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    King's Mountain
    King's Mountain
    King's Mountain
    Audiobook10 hours

    King's Mountain

    Written by Sharyn McCrumb

    Narrated by Tom Stechschulte, Rick Holmes and Julia Gibson

    3/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Sharyn McCrumb is the New York Times bestselling author of the Ballad novels, which celebrate the rich history of Appalachia. An elegant saga set against the American Revolution, King' s Mountain features John Sevier and his legendary Carolina Overmountain Men, who find themselves defending their families and farms against the troops of a haughty British major.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateSep 24, 2013
    ISBN9781501992445
    King's Mountain
    Author

    Sharyn McCrumb

    Sharyn McCrumb is the New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Ballad novels. She has received numerous honors for her work, including the Mary Frances Hobson Prize for Southern Literature, the AWA Book of the Year, and Notable Books in both The New York Times and Los Angeles Times. She was also named a Virginia Woman of History for Achievement in Literature. She lives and writes in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, fewer than one hundred miles from where her family settled in 1790.

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    Reviews for King's Mountain

    3/5

    161 ratings107 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Henry James. Reading is work is like wading through a jungle of commas and just before you can't take any more coming across something that is beautiful. Like eating chicken wings in Heaven; you’ve still got to work too damn hard for a little that is sublime.Everyone knows the story. It’s worth reading and the percentage of commas to sentence does fall after the first half.
    • 3/5
      A little novel about a dear little boy and a dear little girl, who are plagued by ghosts of of their previous caretakers, who may or may not have taken part in little perversions. The little children live in a mansion full of little rooms, run by a governess who may be a little crazy. The plot suffers from a little bit of ambiguity. I guess it's time to read a dozen critical essays on this classic. Until then, 3 - more than a little generous - stars.
    • 3/5
      This was my first Henry James story and I really enjoyed it. It was a short novel that can be characterized as a classic psychological thriller or ghost story from the 19th century. The story itself was not particularly scary, but I really enjoyed James' writing style and how he got inside the head of the main character as she starts to lose it later in the story. I will certainly read more of Henry James.
    • 4/5
      Another genre classic that I hadn't read for a long time-and this time with good reason. James' way with a convoluted sentence often makes me want to scream, and having to backtrack to work out his intended focus does not make for a smooth flow in reading experience.

      That said, there is a definite power in this tale, and it builds nicely in dread and atmosphere to a chilling conclusion. It is definitely a classic of the genre, but the movie THE INNOCENTS showed how it could have been done in a more straightforward, yet still distinctly superior, fashion, and Peter Straub's retelling in GHOST STORY is also a superior version.

      Could easily have been a 5 star tale, and saying that, I've nudged it up from 3 to 4 this time around. It could be a long, long time before I want to read it again though.
    • 3/5
      Tired of rereading Dracula” or “Frankenstein” (or “Harry Potter” or “Twilight”) each and every Halloween season? Looking for a new horror story to keep you company as you sip your steaming mug of spiced cider by the light of a menacing-looking jack-o-lantern? Have I got the perfect story for you: Henry James’s “Turn of the Screw.”Coming in at just under 100 pages, “Turn of the Screw” is a quick read, although it’s not the easiest. One thing is for sure, it’s a ghost story. Err—it might be a ghost story. Or, perhaps it chronicles the ravings of an off-her-rocker governess. But, still, it could be a ghost story … actually, that’s for you to decide.The story starts with friends telling each other scary stories one Christmas eve (yes, this story has dual holiday appeal). We are then thrust into the viewpoint of a young governess who accepts a job caring for a handsome bachelor’s orphaned niece and nephew—the nephew having just been expelled from his school for mysterious, unstated reasons.At the gothic estate, the governess encounters two ghost lovers on several occasions. Convinced that the children also sense and even interact with the ghosts, the governess begins to worry about their safety and puzzles over the ghosts’ intentions. The children unwaveringly declare that they have not seen any ghosts at all, but the governess does not believe them. She clings to them tightly for their own good.Much, much more transpires, but it’d be a shame to give away the shocking ending. This is a novella that you must read the full way through in order to fully appreciate.Read it with a friend or loved one. This story lends itself perfectly to discussion. Every reader will come up with a slightly different explanation as to who the ghosts are, what they want with the children, if the ghosts actually exist or are hallucinations of aforementioned governess, and even as to whether a dark sexual subtext explains it all.Try something different this Halloween season, you won’t regret it!
    • 3/5
      You know, it's good. I just don't like Mr. James' style. Oi! with all the goddamn commas! It's halting and unnecessary. I did, however, enjoy the story. Deep, engaging, suspenseful, everything you'd want in a ghost story. It's just his style. I can't get into it. I finally, in the last 20 pages or so, figured out how to tolerate his style: ignore the commas. It worked capitally. It was almost like reading Dickens.

