Crown of Dust

It was a unique time in our history and she portrays it well. View all 16 comments. My namesake did me proud! This book is wonderful and you really get a feel for the characters at the time of the gold rush. Each of the characters had their own demons to wrestle with but that's what brought them together and bonded them somewhat like a family.

This was a time of risk taking and starting anew with hopes and dreams of better times. The author brings you right into each of the characters' hearts in a way that you cry right along with them with joy and sorrow.

Crown of Dust

I'm hoping for a sequ My namesake did me proud! I'm hoping for a sequel! I almost didn't finish this one but I stuck with it. I had an ARC so I am hoping that some of the strangeness was edited out. I kept having to go back and figure out whose voice I was reading and sometimes little details seemed incorrect or inconsistant. I did enjoy some of the characters but most seemed flat. The author also persuades us she is well-versed in the landscape that is the Sierra Nevada, and treats us to sentences that inform and delight: In walks Alex, a slight, quiet boy who rarely speaks.

Sep 17, Cuthman99 rated it it was amazing. This novel was full of great surprises. I picked it up despite the label of 'historical fiction' stuck on it, a genre I've never been fond of. I think any such label diminishes the power of this novel. I think this novel is what happens when an actual woman gets to sit down and write a novel about the West, with an eye not towards producing a "western," but to writing a novel about the true lived experience of the West. I think Wallace Stegner would have been quite proud of this novel.

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Here you This novel was full of great surprises. Here you find the women and men that the central character in Angle of Repose , Susan Ward, met along the way and then left behind, dragged along by her husband. These characters stay, stake a claim, and face the consequences. They are written with subtlety, deftness, and an unflinching but sensitive eye. In the very early exposition, many characters seem as if they're being set up to become cliches or caricatures, just stand-ins for a 'type. This novel is, in my mind, a tale of The West-- a place of so much promise unfulfilled, the ways the Myth were slowly captured, crushed, buried by the places its mournful seekers were fleeing.

But it is also, like any great novel about the mythos of The West, a novel about identity, the power to make new things, and the most basic of human urges. Mar 30, Kayla rated it it was amazing Shelves: I am in love with this book; the characters, the world they live in, the style of which it was all written. The only problem I can voice is that upon finishing, I wanted more! Reading Volmer's novel brought me straight to the Gold Rush and I didn't want to leave, pages flipped like a cartoon Tasmanian Devil was in the room and my husband was ignored.

This was a Goodreads Give-Away. Not only did I receive the book in record speed, but Mary Volmer included two I am in love with this book; the characters, the world they live in, the style of which it was all written. Not only did I receive the book in record speed, but Mary Volmer included two bookmarks and a lovely hand-written note. Both story and author exceeded my expectations. Mar 04, Sarah Oslick rated it it was amazing Shelves: Impressive from a historical standpoint, Crown of Dust captures the era that it is set in, a difficult task for the California Gold Rush era.

Switching between characters in a way that immerses you in the world and story, Volmer has created a wonderful novel that comes alive and off the page.

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Alex is a fascinating character that draws you in from the beginning, constantly asking you to continue reading her story. Crown of Dust is impossible to put down! An excellent read, especially for those of us raised in California. Volmer's attention to historical details paints a vivid picture of the California gold rush. The main character, Alex's story unfolds delightfully to reveal a complex and intriguing background. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction or novels set in California.

Sometimes no luck is good luck. When a cross dressing runaway fleeing the law finds gold in a mining town, the world rushes in threatening her disguise, her life, and the community of outcasts she'd grown to love. Really, not what I expected.

CROWN OF DUST

Great characters and the writing sucked me right in. I couldn't put it down. It's not a five, but I'm not sure why. Androgyny abounds in this all too bright narrative. The story is driven by details as sharp as stone with characters who block out the sun, carrying hopes too big for their own good and crushing fears that linger with the reader. Volmer's art seeps through skin and colors our vision like the California dreamscape she paints in this breath-taking debut novel. Sep 27, Acaprice20 rated it it was amazing.

I really enjoyed this book. I usually have particularly genre I stick to, but this was well worth the venture outside my norm. I loved the language and speech of the book. It truly was reminiscent of another time and culture. All the characters were so amazingly crafted and unique. Jul 17, Nick Leither rated it it was amazing. A deep, rich, and compelling novel by a friend and colleague. Apr 04, Anara Guard rated it really liked it. Oh, Mary Volmer, what have you done to me?

Two sleepless nights because once I picked up your first novel," Crown of Dust", I had trouble setting it aside. And even when I had laid it to rest on my nightstand, your characters continued to roam around inside my mind with their weighty secrets and their perilous endeavors in Motherlode. Gold fever created this town: Holes dug with pickaxe and shovel in search of gold were always prone to cave in, threatened further by the hasty blasts set off upstream.

Another kind of explosion was set to devastate the lives of secretive Alex, haunted David, stalwart Jed, and Emaline, who was the queen of Motherlode, its own mother, its very heart. And now, I can't wait to dive into "Reliance, Illinois" to see what you have made of this prairie town and its residents. Aug 09, Gwen Clayton rated it really liked it.

Female characters in the Old West are frequently portrayed as either prostitutes or teetotalers. That's why it's so refreshing to read a book about a young woman during the California Gold Rush who struggles just like the rest of the boys to handle her pickax and jug of moonshine. Jun 17, Audrey Terry rated it it was amazing Shelves: Or at least, they didn't die in Motherlode.

