Steve Weddle

The County Line by Michael Weddle is a novel about a small rural county, Columbia, in Arkansas in 1933. During the Great Depression, cash wages and business loans were hard to come by in the county. Some employed individuals and business owners relied on illegal activity like moonshining during Prohibition to bring in a little extra money to live on. Others were full-time criminals who engaged in robbing banks, loan sharking, and kidnapping to earn a lucrative dishonest income.

In the novel, Cottonmouth Tomlinson returns to the county to manage a family property he abandoned for a stint of mercenary activity in Honduras. He learns quickly that the run-down resort with cabins, restaurant, and bar located off the beaten path were being used to provide a safe and comfortable place for some criminals who are being chased by the police. They are willing to pay for the safe haven and for storage of their criminal tools and cash.

Cottonmouth believes he can continue the service, improve the conditions, and possibly make the resort available to criminals far and wide. But then, maybe he will try to make things right instead.

The setting of a Deep South County reminds me of Faulkner’s fictional county, Yoknapawtapha. Weddle’s consistency of descriptions of the county land and people, their culture and language, and the strangers who visit it are reminiscent of Faulkner’s great Yoknapatawpha novels. The County Line is a very good novel with many background historical references and a plot written in an entertaining pulp fiction style.… (más)

Living around 100 years later, it’s easy to forget how much the Great Depression threatened to rip the social fabric of democratic America apart. Most know of the bank runs. Threats of social anarchy rippled across the country, especially in rural regions, as depicted in this book. Self-government was quickly veering towards becoming a plutocracy, the rule of money and power. Americans who made their way of life on Main Street lived in fear of not enough money. It thus became easier to hide behind strongmen who self-servingly controlled smaller fiefdoms. People were rightfully scared, and this fear fostered social distrust. In this book, Steve Weddle brings these trends to life in a dramatic tale of lawlessness, love, redemption, and the eventual return of social good vibes.

A small county in 1930s Arkansas was veering into lawlessness. Even those with nobler aspirations had to do what they could to survive and took things into their own hands. In this setting, Cottonworth Tomlin, whose parents left him, returned from Honduras to put together his late uncle’s affairs. He was drawn into a crime ring where the only way to gather cash was to kidnap and ransom. Instead of carrying on his uncle’s legacy, he became entwined in a county’s affairs where social distrust was becoming the norm.

The powers-that-be in this county were trying to pull the strings selfishly so that they could escape whatever chaos might come. FDR’s Washington was far away and distrusted. In a life where everyone left him, Cottonworth was trying to establish something lasting, but his life’s prior chaos only seemed to follow him. However, he found traces of love in this community. Even the “bad guys” had redemptive qualities, if only they could escape a troublesome system. This tale is not one of strict moralism but rather of redemption – how given better circumstances, the social mores can improve. As Cottonworth’s eyes open to reality, his clairvoyance helps him better others’ lives.

This book has a lot of darkness to it. Social chaos is not exactly an uplifting topic. But to those that persist, better things come near the end. Like much of life, this county’s people suffered, but they learned to recapture a better life, thanks to one man’s labor. Romance even plays a small but significant role! This book reminded me that even seeming anarchy can lead to better outcomes thanks to the wise steps of individuals.… (más)

Steve Weddle's Country Hardball is a compelling novel-in-stories about a small working class town in the South. This unique storytelling technique paints a stark picture about life in Roy Alison's economically depressed hometown and the devastating aftermath of a lifetime of poor choices by him and his fellow townspeople.

Novel-in-stories is a very unique form of storytelling. It is basically a collection of short stories that are loosely linked or somehow interconnected. In the case of Country Hardball, the stories are connected by the town, its inhabitants and a seemingly unrelated series of crimes. In the beginning, it is a little confusing trying to keep track of the various characters and the different relationships, but as each of the stories unfolds, a clear pattern finally begins to emerge. While I enjoyed the overall collection, I was continually frustrated by the abrupt ending of each story and trying to figure out how each one relates to the other stories. My curiosity was piqued by each individual tale and my frustration stemmed from my desire to know more about the characters, how they ended up at that particular moment in time and what motivated their decisions.

At the center of Country Hardball is Roy Alison and his rather infamous past. Never quite able to escape the notoriety of a tragic accident he caused as a teenager, Roy's life is a series of one bad decisions after another which results in prison time. With each release from jail, he vows to do better. But of course, as a convicted felon, career choices are limited for Roy, so with his cousin Cleovis by his side, he winds up falling back into criminal behavior time and again.

Roy is an extremely sympathetic character and it is very easy to see how difficult it is for him to break free of his past. Small towns often have long memories and Roy's is no exception. At every turn, someone is there to bring up the past (both the good and the bad) and you almost have to wonder why he keeps returning-I know I certainly did. Roy's family has deep in roots in town and with his grandmother still living there, I think basically it boiled down to a certain comfort in feeling connected to a place and the people who reside there.

Country Hardball is an eclectic mix of rather heartbreaking vignettes that Steve Weddle manages to bring to a optimistic ending. I can only hope that he plans to revisit the characters in future novels, because I would love to see their stories explored in greater depth.… (más)