. From the first to the last page it's got you. Do read this wonderful book. The father has saved Rosewood so that when he dies his sons will built him a casket. The sons all live in different places and have not seen each other for a while but they all come back to do this for their father. Excellent book

Beautifully written and with literary merit.....

I came across the Rosewood Casket in one of my bookshelves, a first edition I had no memory of buying. Most often drawn to British writers (or Americans who "write British"), I was quickly drawn not only into Sharyn McCrumb's story, but her style and clear indication that she knows English and how to use it to great advantage. She is unpretentious and even her other-worldly concerns are non-intrusive and never offensive. She is a very gifted writer, indeed. I'd regret that I hadn't read her before, but now I get to read EVERYTHING. Now that I've finished the Rosewood Casket, I handed it to my husband, Allan Eckert. We sat across from her last year at the Kentucky Book Fair and I enjoyed her delightful personality very much. Now I can enjoy her wonderful books.

McCrumb delivers another winner!

As I read this novel, the old song "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" ran through my mind. The endless circle is the losing of the land. The prehistoric animals of iceage Appalachia lose the land to the Cherokees, who lose the land to the settlers, and their descendants lose the land to the real estate speculators. When Randall Stargill's four sons gather on the family farm to build their father's coffin, they embody the latest generation to face the quandry of losing the land. This is a story of cultural politics as much as of family dynamics. McCrumb lets you feel the love of the mountains while suffering the pain of losing them.

What A Great Author!

I have read four of Sharyn McCrumb's books now, including The Rosewood Casket, and have loved each and every one of them! She has a knack for bringing the reader inside the story and making you feel as though you were there. Her descriptions of the Appalacian mountain area make you feel as though you are there, able to see the breathtaking views described in her books. I also admire the way she tell several different stories all during the book and brings everything and everyone together, rather than confusing the reader, as some authors do. She is truly a master at what she does. I hope she continues her art in the same fashion for many years to come. I look forward to reading the other books she has already published.