      In all, I recommend this book, I just don't prefer it.
    • 3/5
      James certainly creates a haunting atmosphere, relentlessly ratcheting up the tension throughout this tale of the evil forces confronting the young governess who arrives at a large Victorian house to look after two seemingly cherubic orphans, Mile and Flora.However, at times I found James's highly stylized writing almost impenetrable (to a far great er degree than I had experienced with some of his longer works). Thomas Hardy said of James that he wrote with "a ponderously warm manner of saying nothing in infinite sentences". Well perhaps he should know!, However, on this occasion I wouldn't disagree at all. In this story James seems more concerned with showing how elaborately he could write than in delivering a flowing story.
    • 3/5
      It's time for another classic and this time it's the gothic ghost story by Henry James, The Turn of the Screw. Referred to here and there, I've always wanted to read it and find out if it's still scary by today's measures.BackgroundHenry James wrote too many novels and short stories to mention, most notably The Portrait of a Lady in 1881. Published in 1898, The Turn of the Screw has an ambiguous ending, but of course in my arrogance I believed I would finish the last page with a firm idea of what had happened and little room for any doubt. You see, I dislike ambiguous endings and I always have an opinion, so if a book requires the reader to decide the ending then I make a decision and get on with it. If the author doesn't tell me the ending of the book then I decide for myself, but in The Turn of the Screw, it wasn't as easy as all that.Plot SummaryA governess is hired to look after a young boy Miles and his younger sister Flora in a large gothic house (pictured above) after the death of their parents. The children are charming, well behaved and a pleasure to teach and look after. It comes as a shock then when the governess is notified that Miles has been expelled from boarding school, although the letter is vague regarding the reason for his expulsion. This was the most intriguing part of the novella for me and a great cause for discussion amongst academics and students alike.While this has been happening the governess has been seeing a female and male presence on the estate and begins to suspect they are ghosts and that the children are aware of their presence but won't admit it. With the help of the housekeeper, the female ghost is identified as Miss Jessel - the previous governess - and the male ghost as Quint - also a previous employee - both who mysteriously died.The governess tries to protect the children from their evil presence while Miles seems to know more than he is letting on. Late in the story, Miles says he was expelled from school for telling something to those he liked, who then told those they liked. Some argue this is evidence Miles was expelled for homosexual behaviour but discovering this hypothesis after finishing the book was such a shock that I just find it difficult to believe.I won't spoil the ending, but here are the possibilities I came up with: - Miles could have told his classmates that he killed Miss Jessel and Quint; the classmates then going on to tell their friends and so on, resulting in his expulsion. - Another possibility is that Miles could have told his friends that he was seeing ghosts; his friends could have spread the gossip, laughed and teased him, leading to his expulsion for being of unsound mind.- Miles was incredibly manipulative and his expulsion could have been related to his devious and manipulative behaviour.So, was The Turn of the Screw scary? Well, it was certainly creepy, I'll give it that much! Miles was a manipulative character and a believable one. I enjoyed the gothic evocation of place, and the conversations Miles had with the governess made me squirm. Immediately after finishing the novella (it's a short read) I went online to seek out discussions related to The Turn of the Screw and the ending in particular. I'm still not satisfied and I just wish the author had organised for the answers to be printed upside down at the back of the book.
    • 3/5
      A second chance at Henry James. This one was still pretty wordy, but it pulled you along. Are there really ghosts? Do the others see them or know? Are they evil spirits? What is it they want?

