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    Kings of the Earth
    Kings of the Earth
    Kings of the Earth
    Audiobook10 hours

    Kings of the Earth

    Written by Jon Clinch

    Narrated by Jon Clinch, Andrea Gallo, George K Wilson and

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Author of the award-winning novel Finn, Jon Clinch has drawn favorable comparisons to such luminaries as William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy. With Kings of the Earth, he weaves the compelling tale of a troubled family haunted by dark secrets. On their upstate New York farm, the three aging Proctor brothers-Vernon, Audie, and Creed-eke out a living. When Vernon dies in his sleep, evidence of asphyxiation quickly turns suspicion upon Audie and Creed. The brothers' estranged sister, their protective neighbor, and others are eventually drawn into the case and offer startling insights. But all these differing perspectives obscure the reality of daily life on the farm, and the truth of what happened that fateful day remains shrouded in mystery. In a starred review, Library Journal calls Kings of the Earth "a gritty but nonetheless warm-hearted and beautifully realized novel." A full cast of talented narrators delivers a gripping performance, providing each character with a unique voice. ". Clinch explores family dynamics in this quiet storm of a novel that will stun readers with its power."-Publishers Weekly, starred review
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJul 6, 2010
    ISBN9781449821371
    Kings of the Earth
    Author

    Jon Clinch

    Jon Clinch is the author of the acclaimed novels Finn, Kings of the Earth, The Thief of Auschwitz, Belzoni Dreams of Egypt, Marley, and The General and Julia. A native of upstate New York, Jon lives with his wife in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Find out more at JonClinch.com.

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    Reviews for Kings of the Earth

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    • 4/5
      "My brother Vernon went on ahead." So begins the story from Audie Proctor's point-of-view as he discovers the cold body of his older brother in bed next to him. The narrative continues back and forth in time from the 1930s to the 1990s, told in the voices of the small cast of characters who lived in this rural community in upstate New York. The short chapters - some consist of only one sentence! - and starkness of the prose echoes the stark life the brothers led... Three unwashed brothers who slept their entire lives in the same foul bed. I've read gritty books before, but this one was downright grimy.Jon Clinch certainly knows how to weave a story. Things go from grimy to gripping when suspicions are raised about Vernon's death. I didn't feel like I learned much about these three main characters other than they were very close and devoted to one another. However, once again I did learn through the power of words not to judge people by appearance - or by how they smell. Even though I didn't quite get why they chose to live such isolated (and dirty) lives, I have a feeling that I'll be thinking about Vernon, Audie, and Creed for quite some time.
    • 2/5
      I don't understand the draw to this book.It opens like Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, then adds a lot of filth.How could these characters not be contaminated?Then enters another senseless pig slaughter, derivative of other novel tropes.Boredom and depression ensue, with zero redemption.
    • 2/5
      The writing was good, the story semi-interesting but it was way TOO long. I finally just skimmed the last 150 pages.

      The family though a bit odd and backwards did not have that much compelling about it to be 400 pages long. They were poor and uneducated, and one of the brothers was probably autistic but undiagnosed since they never went to doctors. That about sums it up.

