The Night the New Jesus Fell to Earth and Other Stories from Cliffside, North Carolina by Ron Rash

The Night the New Jesus Fell to Earth and Other Stories from Cliffside, North Carolina Reviews

• 
  Melody

  Ron Rash is a master with a short story. These are connected short stories but they are each stand alone too. Cock-eyed religion and a good bit of drinking can be found in all.
• 
  Diane Barnes

  Wonderful book of 10 inter-related short stories narrated by 3 different citizens of a small town in NC. Rash really nails small town life. These stories are humorous and poignant, with a couple of them funny enough to have me snickering all day long. This was his first book, and it's easy to see why he's such a respected author today. This guy could write from the get-go. Highly recommended to any Rash fans out there, or anyone else who needs a good read.
• 
  Pat

  As a native born Western North Carolinian, these stories evoked many memories of growing up there.
  
  I laughed a lot reading these short stories.
  There was also the awareness of people escaping through education, the legacy of poverty bred by generations of families working in the mills, and the greed of the rich mill owners.
  
  “I’ve known Gerald long enough to know he is, as my granddaddy, a carpenter, used to say, half a bubble off plumb.”
  
  
• 
  Sam

  My grandfather grew up in Cliffside during the Depression. In The Night New Jesus Fell to Earth and Other Stories from Cliffside, North Carolina, Ron Rash shares tales that would have occurred a few decades later, when Grandaddy was working full-time in a mill, raising my mom and uncle with my grandmother in Kings Mountain, less than an hour from the title location.
  
  I was amused and warmed by each story's description of Western North Carolina culture in the middle to latter part of the twentieth century, a culture that largely remains the same. But it was the final piece, My Father's Cadillacs, that struck me most. Our narrator, Vincent, embarrassed by a car that evokes thoughts of funeral homes, presses his father about why he would purchase a Cadillac instead of a more humble--and normal--Pontiac or Mercury.
  
  "Because owning a Cadillac shows exactly how far I've come from that mill village where I grew up."
  
  Vincent's dad must have been about the same age as my grandfather, a man who established three material goals at a young age: 1. to own a brick home, 2. to own a Cadillac, and 3. to have a garage with an automatic door. He achieved those goals, and many immaterial goals as well, creating a loving home in which his children and eventual grandchildren were loved and nurtured.
  
  My grandfather died in December 1995, four months before I would attend my first prom. Just as Vincent's dad let him borrow his big, black Cadillac for his prom, Grandmother generously allowed me to take my girlfriend Kelsey, and our friends Paul and Cheryl, in her immaculate, white 1991 Brougham D'Elegance. I must have been as proud as Vincent was mortified, but you'll have to read My Father's Cadillacs to understand exactly what our college-bound protagonist experienced.
  
  Thank you, Ron, for your truthful, humorous, and gentle exposition of Grandaddy's homeplace.
  
  
  
  
• 
  Jim

  What a delightful set of short stories, almost every one as good as the next (which is rare for collections, I think). His characters and scenarios ring true. These are people I know or knew of. Three narrative voices are used (each getting three or four stories), all members of a small southern Appalachian town: Vincent, who recalls his younger years dealing with his parents, a mill-townie done good as an art professor at a local junior college whose peculiar ways irritate the long-suffering but loving traditionalist mother,and the trials of growing up in this close-knit community; a sarcastic female skilled carpenter making it in a man's world who loves her town and the people in it, nonetheless, whose ex is a filandering scheming dishonest car salesman; and a slightly bitter, middle-age loser dealing with impending divorce and loss of employment. There is a lot of observation of Southern types and much humor. Rash is rapidly becoming on of my favorite short-story authors. I couldn't put the volume down last night.
• 
  Olav Nilsen

  Brilliant
• 
  Steven

  Interesting to see how Rash started, but I do prefer his later stories, although these have more humor. This edition includes a forward and an introduction, and Rash also added an opening and closing frame, which wasn't part of the original. Those colored my reading. It's a linked collection with three alternating voices. None of these really jumped out at me. Reading a bit too much like a writer to settle inside the narrative. The way the stories are structured caught my attention. Worth reading again.
• 
  Lisa

  I don’t read short stories that often but this collection hung together, describing a NC small town and it’s recognizable residents. The three narrators add a fun element too. There’s humor and affection and the foibles of humanity. What more could we ask for?
• 
  Rick

  In this book, Rash’s first, you can already sense the keen observation of human behavior and shortcomings that inform his later work. But this book is lighter and funnier than much of his later work and it is fun to see this side of him, which previously came through more in his personal appearances and readings than in his stories. I have yet to find a Ron Rash book that I didn’t like and this book is no exception.
• 
  Judith

  Any Ron Rash fan will love this book. Ordinarily, I'm not interested in short stories; too short. But this was the usual "Ron Rash keep reading" kind of book. I found myself chuckling to myself and feeling sadness with the character throughout the book. It takes place in a small town in NC and in the last story you feel as if you are a neighbor of the characters who tell the story. Read and enjoy.
• 
  Kelley

