Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Author: Ron Rash
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Reviewer: Lydia

Ron Rash has compiled a collection of dark, gritty short stories that are nearly perfect in form. These narratives cast an unflinching eye at the other side of life; a view which reveals the depth—and oftentimes depravity—of human nature. There are no flashy attempts at postmodernism or big words here; rather, these stories are quiet, haunting, and exquisitely crafted.

The book begins with a selection of macabre stories that ruminate on death and the downward spiral into corruption. This section also happened to contain most of my favorite choices from the novel, among them “The Trusty” and “Something Rich and Strange.”

In “The Trusty,” a “prisoner sent to fetch water for his chain gang tries to sweet-talk a farmer’s young wife into helping him escape, only to find that she is as trapped as he is,” while in “Something Rich and Strange,” a “diver is called upon to pull a drowned girl’s body free from under a falls, but he finds her eerily at peace below the surface” (quotes courtesy of the inside book jacket). While the stories are short, the characters are deftly developed, and each narrative features a distinctive voice of its own. I also enjoyed “Those Who Are Dead Are Only Now Forgiven” and “Three A.M. and the Stars Were Out”, which are later selections in the novel. Both of these stories are a bittersweet look at loss, love, and life.

As I read more, I found that Rash’s book carried me through the short stories like a wave: the high points of the novel were great and chilling to the bone, while others only gently glided past me. I felt that the first handful of stories were the strongest, the middle of the book lagged in depth and creativity, and then the ending of the book picked up the energy and innovativeness of the beginning.

Overall, Ron Rash has compiled a collection of stories that look at the darker side of life, a life filled with pain, sorrow, and solitude, familial tension, drug and alcohol abuse, and the descent into sickness, madness, despair, and ultimately, death. These raw stories are deserving of a read, and not just once, but many times in order to catch each subtle and beautiful nuance.