One of the best historical fictions I've read this year. Jan 16, Diane rated it liked it. I would never have sought out this book but when "Crown of Dust" was chosen to be the January selection of my local-library-sponsored book club I decided to give it a try. But this year I live in Central California, so my interest in this story was piqued a bit more, especially when it became apparent "Crown of Dust" was set close to the not-too-distant-fr I would never have sought out this book but when "Crown of Dust" was chosen to be the January selection of my local-library-sponsored book club I decided to give it a try.

But this year I live in Central California, so my interest in this story was piqued a bit more, especially when it became apparent "Crown of Dust" was set close to the not-too-distant-from-my-house cities of Sacramento and Grass Valley.

And whether you are interested in history or not this author did a wonderful job of making her story live. There are no cowboys in this western and nobody is particularly a hero. In the beginning of the story everybody in Motherlode, California, the very small and fictional town at the center of this tale, is poor but Gold Rush dreaming of future riches.

There are likeable guys and not-so-good guys and there is a woman at the center of the story. Well, really two women but nobody knows that at first.

Crown of Dust by Mary Volmer | www.newyorkethnicfood.com: Books

For me the setting itself is a fascinating character in this story because Ms. Volmer chooses simple but effective verbiage, constructs just the right sentences, to portray a dusty, dirty, dangerous and utterly delightful place to be at a frustrating, lawless and totally exhilarating time. I could just see Motherlode and found it was sometimes disgusting, sometimes exciting. The reader is introduced slowly to Alex short for Alexandra , who has her reasons for passing as a man.

We come to understand her loneliness and guilt and realize Alex suffers from what today we would call post-traumatic stress disorder. But they are also companions who share a passion for gold dreaming and gold hunting. Several things are never explained fully but the story was handled so well that this lack of understanding never felt frustrating to me. Rather, the unknown just added to the mystery. Very un-Western-like topics are woven into the story. Inferences of homosexuality are made way back then! At least one inter-racial love affair is prominent.

She relates her story with rich detail and provides a satisfying ending while, at the same time, gently holding back, inviting her reader to decide some of the nuances of the story for themselves. I would recommend "Crown of Dust". It was a very nice surprise for me. Mary Volmer has crafted a book that captures the feelings and textures of the old west, and living in CA during the gold rush. She has created a strong woman, Emaline, that runs a bar andeven though she is not attractive and has a self-claimed mustacheshe services most of the men in the area. Into this very small town arrives new prospectors every dayone being a young boy, Alexshy and trying to keep himself invisible from everyone else.

We soon learn that this person is a woman, wh Mary Volmer has crafted a book that captures the feelings and textures of the old west, and living in CA during the gold rush. We soon learn that this person is a woman, who is running away from her pastand has to struggle to survive this strange land. I have always been intrigued by this choice of some women to become menjust to survive.

In those days, there were only three types of women: Prostitutes, married women, or those that disguise themselves as men to protect themselves. There was one such true story that I had read once about a man that lived his whole life on his ownvery sheltered and away from everyone. It wasn't until he died, and people came to prepare his bodythat they find that he was really a woman.

The writing in this book is amazing and draws the reader in. I was prepared for it to be a bit of fluff, but since I was intrigued, I decided to give it a try. I was very surprised by the results! The author draws you in, and uses her writing to take you backreally experiencing the look, smell and feel of what it must have been like to live during the gold rush. This books seems to be a culmination of a bunch of books I just finished: The Sisters Brothers takes place around the same time period. The Sisters Brothers Touch which is about a town that was founded during a gold rush but went on to become a lumber town.

Touch and Blindspot, which takes place in the late 18th century Boston but is about a girl who dresses like a boy to become a painter This books seems to be a culmination of a bunch of books I just finished: Touch and Blindspot, which takes place in the late 18th century Boston but is about a girl who dresses like a boy to become a painter's apprentice, and the painter falls in love with him despite struggling with the idea of loving a "boy".

Man discovers boy is a girl and can safely love, the end. Discuss the unique social order in place in Motherlode when Alex arrives. Who governs the place? How are disputes settled? How are poplar 19 th century notions of religion, spirituality and morality revised to fit the needs of this community?

During westward expansion and the American Civil War, a surprising number of women disguised themselves as men in order to follow a son or a husband west, or into battle, or in order to live with and love another woman, or to escape a crime, as Alex does. A number of women disguised themselves simply to gain the opportunities and freedoms men enjoyed; as men they voted, drove stagecoaches, fought battles, and worked cattle drives.

What freedoms does Alex enjoy while living as a boy that Emaline and Lou Ann do not? What must she sacrifice to live as a man? Do you think that Alex, upon leaving Motherlode, will choose to live as a man or as a woman, or both? Is this threat adequately illustrated by the conflict between Emaline and Mrs. Are women, like Mrs.

Dourity, to blame for perpetuating rigid gender roles in society? What attitudes and fears motivate Emaline and Mrs. With each new ache, she discovers a new, living part of herself. While Alex cannot physically become a boy, hard physical labor in the mine does transform her body and her mind. Describe how this transformation changes her perspective of her own worth and of her place in the town.

How does this transformation change how others view her? If David had not discovered Alex was a woman, do you think he would still have allowed himself to love her? Do her actions disappoint you? Why does she feel justified in mistreating the Chinese men? What does her behavior reveal about the complicated nature of racial prejudice? What profession can you image Limpy assuming in the 21 st century?