The Pulaski Chronicles Paperback – June 14, 2013

This is not a book for the speed reader. A reader with a curiosity about the wellsprings of American culture, once into these tales about the folks of Pulaski County, Kentucky, will be hooked and aboard for the long ride. Do not underestimate how long that may be, for the stories in this 600-plus page tome will slow you down like a pileup on the interstate.If, like me, you are not familiar with the dialect these people speak--or used to speak before a TV set in every home homogenized American English, gradually "correcting" regional dialects-- you may find yourself sounding out the lines of dialogue Norman Gover has rendered in precise, downhome Kentucky lingo.I should mention that this author and I are first cousins, although we grew up in vastly different environments. He grew up in Pulaski County, the settings for the stories; I grew up in an orphanage in Philadelphia. Since both of us pursued the literary arts, there is something of a brotherly bond between us. For the past fifty years I have been reading stories he's written about this Kentucky community where both our fathers were from and where I spent several memorable summers.There have been novels and short stories about the hometowns of authors beyond counting, of course, as this subject is often the basis for "coming of age" works. What distinguishes The Pulaski Chronicles is Norman Gover's unique perspective on his subject, the people who populated Pulaski County sixty or seventy years ago. Most where descended from the first English settlers who arrived here--the western foothills of the Appalachian Mountains--toward the end of the Revolutionary War. They were comparatively isolated until the post-World War II years, when some had migrated north for industrial jobs, and television had created new communication links.Years ago when Norman first showed me some of his short stories, I strongly suggested he ease up on the literal spellings of that downhome dialect, in order to create an easier, swifter read for modern urbanites. He responded that, since the characters he's writing about have no trouble understanding each other, he did not think he should refrain from capturing how they spoke with each other. "I don't refer to the speech in these stories as dialect," he said, "I prefer to describe it as `time-isolated'."I eventually came to realize the integrity involved in rendering them the way they actually were and, to some degree, continue to be. The way we use language defines who we are, and how we interact with each other. Regional differences are shaped by a myriad of influences, not the least of which is local topography. Norman Gover's fictional characters epitomize real people who inhabit an area that is at once a fertile cornucopia, challenging hills, treacherous waterways and ancient forests, and they exhibit a spectrum of human qualities from angelic grace to devilish evil.

I love the stories Norman Gover has written here. They have so much heart in them and are a pleasure to read. Just dive in and you'll be happy you did.

What is a story? What is a story teller? A story is a construction of things that did not exist before the telling of the story. A story teller is the person who brings these things into existence. The person listening to the story teller, or reading what the story teller has written judges whether the things presented could actually occur, or have occurred. Acceptance of their occurrence is a confirmation of the worth of the story and the skill of the story teller. Norman Gover's collection of stories are all believable, even though they never happened in the "real" world. They are told with an enticing skill bringing the reader to move on, to find out what happens next to whom and that the fate of the "whom-ever" matters to the reader. Norman's feeling for place, his fluency in the Appalachian dialect, his remembrance of times past are the warp and weft of these stories, all unique, all different and all compelling. He has woven a tapestry of a time, place and people that should grace everyone's wall of imagination.