      There is a tension that runs through the whole book that ebbs and flows. There is also the thought that maybe some one is mad.

      Definitely a good ghost story.
    • 4/5
      An inexperienced young woman is hired to become the governess of two small children near the town of Bly in Victorian England. The children have no parents and it is their uncle who hires her. She is informed that she is not to contact him at all u less there is a good reason. The two children are Miles and Flora. Soon, two ghosts appear, Quint and Jessel, who were the former caregivers of the children.It never becomes clear if it is the governess alone who sees these ghosts or if the children do as well. Who is the crazy one... Who knows.
    • 3/5
      This started with a lot of promise - young woman starts a job as a governess at a country estate, sees ghosts and is very worried about her two young orphaned charges. It took way too long to read for a short novel, because it had too many words, if you know what I mean.
    • 4/5
      The very uncertainty embedded throughout makes this a dark psychological story. Illusion, reality, light, shadow, innocence and evil, all subtly inter-played. An enigmatic ending adds to the ambiguity.

      Despite all these interesting qualities, James' narrative can be tough going, his overuse of commas and lengthy sentences among some of the obstacles the reader must get through. I intend to re-read it in the future, in order to appreciate the subtle nuances layered over and within this unorthodox ghost tale.
    • 2/5
      I tried to read this classic Victorian story of haunted children years ago, but quickly gave up as I could not cut my way through the impenetrable language in which it was written; this time, I have succeeded in reading it, but I cannot say I have enjoyed the experience (and if it had been a full length novel rather than a novella of 117 pages in my edition, I probably would have failed a second time to get through it). I am a considerable reader of classic Victorian novels and have no problem with the more challenging language in which they are often written, compared to more modern writing, but here the language is often so opaque that I frequently read a sentence four or five times and still could not divine its meaning. The effort in doing so does not repay, as I found the story to have no real atmosphere and to be hardly chilling at all, except at brief moments and at the very end. A disappointment that for me does not deserve its high reputation.
    • 2/5
      I had a college professor who issued a threat to our class via an anecdote about a prof from his own undergrad days. If a paper ran past the prescribed length, his professor would put a red line through anything remaining and write "ends abruptly" in the margin. I can only assume that's what happened to Henry James when he wrote this novel. I was listening to this on audiobook, and, even though the lady with the British accent said the recording had concluded, I just sat there thinking that there had to be a hidden track or something and if I sat in silence long enough, it would reveal itself.I've not looked in a while, but I'm pretty sure it says on my English degree that I'm supposed to give at least four stars to everything British, and especially everything written in the 19th century, so it's possible that rating this book poorly will result in my being stripped of my bachelor's degree. Meh. I wasn't using it much anyway except for a little blogging, a few book reviews, and some obscure references with which I pepper conversations to discourage others from engaging me in small talk.But really, what the heck did I just read? I get that the narrator is unreliable, I get why the references to (sexual?) misconduct are mostly communicated through significant facial expressions, and I get that I'm probably supposed to be confused. Sometimes these things make me enjoy a book and sometimes they don't. My experience with The Turn of the Screw is closer to the latter.Now, one thing I like is how the narrator always wants to face things directly in a household of people who are tiptoeing around issues and an employer who expressly directs her not to talk to him about anything. It demonstrates how crazy-making it is to want to have straightforward answers when everyone around you is either silent or speaks obliquely. It's difficult to know where one stands when the best one can hope for in the way of explanation is an arched eyebrow or perhaps, if one is lucky, a wink-wink, nudge-nudge. Would it kill them to just come out with it? (spoiler alert...(view spoiler))
    • 3/5
      I had never gotten around to reading this classic ghost story and it seemed appropriate for the pre-Halloween season. I am sure it was shocking in its time, but compared to Stephen King or Dean Koontz it's pretty tame.
    • 4/5
      Tangled Victorian prose spoils this otherwise good ghost story. The scene where the governess meets the spectre of Peter Quint on the stairs is genuinely scary. I don't think I would read this one again just for enjoyment, so I'm going to register & release it on BookCrossing.
    • 5/5
      eBook