  This was written by an English professor from my college :-), though I was not in his class. I listened in at a lecture regarding this book, and found him to be an amazing speaker. He read excerpts from this book and had the whole audience drawn in. Very good book and I look forward to reading it again.
• 
  JoAnn/QuAppelle

  Ron Rash is one of my favorite authors and his short stories are so well-written. I am very picky when it comes to this form of writing and would recommend his stories (and novels) wholeheartedly. Gems!
• 
  Gina

  A delightful set of inter-connected short stories narrated by three different people. The stories are humorous and yet realistic to small town life in that time. My favorite quote was in the last story about dogwoods in spring. " It makes you feel like all your dreams can still come true".
• 
  Misty

  I read this to my "Granny" when she lived with me. It was required reading for Engl. 101, and I still think of it as one of my favorite books.
• 
  Lisa

  What a great collection of stories. Laugh out loud funny, great characters and great writing.
• 
  Martha Morgan

  Very enjoyable and humorus. Loved it.
• 
  Angela

  One of my favorite Ron Rash books- short stories with a sly humor, told by 3 narrators, all set in small town Appalachia
• 
  Joe Vargo

  Great reading.
• 
  James

  In recent years, I've coupled visits to western North Carolina with reading books by some of the local authors. A couple of friends recommended I try reading Ron Rash and I eyed several of his books on a recent stop at Malaprops in Asheville. I chose this book based on some comments that it was less dark than several of his later books. The book is a set of interconnected stories with some common characters. The common thread is that they are all set in the fictitious small town of Cliffside, North Carolina.
  
  In general, I liked the book. The stories are all told in the first person, with three different narrators: Vincent, Randy and Tracy. The title story is told by Tracy, who has a matter of fact style and a sense of humor. Her ex-husband, Larry, came up with the idea to replay the crucifixion on the lawn of the local Baptist church and the new preacher in town decided to support it. As a member of the church, Tracy was willing to donate her skills as a carpenter, but Larry didn't like her proposed design and worked with a few of his buddies to build three crosses. The story goes on and we're suspecting it wouldn't go well since Larry is bigger on talk than execution. By the ending, Preacher Thompson has learned a few lessons about his congregation.
  
  The people telling the stories all know each other and collectively, it's got elements of coming of age stories for many of the characters, though they are often constrained by the limits of their small town as they learn some hard lessons about life. In another story, "Between the States," Randy tells a tale of making lots of mistakes in his life after high school, including getting married to his girlfriend Darlene, but in later stories, he's starting to find that better life he'd hoped for.
  
  The third narrator, Vincent, also finds challenges. In the story "My Father's Cadillacs," he's perplexed when his father, a college professor, trades in his Plymouth for an old Cadillac. He's quick to listen when a friend tells him it looks like an undertaker's car. Later, he has a heart to heart talk and his father talks about why he'd bought the Cadillac. Soon, his Dad gets a different Cadillac, a little better, but still a source of embarrassment for his son. Still, when it comes time for him to learn how to drive, the second Caddy is what he learns in. The story continues to evolve and Vincent eventually takes his girl friend to the prom in one of the Caddys with less than stellar results. Vincent eventually leaves town and moves to South Carolina, but the story about the Cadillacs remains part of his connection to Cliffside. This is an example of what I liked about these stories, which is how the town itself not only the physical setting, but also the backdrop to lots of stories about how these young people learned how to cope with growing up.
  
  By the end of the book, we have a sense of Cliffside and why these characters have retained an affection for the area and people of the town. Rash tells these loosely connected stories and makes us feel what it's like to grow up in this particular town, and as readers, we root for the young people who have shared these experiences with us.
  
  
• 
  Lynda

  This collection of stories are among the first Ron Rash ever published. Although his writing style has matured over the years these stories contain dry humor not found a lot in his more recent works- the basic bones of an amazing writer clearly come through.
• 
  Ellen Mays

  4.5 rounded up for the laugh-out-loud moments in these stories. Read for my author deep-dive, looking forward to more short stories. Characters in Cliffside are recognizable and believable, in all of their desires and flaws.
• 
  Ellen Bradley

  This book was insightful and often hilarious, making me laugh out loud several times. Ron Rash knows the South intimately, and his characters feel real and multi-dimensional.
• 
  Bob

  From Notes from Beyond the Pale, on the Civil War: “... perhaps at no time history had better men fought for a worse cause.”
• 
  Susan W

  An excellent collection of short stories. Very enjoyable.
• 
  Don Zabriskie

  Rash's First Story Collection
  
  This first effort of Ron Rash easily established his story telling skills and set the bar for many further stories and novels as well. Compared to Burning Bright: Stories, the other collection I first read, one can see the author's increasing depth of themes and human interaction. The good humor and fanciful introduction to Cliffside and it's inhabitants had me entertained from start to finish.
• 
  Donna

  Really good stuff. Makes me want to write my family stories.