      Clinch could have easily made this book half the size and moved this narrative along (starting with cutting out most of the nephew's, Tom, story).
    • 5/5
      Kings of the Earth is the story of three brothers, Vernon, Audie, and Creed Proctor, who live on their family farm in upstate New York. The men grew up poor, with the farm’s small dairy operation barely making ends meet, but they continued running the farm after their parents passed away. They are barely literate and, except for Creed’s Korean War service, have never traveled beyond nearby towns. Their living conditions are squalid and personal hygiene is sorely lacking. Their struggles only get worse when Vernon, who had been in poor health, passes away. The medical examiner and local police step in to determine cause of death and the two remaining brothers fall under suspicion. The novel moves across several points in time during the brothers’ lives with different voices telling pieces of their story, sometimes in chapters of just a couple paragraphs. These vignettes are like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, gradually building a more complete picture of the family, the community, and the circumstances surrounding Vernon’s death. A parallel story unfolds involving the brothers’ nephew Tom, who tries to break free from the Proctor family to achieve a better life. Tom’s narrative weaves around that of the brothers, until the two become inextricably linked, with dramatic results.I was caught up in this book from page one. The characters were authentic, and their struggles real. There were no pat solutions to their problems, and the dramatic ending left the future of the family uncertain. Jon Clinch is a master storyteller.
    • 5/5
      A terrific novel, and even with the dirt and poverty and dysfunction, so much warmth there. The portrayal of upstate New York was so spot-on—one way you know it isn't Faulkner country is that the COLD is such a character alongside the human beings. Upstate has its own particularly bleak comportment, different from Appalachia or the midwest... Joyce Carol Oates always did a good job with that. Maybe you have to grow up there and leave to write it really well, although I suspect that's a bit of a failure of imagination on my part.Anyway, really well-written, and peopled with some fantastically memorable—and oddly sympathetic—folks. Very worth reading.
    • 5/5
      Moving story of love and community, in an unlikely setting: three brothers live in filth and ignorance in rural New York. Beauty is where you least expect it, and nothing is simple (or, nothing is complex) at its heart.
    • 5/5
      Every bit the tour de force I'd been told it was. I still liked The Lonely Polygamist a tiny bit better, but really a wonderful book.
    • 5/5
      Dark, stark and, oddly enough, funny at times. The story of three brothers who've lived their entire lives on a farm in Upstate New York, sharing the same bed, and wearing the same clothes by the sound of it. Clinch's style is simple and direct, and incredibly powerful. Think if Faulkner and Kent Haruf had a baby. Okay, that would be weird, but you catch my drift. I read Kings of the Earth two years ago and still think of it from time to time. What book have you read recently you can say that about?
    • 5/5
      I love everything I've read by Clinch. This story about three brothers and the mystery surrounding the death of one brother. It's based on a true story sort of. Dark, ut a great read.
    • 3/5
      Compelling style serves as an auger drilling down into a pretty dark and sparse world.
    • 4/5
      This novel is loosely based on a real life incident involving a family of four brothers near Syracuse, New York, one of whom was accused of killing another. The brothers were poor, illiterate dairy farmers who slept in the same bed. They lived lives that we would consider backward and primitive. Their story was previously told in a 1992 documentary, "Brother's Keeper", which focused on how the rural community rallied behind the accused Adelbert Ward, his trial, and its outcome. Even though they were in their sixties, the community referred to the Ward brothers as "boys", partly because they'd known them since boyhood, and partly due to their simple intellect. Their existence was hardscrabble. Both in the sense of hard work, and in the sense that playing Scrabble would have been very hard for them.Taking these raw materials, Jon Clinch fleshes out a back-story for his fictional Ward avatars, the Proctors. In Clinch's novel, there are only three brothers, not four. And there's a sister who has escaped their rough way of life. Watching the documentary, I noted some of the real life details that Clinch used to color the story. The school bus used as a poultry coop. The stubborn barn door. The neighbor who took the "boys" under his wing. The way one of the brothers would tear batting from the old couch and roll it into little balls. The jars full of tobacco spit. The way the neighbors would shy away from the boys' odor when they'd eat at the diner.The novel is less story oriented and more of a portrait of how such a family came to be, and how they survive. Clinch skips around in time from 1932 to 1990, each chapter having a year as its title, and with sub-chapters giving the event under consideration from a particular character's point of view, like an oral history. Thrown into the mix is a nephew, Tom, and the marijuana growing operation he sets up on his uncles' property, paying for the privilege by introducing Uncle Vernon to some smokable "cancer medicine".After the novel gets going, the action splits into a few continuing narratives, offering some suspense. One thing the novel doesn't do is give you closure on the outcome of the trial of Creed (the Adelbert Ward avatar). For that, watch the movie.After reading Clinch's first novel, Finn, and this one, I see that Clinch is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers.
    • 5/5
