Shiner
Amy Jo Burns, 2020
Penguin Publishing
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780525533641
Summary
On a lush mountaintop trapped in time, two women vow to protect each other at all costs-and one young girl must defy her father to survive.
An hour from the closest West Virginia mining town, fifteen-year-old Wren Bird lives in a cloistered mountain cabin with her parents. They have no car, no mailbox, and no visitors-except for her mother's lifelong best friend.
Every Sunday, Wren's father delivers winding sermons in an abandoned gas station, where he takes up serpents and praises the Lord for his blighted white eye, proof of his divinity and key to the hold he has over the community, over Wren and her mother.
But over the course of one summer, a miracle performed by Wren's father quickly turns to tragedy. As the order of her world begins to shatter, Wren must uncover the truth of her father's mysterious legend and her mother's harrowing history and complex bond with her best friend.
And with that newfound knowledge, Wren can imagine a different future for herself than she has been told to expect.
Rich with epic love and epic loss, and diving deep into a world that is often forgotten but still part of America, Shiner reveals the hidden story behind two generations' worth of Appalachian heartbreak and resolve.
Amy Jo Burns brings us a smoldering, taut debut novel about modern female myth-making in a land of men-and one young girl who must ultimately open her eyes. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Amy Jo Burns is the author of the memoir Cinderland (2014) and most recently Shiner (2020). Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review Daily, Tin House, Ploughshares, Gay Magazine, Electric Literature, Literary Hub, and The Paris Review Daily, as well as the anthology Not That Bad. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
[L]ayered, evocative debut… [While] the recursive structure… [makes] it difficult for readers to fully connect with… characters, Burns beautifully renders [their]… desperation. Burns stunning prose is reason enough to keep an eye out for this promising writer’s next effort.
Publishers Weekly
It's tough enough for 15-year-old Wren Bird to live in a mountaintop cabin with no car and no visitors… even as her father… spends his Sunday spouting sermons…and handling snakes.… [A] supposed miracle performed by Wren's father leads to tragedy, making her examine her family history.
Library Journal
(Starred review) This gorgeously written, plot-rich novel examines the complex lives of five beautifully realized characters…. [T]he novel is also about story and its gradual morphing into legend…. This memorable… novel is exceptional in its power and imagination… a must-read.
Booklist
(Starred review) In an Appalachian hamlet, a girl’s world is shattered by the secrets of the adults around her.… Wren’s engaging, convincing voice leads the reader through her strange world. [This] teenage girl is the strong center of a fever-dream story of hidden pasts.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Shiner centers on the stories of three women—Wren; her mother, Ruby; and Ruby’s best friend, Ivy—living on an isolated mountain in coal country. The opening line of the novel is: "Making good moonshine isn’t that different from telling a good story, and no one tells a story like a woman." What is Shiner saying about the power of storytelling, and in particular, about the importance of women’s voices?
2. Early in the novel, Ivy tells Wren, "Weddings are funerals. Don’t you dare dream of them." In what ways have Ivy’s and Ruby’s lives been hampered by the men they have chosen to marry? Discuss the factors that led them to make those particular choices. How does each of them express regret? How does their regret affect Wren?
3. Shiner is also about the power of female friendship. How do Ivy and Ruby model closeness and mutuality? How does their connection sustain them across decades? In what ways has their friendship changed the course of their lives, for better or worse?
4. When did you begin to suspect that there was more to Briar’s miracles than meets the eye? Discuss how Shiner interrogates the power of belief. How does the legend of Briar’s white eye contribute to his status in the community? Whose belief matters most to Briar, and why?
5. The natural world plays a large part in the novel. Compare and contrast how the town of Trap and the mountain are portrayed. What dangers lurk in each place, and what beauties? Which characters believe the natural world can be tamed? Which are enthralled by its power?
6. How does Wren learn and grow from her relationship with Caleb? What does he teach her about the world beyond her mountain, and what does she teach him about her own culture and way of life?
7. Flynn Sherrod makes moonshine in the dark, keeping his craft a secret from the law. In what ways is his moonshine a metaphor for the secrets he is compelled to keep throughout the book? How do these secrets protect the people he cares for most? What is the cost of keeping these secrets, to the other characters and to Flynn himself?
8. Consider the adult men in Shiner—Flynn, Briar, Hasil, Noble, and Ricky. What accounts for the differences between them and for the ways they relate to women? What about the young men—Caleb, Sonny, and Ivy’s sons?
9. Discuss the fates of the three main women in the novel, Ivy, Ruby, and Wren. How has Wren changed by the end of the story? What do you think about her choice to remain on the mountain? In what ways will her life be different from that of her mother, or of Ivy?
(Questions issued by the publishers.)