Where Trouble Sleeps (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

by Clyde Edgerton

Book Overview

A New York Times Notable Book. For his seventh novel, Clyde Edgerton returns to the setting of his own childhood--rural North Carolina at mid-twentieth century. This beguiling novel tells the story of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345426320
• ISBN13: 9780345426321
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 260 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.7" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Creates Nostalgia for a Place I've Never Visited

Clyde Edgerton's loving and funny evocations of the rural South capture the charms and strengths of the South. His old women are especially memorable: drawing their confidence from their religious faith, they don't need a shotgun to assert themselves (and, if they DO need a shotgun, they know how to use that, too). Contrary to his publicist's ads, Mr. Edgerton is not out to mock the religious hypocrisies of his characters. Yes, they are only human and don't always live up to their ideals, but it is also very clear that they draw strength from their faith. Where Trouble Sleeps is a parable of temptation and how a small town can be corrupted. Whether the corrupter is "Satan" or just a conman is up to the reader's interpretation, but it is a delightful read either way. The story manages to introduce you to what seems to be most of the population of Listre, North Carolina and keeps them fresh in your mind with a few deft strokes of the author's pen.

AN AFFECTIONATE LAMPOON OF FOIBLES AND SPOOFS

Clyde Edgerton is a first-rate story teller. With well honed wit at the ready he lampoons foibles and spoofs the self-righteous. All of this is done with affection and bemused understanding. In Raney, his debut novel, Mr. Edgerton displayed a remarkable ability to capture the Southern voice. He continues to do so, much to the delight of his ever growing readership. Where Trouble Sleeps , Mr. Edgerton's seventh story, returns to Listre, a fictional name for the author's hometown. Inhabited by unforgettable eccentrics, Listre is a North Carolina bump in the road recently bisected by a blinking red and yellow light. The eccentrics come with Edgerton territory; the light is the result of a mule-truck head-on. With Wednesday evening church meetings and 25 cent Friday night movies, Listre, in 1950, is viewed by its fundamental Baptist citizens as a good place to settle. Their spiritual guide is Preacher Crenshaw, a staunch believer who is sorely tested. First, his young son, Paul, is tempted by the devil. The boy "has misused his sex....in ways that do not respect his body." A pious yet practical man, Preacher Crenshaw leads Paul in prayers of repentance, then orders, "Now son, stand up, pull down your pants and turn around." Next, his devout secretary, Mrs. Claude T. Clark, who has sprained her ankle, takes up residence in the church office, where she over medicates, thanks God for all His blessings, including the Milky Way, and is visited by Jesus, who needs a little money for "a fruit pie and Pepsi." These vexations are nothing compared to the specter of lust aroused in Preacher Crenshaw by teenaged Cheryl Daniels. When he prays for release from this temptation, an unresponsive deity does not shake his faith: "He'd not felt an answer from God in the middle of the night, but he expected one the next morning." Listre is a God-fearing town and prayer will prevail. This crossroads community is seen differently by Jack Umstead who arrives in a stolen Buick Eight. To him, "Whole place looked settled, ripe, timid, kind of stupid. Just right." Deciding to stay for a few days, Jack begins to ingratiate himself with the townspeople, hoping to discover where money might be hidden. Sitting on a bench outside the gas station called "Train's Place," Jack hears of the Blaine sisters, proprietors of a chicken and ice store. Frightened by thunder storms, the aging spinsters flee their store during heavy rains to seek safety with their married sister. That's an ideal set-up for this mustachioed conman. As he waits for dark clouds to gather, Jack becomes acquainted with others. He seduces the naive Cheryl, and is attracted to Alease Toomey, 6-year-old Stephen's mother. At her house, in addition to the asthmatic spoiled Stephen, he finds drunk Uncle Raleigh, a World War I veteran, who tears a medicine chest off the wall while battling a bath. Mr. Edgerton's smooth segues from one narrator to another enrich his st

An excellent novel!

Although I'm only an 11-year old, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I bought it at a small book store in South Carolina for the car trip back. One thing I didn't understand was where Edgerton just wrote about random things happening in Listre.

No Trouble To Enjoy This Book

This is a slim little novel that can be read in no time at all, but Clyde Edgerton's Where Trouble Sleeps is big-time enjoyable. Skeptics might note three strikes against this story: 1--it's set in the 1950's; 2--it takes place in a one-blinker-light town; 3--its characters are Southern to the core. Here's how Edgerton disarms these doubter's objections: 1--there's not a hint of nostalgia in his 1950's; 2--fascinating stuff happens in his little town, and 3--he writes dialog that sticks in your mind like kudzu on a pine tree. Readers who accidentally stumble upon this book have a treat in store because there are six previous books by Edgerton to enjoy.

Clyde Edgerton's newest novel is like a fresh breeze.

Where Trouble Sleeps carries on the wonderful southernness of Walking Across Egypt and Raney. He has the ability to create female characters better than any other male author living. I had to laugh when little Stephen Toomey was running the southern Baptist litany of deadly sins through his young, unquestioning mind. There are so many thoughtful dichotomies and ironies, yet, I chose to read this book at face value--which is funny, funny, funny. Mr. Edgerton must have been sitting in on some of my family's reunions.