The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

We had a nice discussion at Candace's house about this book. The general consensus, however, was that it was darker than we thought it was going to be. I felt it had a limited development of Della's character and could have used a bit more description of the landscape around the Wenatchee, Washington area. Not everyone agreed with me as it did seem a bit ponderous in places. Here are two sections from the book that I liked that I forgot to bring up at the meeting; "It took a long time. By the time Clee was finished the horse was shivering, brimming with wildness just contained. Its flesh, and the air around its flesh, was primed with the energy of corroded nerves, of that which could not be dominated having miraculously been dominated." This second passage described Talmedge to the tee; "He had pulled out of that grief, eventually-out from under the suffocating weight of it. Suffering had formed him: made him silent and deliberate, thoughtful: deep. Generous and kind and attentive, although he had been that before. Each thoughtful gesture hoping to extend back, far back, to reach his sister, to locate her somewhere." Wow.