      Reading The Turn of the Screw is like few other reading experiences I've ever had. It's perhaps most similar to Faulkner's unwillingness to explicitly explore the trauma driving his characters, but taken to an extreme far beyond that. Does James truly know what is happening in the story? Perhaps, but given that the governess, despite her overwhelming certainty in her own beliefs, is one of literature's least-trustworthy narrators, it is impossible for any reader to have total certainty about any part of her story.

      It's her certainty, paradoxically, that makes the governess such a compelling character. Presented with events she doesn't fully comprehend, she leaps to conclusions with a startling suddenness, and once adopted, treats those conclusions as absolute facts. It is, in fact, her certainty that leads to so much doubt on the part of the reader, even as it is responsible for the creation of the story itself. Clearly, the story as written, whether true or not, is the governess' creation. Throughout, she fills in every narrative gap, cutting off the statements of others so as to complete their statements herself, or painting in vivid terms the motivations and imaginings of characters that would otherwise have remained hidden. As readers, we're not allowed our own suppositions about the other characters or the events of the story. The governess tells us what they say, think, believe, and do, leaving us only a binary option, befitting greatly the way her own mind works: do we believe her or not?

      No matter our efforts, we can never really know if there were ghosts at Bly Manor, but in the end, that's irrelevant. The ghosts exist inside the governess' head, perhaps not as the spirits of the former governess and her lover, but at least in the form of the world constructed within the current governess' head. In a strange way, she is both narrator and reader of her own story, not only telling us what is happening, but simultaneously inviting us to join her in her own understanding of what she witnesses.
    • 2/5
      Nogal moeilijk verhaal over verschijningen; de lezer wordt op het verkeerde been gezet. Thema's: onschuld kinderen, overbescherming door volwassenen.
    • 3/5
      The sentences are very long. That's fun sometimes. Whether it's a story about ghosts or a psychological disturbance is entirely subject to your preference.
    • 3/5
      OK, if they made you re-instate your English Major status every few years by reading something revered yet wretched, this one would qualify me to keep my badge. My husband was on a gothic/horror/ghost story kick, and as an old English Major himself, he decided he ought to read this "masterpiece of the supernatural". He struggled through the 87 pages of the Dover Thrift Edition, moaning like a lost soul himself, and then suggested I read it and tell him what the hell he was missing. I'd already had about enough of it, from listening to him grouse, but I agreed to give it a go. James' prose is overwrought; he could have dropped a handful of words from every page and they'd not have been missed. Short as it is, I heartily wish an editor had tossed the manuscript back to him with the terse directive, "Again. Half as long." I don't like his style, he didn't scare me a bit, and I have no idea what to make of the ending. So why do I have this ridiculous desire to see a good film version of the story?
    • 1/5
      Wow, I forgot that I *HATE* Henry James. Actually, I didn't hate him quite so much before I read this book, but now I really do. So disappointed! The hugely long paragraphs made my eyes glaze over. I couldn't pay attention long enough to figure out what was really going on. I think if I hadn't heard the whole discussion on [The Turn of the Screw] - is it really ghosts or is the governess nuts - I would have been at least a little drawn into the story, to see what would happen next. But as it is, I just couldn't force myself to finish this! My vote is a solid 'the governess is nuts' vote. Totally unbelievable premise and I couldn't STAND the woman. Just bad.
    • 4/5
      Read with Shutter Island.
    • 4/5
      Is the absence of explanations that makes this book interesting. Too many unknowns and just some answers
    • 2/5
      While Henry James remains a brilliant but decidedly un-fun author to read, the Turn of the Screw is the greatest ghost story ever (except for perhaps the incomparable Wayans brothers' movie the 6th Man and that unmatched children's program Ghostwriter). A psychological thriller, the story is crisp and tight and features brilliant twists and turns along with memorable characters and a maddeningly inconclusive ending. It's a definite must for anyone who likes stories of the supernatural because it's actually good writing.
    • 3/5
