Nothing in Emily’s life is living up to what it should be. She’s failed out of college and back living with her parents. The only job she can get is as a cashier at a fast-food restaurant. Her best friend, and crush, just appeared but still seems like she wants nothing to do with Emily – not after that last night they spent together as teens. Emily’s desperation to be the daughter, friend, and neighbor everyone wants her to be has made her miserable. It’s also leading her to overlook the truth that’s right in front of her. Will she see it in time before the person she most wants to love her back ends destroying both their lives?
Cottonmouths is Kelly J. Ford’s southern gothic work that feels so relevant to the struggles of many Appalachian and Ozark communities across the region. Failure to launch, drugs, parties, peer pressure, broken homes, agricultural families struggling to make ends meet, and small-town gossip – this book has it all. This is the book that landed Ford on the Los Angeles Review Best Book of 2017 list. It is a cautionary tale about the friends we keep, and how hard the struggle is to leave the past behind you to start over again.
I give Cottonmouths 4 out of 5 stars. While Ford delivers a narrative full of vivid descriptions to help set the scene, I found some of the plot line hard to read. The desperation to be loved by multiple characters and the constant focus on romantic relationships between the younger cast was tough when set against the other very serious topics covered. This book also started very slow for me, and I had to push through the first few chapters before connecting with the story. This is very realistic story, and I did find myself looking up the plot online to see if it was based on a true story (it’s not explicitly stated yes or no anywhere I could find).
If you enjoyed other recent novels like Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver or Kinfolk by Sean Detrich, you will love this novel. With discussions of sex, serious bodily injury, drug and alcohol use, and murder, I would direct this work to more mature audiences over 16. I do think this would make a great book club choice – there’s so much to unpack in Emily’s decisions!
I chose Cottonmouths for the US States reading challenge prompt “Arkansas”. Set in the fictional Drears Bluff, Arkansas, this book could easily be set in the very real DeValls Bluff in the center of the state which boasts a population smaller than the student body of my high school. This was my first read by Kelly J. Ford but will definitely not be my last. Her two follow up releases Real Bad Things and The Hunt are both set in the state as well and would make great choices for this prompt!
I’ve listed a few other great reads in this category in our weekly schedule posted on Sunday. What is your favorite book set in Arkansas?
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What I’m Reading
- Current print book: tbd
- Current audio book: tbd
- Book I’m most looking forward to: Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
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