****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I was swept up in Kunstler's vision of a post-apocalyptic America in World Made by Hand: A Novel, and while its been awhile since I read it, I was excited to revisit the story line with _The Witch of Hebron_. While several of the characters from the first novel are part of this story, the focus is primarily on Jerry Copeland's son and his his (mis)adventures. In some respects it is reminiscent of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (a young pre-adolescent boy leaving home and very quickly getting in way over his head in the wide, wold world) - but in this case there is sinister and dangerous aspect to young Jasper Copeland's odyssey.Kunstler also provides some backstory to how the modern world ended and gives depth and complexity to the "new comers" of the New Faith organization. Kunstler's world isn't quite Coramc McCarthy's The Road, but it is a complex and potentially lethal place as well. What I enjoyed - and what keeps me coming back to his storytelling - is the minutae and detail he provides: the way in which life has slowed down with the absence of modern distractions, his eye for ecological detail as nature in all its forms reasserts itself and they generational differences between those who knew the way the world was before things changed so dramatically and those (like young Jasper) who have never known anything different.The epynonomous Witch of Hebron, like the New Fiath sect, also lend an air of the mystical and magical that had been forgotten (or was squeezed to the margins) in the modern age, but like the wild things of the forest and streams is returning as technology has recessed. Young Jasper's journey widens the universe of the first book, but the role of the "Witch" - who she was, who she is and what she does resonated with me as much as Kunstler's vision of the slower and more deliberate way of life that is central to his storytelling. While the conclusion of Japser's story was satisfying, I couldn't help but also see echoes of Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in the way the story of the Witch of Hebron was concluded.I tremendously enjoyed the book, which is perfect fall reading as the days grow short and the weather turns cooler. A recommended read.