      A young woman is hired as a governess for two orphaned children, with only one condition: the children's guardian, who lives elsewhere, doesn't want to be bothered with any reports or questions about them. Despite the worrying nature of this request, she very much enjoys her job and the two angelic children... until the ghosts start showing up. And until she starts wondering whether the children are quite as angelic as they seem.The basic story here is decent. The disturbing elements are nicely subtle and slow-building, and there's an intriguing ambiguity about the whole thing. But Henry James' writing style I do not get along. I can deal with wordy Victorian prose, in general, but James takes it to an entirely new level. Reading one of his sentences is like navigating a labyrinth: it's full of unexpected turns and distracting side passages, and by the time you've reached the end of it, it's hard to remember the route you took to get there. It was just way too difficult for me to give myself over to a sense of creepiness when I often had to read a sentence over two or three times before I could extract the meaning out of it without getting lost in the middle (generally somewhere around the fifth or sixth comma). And James is definitely not an author you want to read while still working on your first cup of morning coffee, or while desperately trying not to nod off at bedtime -- which, unfortunately, are the main times I've had available to read lately.
    • 4/5
      Like most novels with ambiguous endings, this one has had me thinking over the past few days. It's a haunted house story, in the sense that the narrative follows a young governess as she moves into a country estate to be faced with the pair of ghosts that haunt the two children in her care, but it's by no means the typical "chills & thrills"-type horror novel. There's little scary about these supernatural beings but the fact that they seem bent on corrupting the children in some way, continuing the negative influence they'd had while alive. An influence towards what, one wonders, as there are implications but it's never made explicit. In fact, the majority of the novel is concerned with this sense of taboo - wrongs so unspeakable but titillating the characters can only speak around them in innuendo, trying to force each other into revelation first. I'd definitely recommend giving this a read, but expect (and embrace!) the loose ends.
    • 1/5
      maybe it was because i had to read it for class, but i really did not like this book...at all.
    • 3/5
      This book by Henry James is a ghost story. The story is told by an unnamed governess who takes her first job as governess of two children. She is delighted with her charges but soon thinks they are scheming against her and then she gets them alone and accuses them. The author's style is ambiguous and I have more questions than answers after reading this novella.
    • 3/5
      It was better than I thought it'd be.
    • 4/5
      The Turn of the Screw by Henry James; (4*)I certainly enjoyed this mildly spooky Victorian gothic tale. And I found that I quite like the writing style of Henry James.The story is about an orphaned brother & sister taken in by an uncle or some such male relation. He is a very minor player withing the scheme of the book as he hires a governess/tutor to care for the children at his country manse. The one stipulation upon her hiring is that she not bother him with anything to do with the children.When the governess arrives she finds that the male child is away at boarding school so she just has the girl child at first. She finds the little girl beautiful & angelic in every way. She is bright and quick to learn, has lovely manners, is obedient and the governess enjoys her very much.But soon the little boy is returned to the home, having been quitted from the school never to return and the governess & housekeeper (who have become friends) are never to know specifically why. The child never speaks of it so all they can do is wonder. He has the same positive traits as his sister and in the beginning all is well and everyone appears to be happy. "Appears to be" are the key words here.For we find that the owner of the manse & their employer had a houseman who has died and that the previous governess has died as well. There begin to appear apparitions of both of these persons: The governess to the little girl albeit the new governess can also see her and the houseman to the little boy with the governess able to see his apparition as well.Thus begins the tug of war between the governess & the housekeeper against the two apparitions who want the children.I thought this a very good though short novella & I can highly recommend it. It is my first Henry James and I found myself seeking out others of his work immediately upon finishing this one.