The Land Breakers (NYRB Classics)

The storyline of “The Land Breakers” depicts the struggles that faced settlers during the late 18th century attempting to tame the wild, desolate land of North Carolina. Mr. Ehle portrays the day to day challenges and tasks that filled the lives of such settlers; the momentous encounters and confrontations they had with clearing trees for planting crops and building shelters, and the wild wolves and bears that encircled them with their real and often ghostly predatory presence.Added to that is the challenges of fitting into a social order, finding a suitable partner to share the labors of life with and find in their hopes and desires a sense of destiny and meaning, that is distilled from acts of faith and love. And filled with offspring to aid and carry on their need to break the land and make it their own.Ehle has a sure hand when depicting daily labors and tasks of the settlers; these well crafted details and observations make up most of the storyline. But it’s when Ehle wanders off from that storytelling into more meditative stretches that he is at his best. Certainly one learns from all the nuts and bolts of a narrative that portrays a life filled with constant struggles to survive. But to escape that now and then with moments of wonder, meditation, and reflective accounting at times lifts their lives up and shelters them from the storms and tribulations that entomb them, offering solace and perspective to even the most hungry and broken spirits in a land that not only needs to be broken, but can often end up doing the breaking.

It took me a while to really get into this book. I almost gave up on it. But after a while, I became very interested and enjoyed the rest of it. I found it to be well written with few, if any, grammatical or spelling errors, which means a lot to me. It was a long book but I was glad it was after I got into it. It was not predictable at all, even until the end. Even though it was fiction, I am sure that there were similar stories in some parts of the country during the settlement years. I won't go into the story as the description covers that but I did enjoy the book.

So authentic and well written. The characters have weight and value.I learned much from this book and felt closer to my ancestors for it.It is an unusual tale and kept my interest to the end.

I love stories about people growing all their food and making everything they own with their own ingenuity and determination. Berries in a wooden trough with honey to make vinegar. Wooden pegs instead of nails. Clay and rock chimneys. The necessary hard work but always sharing and neighbourly support they give each other to survive the loneliness and plain heartache of staying alive.All the characters are fully realized, their fears and dreams clearly felt. Crazy bear encounters. Wolf packs and panther paws clawing the roof.Adventure. Grief. Love. Life with unending work but still the awesome beauty of wild untamed land and occasionally some peace.I loved it.

A fine book with great characters and very interesting details into life in the 1780s in the mountains of North Carolina. Unfortunately there is a very large and jumbled cast of characters, and the book could have been at least 50 pages shorter. There’s some real excitement and often fine language, but the last 1/3, and some other sections were tediously long. As time went on I found myself skipping passages and ultimately couldn’t wait for it to end. Good read but really needs editing.

Somehow the writing reminds me of The Riders of The Purple Sage. Great characters in a compelling story. Would love to have seen it move a bit further ...

Book is as described. Excellent author. Seller shipped quickly. Book is in excellent condition.

This is a writer that deserves more popularity and readership then he has. His books are all accessible, original, funny, lyrical and achingly true. Historical fiction at its best. He never once glamorizes his subject or gives it a Hollywood treatment. These are real people struggling with real problems and find experiences and solutions that will tug at your heart long after you close the book. This is the first in the series of seven or eight books about several families that settled in the Appalachians in North Carolina. The Land Breakers occurs during the Revolutionary war. The second novel, the Journey of August King, occurs in 1810 or so and is the most unusual and complicated treatment of slavery and it's impact on the slaves, the Masters and those who stood by, that I have ever seen. The Time of Drums, a Civil War novel and The Road, about the building of the railroad through the mountains, are both fascinating and over whelming. The other novels in the series are Lion on the Hearth, the Winter People, Last One Home, and (possibly) The Widow's Trial. I have not read these yet but Amjust beginning Lion/hearth.

emjoyed

Superb, very stressful to read - imagine what it was like to live it !