Tales: If the Creek Don't Rise by Leah Weiss

Reviewing If The Creek Don't Rise

If the Creek Don't Rise is a fiction novel about Sadie Blue and the handful of residents of Baines Creek, North Carolina in 1970. Life in this remote and impoverished Appalachian town is terribly hard. Relationships are even harder. 

I found myself reading in every spare moment; while waiting in lines, first thing in the morning, and until I couldn't hold my eyes open any longer at night. This story had me hooked from the first shocking paragraph to the last paragraph that made me cheer aloud. Really.

About the ending, a reviewer describes it the best with: 

"The ending is the cherry on top of the best sundae you've ever wanted to have. After a carefully concocted blend of flavours, it ends with that bit of zing you weren't quite expecting"  - Cheri on Goodreads

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The story begins with Sadie Blue and how at age 17 she found herself married, pregnant, and the wife of the devil.

Sadie Blue

The story begins and ends intimately with Sadie Blue. With all the chapters in between glimpses of what others think about young Sadie, her abusive husband, and what it's like living life in Baines Creek. Each character distinctly different. 

We learn that Sadie's mother left the family while Sadie was very young. Her father, while he still speaks to her, has passed away. She was being raised by her grandmother when Roy Tupkin smiled and her heart fluttered. It wasn't long until she became pregnant, and with his hand on her belly the baby kicked.  

"Right then, with one baby kick, that man with the dark soul grinned, and it turned his face into something beautiful I never seen before. A light shined in his face on this cloudly day and wiped away shadows that lived behind his eyes"

That Thursday, they got married. They gathered her things and she moved in with him. 

"Now I stand on wobbly legs and whimper like a hurt puppy cause I can't help it. Today was beating number three since I got legal. I figure Roy don't need a reason no more. I close the trailer door against the chill, then shuffle to the bathroom to wash off the dried blood." 

Roy Tupkin

The villain is Roy Tupkin. He's a typical abusive, womanizing man.  Still a boy really. Good ol' Roy is easy to hate - then we get a peek into his life. While nothing excuses how he treats others, we get a glimpse into what causes him to be so maladapted. I didn't like him any better but I did understand where his problems began.

Roy isn't the only resident of Baines Creek who is maladapted. But most of them are likable - perhaps even lovable. Eli Perkins is the preacher who brings Ms. Shaw from the outside to teach the children. Prudence is his spinster sister who has secrets. Billy has a not-so-secret crush on Sadie. And so on.

Each character tells their story one by one in alternating first person narratives. Each voice is clear and memorable

The Author: Leah Weiss

If the Creek Don't Rise is a debut novel by Leah Weiss. This is a character-based story rather than plot-based. We get to know each of the many characters intimately and because of the glimpses into each of their lives, and each voice was easy to recognize. I was determined to know what comes next as soon as possible.

"The first stories I wrote were about my mom, Lucy, and her life on a tobacco farm in the 1930s. She was one of fifteen children living in an unpainted house without running water or electricity. She and I found a special bond talking about her childhood, which she thought no one care to remember. I didn't know that in a few months Lucy would die of cancer and I wold be left with grief and amazing fodder from those conversations." - Leah Weiss

To me, that explains how she got the voices of strong women who live in poverty in isolated, rural areas so correct.  I nearly didn't read this book, half expecting the usual condescension or trivialization that happens when outsiders try to describe lives such as these. But Ms. Weiss hit it spot on.

I will remember Sadie Blue, and who saved her, for a long time to come. 

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