Lawless: A Novel Based on a True Story Paperback – September 11, 2012

Great for a Bourbon lovers collection

Based on the publication dates, I bought "The Wettest County in the World," thinking it was a prequel to "Lawless," which had been recommended to me. It was my intention to read the two sequentially, and only later did I realize they were the same story, the latter having been re-titled to match a movie incarnation. Amazon could have done a better job of distinguishing this to the potential buyer.Just finished it up this morning. Lawless indeed. It sure was a different world back then.I have to give this one five stars for the story alone. I found it a very compelling portrayal of a piece of American history (admittedly two decades before my birth) that holds much (though often misguided) fascination for the romantic types in our culture. In addition to that, author Matt Bondurant captures exquisitely the feel of the Appalachian Mountain region of America - at least as I experienced it in more recent times. I refer to the sights and sounds; the smells; the wet, heavy snowfalls; the summertime heat and insect sounds of the forested regions of the upper southeast.A couple things gave slight taint to the story for me, however.I detected a very slight flavor of Stephen King in the author's construction of Forrest Bondurant, the "Alpha Male" of the three brothers. Specifically his seemingly otherworldly capacity to survive mortal injury. It's a bit hard to swallow a scenario where he gets his throat cut to an extent that he is aware, as consciousness fades, of jugular venous - if not carotid arterial - blood swirling down his esophagus at the same time it pours out onto the ground. To to find out he somehow survives, and recovers in a remarkably short period of time, is just too much. Okay for a King novel; not so much for something purporting to be a factual account. Ditto for surviving having tons of logs fall on him. And then, ironically, anticlimactically, he dies in an absurdly short few hours, from a minor exposure to cold and wet.I agree with a previous reviewer who was uncomfortable with the way the timeline jumps around. I think I might have followed the story with less "backtracking" and thus more enjoyment had it been presented in a more linear form. On the upside, Kindle's "X-ray" application was very helpful here.And what in the world is the purpose of telling parts of the story through the eyes of a washed-up journalist to whom the author imparts Walter Mitty dreams of having once been on a first name basis with both Hemingway and Faulkner? This fellow is totally irrelevant to the story.Go ahead and give it a go. It's largely enjoyable despite some stretches of the imagination and some impertinent content.

The stereotype of the hillbilly making moonshine is one that runs deep in American culture. But with all stereotypes, you need to separate fiction from fact to truly understand reality. Matt Bondurant uses the history of his own family to tell the story of moonshining during the 20's and 30's in his book The Wettest County in the World: A Novel Based on a True Story. Bondurant does an excellent job painting a picture of the hardscrabble lives of people in Virginia's Franklin county. I didn't think the book worked very well as a story, as it seemed disjointed as it bounced back and forth between events five years apart. Still, the writing pulls you into the mindset that made Franklin county the center of moonshine production and distribution during the days of Prohibition and the Great Depression.The story primarily follows the activities of Forrest, Howard, and Jack Bondurant as they grew up in Franklin county. Nearly everyone had some involvement when it came to running stills and selling moonshine into a market that had no limits on demand for the product. As one might expect, a mix of alcohol, money, and guns meant that reputation and retribution was essential to survival. The name Bondurant was one that was feared, as they'd do whatever was necessary to even a score. Forrest survived a sliced throat in a parking lot ambush, and Howard was a beast of a man who drank to excess and fought just as hard. Even Jack, the youngest of the three, was able to overcome his fear and pull a trigger when the money was on the line.Even though it was illegal, the local sheriffs turned a blind eye towards moonshining as it was the best way to keep the peace and bring money into the area. This changed when a few authorities decided to take advantage of increased federal enforcement. The plan was to extract a "fee" for each still and for each liquor distribution run. For that, the local law would distract the feds and send them to stills that weren't paying the fee. As the Bondurants felt that things were fine as is, they refused to go along. This put them at odds with the law and with others in the county, especially with a few deputies who had egos and attitudes that didn't belong behind a gun. It was only a matter of time before a confrontation would happen that would alter the lives of everyone involved.The writing in terms of mood, setting, and personalities is pitch-perfect. It was a hard time and a hard life, and Bondurant exposes that on nearly every page. It's really hard not to be depressed as you're reading, as everyone is incredibly stoic and it's a given that a person will work hard for little reward, day after day after day. On the flip side, the actual story line was hard to follow. It took a while to get to the point where I knew where things were headed, and the time switches between the current and final events disrupted the flow for me. Had I not been so immersed in the characters and setting, I'm not sure I would have liked the book much at all.The Wettest County in the World is one of those books where I end up averaging things out to come up with a rating. To me, the story was at best a 3. On the other hand, the writing was stellar. Your view of the book will likely depend on which element you find more important.Disclosure:Obtained From: AmazonPayment: Purchased