Book Review: Tales of Koehler Hollow: An African American Family in Rural Appalachia by Naomi Hodge-Muse and Christopher A. Brooks.
Tales of Koehler Hollow sounds like it would be a collection of tall tales and legends, but keep reading after that colon in the title. Because these are stories about the African American experience in rural America from those who lived it.
Because of that, the book is an excellent entry into the annals of historical literature. It’s essentially Naomi Hodge-Muse’s memoir and family history — one that pulls you in with a most interesting cast of characters. They are real people, but they also happen to be characters.
Starting with Amy Finney, the grand matriarch, you get to know each of the family members and a few associates, aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, ex-lovers, on-and-off lovers. Each has distinctive traits, some more beneficial than others. But the women in this book get some of the best lines.
Among other things, the stories capture the complexities of having blood relatives who became part of separate families by virtue of being divided between slaveholders. Author Naomi Hodge-Muse’s blood relatives include two such families: the Finneys and the Mitchells.
Through the stories, we get to experience life in rural Virginia as the descendant of a former slave who, once emancipated, was able to acquire land. That land figures in the narrative, as a place to call home and as a part of Hodge-Muse’s identity. It has also been a source of contention, as property can be.
There is also the unavoidable subject of racism. The family’s 150-year history reflects the racial codes of each decade. Aspects of life seldom, if ever, covered in textbooks.
History tends to focus on remarkable people, but what makes a person “remarkable”? And who’s doing the remarking? This book provides a glimpse into a way of life many of us can only imagine. The people described in it are remarkable. They’re part of history at the grassroots level. It reads so much like an oral history, it would make a great audio book.
The book has a refreshing authenticity. The people are real but the stories read like fiction. They’re absorbing, like a show you could binge-watch.
And I can easily picture Doretha (Hodge-Muse’s mother) as a character in one of those epic shows about the black experience in the United States. And what a character she is.
By the way, if you want to know more about this woman named Doretha, along with various aunts, uncles, and other remarkable folks, you gotta read the book.
If you love history, read this book.
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Debbi Mack is the NY Times bestselling author of the Sam McRae and the Erica Jensen mystery series and other novels, a screenwriter, and producer of two podcasts: the Crime Cafe and Dark and Twisted Alleys: A Film Noir Podcast, co-hosted with crime writer F.R. Jameson. She loves books, movies, travel, cats, espresso, and Doctor Who—not necessarily in that order. You can find her online at debbimack.com.
What a wonderful review. I highly recommend this book!!