      The aged Proctor brothers live in squalid disarray on a rundown farm in rural upstate NY. The story opens with oldest brother Vernon dying in his sleep but the medical examiner has raised some question as to whether or not it was a natural death after all and they question younger brother Creed. That leaves feeble-minded middle brother Audie. Del Graham, the State Police officer arriving to investigate, notes:”The house smelled like cow manure and dry rot and spoiled food. Like tobacco and burnt rope and rat droppings. Like old men and sickness and death….He walked past the old man who sat on the porch with his long white beard pooling in his lap and his hands knotted over his hairless scalp, and he went through the open front door as into a mouth full of rotted teeth. The disarray and the stink. The order and the purposefulness gone to no use in the end.” (Page 18)Did I mention that these men slept together…in the same bed? Since they were boys. So the question becomes not did Creed kill his brother but the more complicated, how do people live like this in apparent ignorant bliss? And Clinch utilizes pitch-perfect prose to tell this story---gritty, unsentimental, stark and tenacious. After opening with that death, Clinch goes on to tell the story of three generations of the Proctor family and it’s in the telling of the story that we realize what a talent Clinch is. The narrative is told through multiple viewpoints, and shifts back and forth in time from 1932 to the year of Vernon’s death, 1990. In the hands of a less skillful writer this kind of format could be a disastrous, convoluted and mawkish tale but in Clinch’s hands it comes through beautifully and seamlessly and had me furiously turning pages. Multi-layered; haunting, gritty prose and a story that might seem unbelievable if it weren’t for the fact that it was based on the true story of the Ward brothers of Munnsville, NY and very highly recommended..
    • 4/5
      Jon Clinch first caught the literary world’s attention with his 2007 debut novel, Finn, a deliciously gory tale about Huck Finn’s father that provided the details Mark Twain could only hint at. That one probably shocked more than a few fans of Twain’s story. Kings of the Earth is Clinch’s 2010 follow-up to Finn, and in a different way, it is every bit as shocking and surprising as its predecessor.Set in upstate New York from the years of the Great Depression through 1990, Kings of the Earth is the story of three brothers who still work the farm that has been in their family for more than six decades. None of the now-elderly men ever married and they, in fact, still sleep together on the same mattress they shared as children. The men eke out a meager living from the small herd of dairy cows they own but have lived in isolation for so long that the rest of the world left them behind a long time ago. Since the passing of their mother - and their only sister’s escape into marriage and a respectable home of her own, the brothers live in complete squalor. So seldom do they bathe, wash their clothing, or clean the room in which they live, that townspeople avoid them even to the point of not wanting to take their smelly currency in trade.Their little world is shattered when one of the brothers is found dead in the bed they share. Suddenly, the surviving brothers (one is mentally slow and finds it difficult to speak and the other is very persuadable) have to face outsiders with questions about what happened during the night their brother died. When investigators decide that a crime likely has been committed, the two elderly men prove incapable of defending themselves against the accusation.Kings of the Earth is told from multiple points-of-view in a burst of short chapters (many of which are barely half a page long) that flash to scenes occuring between 1932 and the present day. Some of the chapters are first person narratives of family members, neighbors, and investigators; others are told in third person but focus on events directly experienced by these same secondary characters. In this manner, bits and pieces of the hardscrabble brutality of Proctor family history is revealed by their sister, mother, father, brother-in-law, nephew, near neighbors, and criminal investigators. As in Finn, Jon Clinch pulls no punches here. His story hints at the violation of a sexual taboo or two, and because of its extremely short chapters and constant switching between narrators, it can be a little jarring at times. The book’s ending will not please everyone, but Kings of the Earth is most certainly not a story that readers will quickly forget. This one is not for the squeamish - but fans of mysteries featuring well developed characters will be happy they discovered it.
    • 5/5
      Jon Clinch seals his reputation as an incredibly gifted storyteller, by providing one of the most moving reads I've experienced in a good while. Living in a kind of time capsule, three brothers' lives are turned upside down with the death of one of the brothers. Their way of living in apparent poverty on a rural farm comes into question when the brother's death becomes a homicide. Clinch has managed to provide a part murder mystery part commentary on the way we live our lives that is sure to move readers.
    • 5/5
      Apparently Jon Clinch likes a “jumping off place” when he sets out to write a novel. In Finn, his first novel, he took Twain’s few references to Pap Finn and Huck’s wretched home life, and invented a back story that felt dead solid perfect. If he’d told us he found an outline and extensive notes for that story in a trunk in Samuel Clemens’s attic, I would not have doubted it for a second. Now, for his second effort, Clinch has used for his springboard some basic elements of a true story---the circumstances surrounding the death of a man named William Ward on a farm in upstate New York in 1990---and landed firmly on his feet once again. Only it’s his readers who get the prize: a stunning novel populated by people such as most modern readers will never have encountered. In reality, Bill Ward lived in what was charitably described as a “dilapidated farmhouse” with his three brothers, the youngest of whom, Delbert (IQ 68), was eventually tried for murder (there was evidence that Bill may have been suffocated or strangled) amid the sort of media circus we’ve all come to recognize. In fictionalizing the story, Clinch has chosen to eliminate one brother, and ignore the trial, the media and the flocks of “city folks” who came to watch, concentrating instead on the grim facts of life for the family he calls the Proctors, dirt poor in a very literal sense of the word. Believe me when I tell you, you will smell these men. In the words of their compassionate neighbor, Preston Hatch, “Outdoors is no different from indoors to them, except outdoors there’s more breeze and it smells better. Even in the barnyard.” I know there will be readers who find it difficult to believe any humans “choose” the way of life described in this novel, but in my childhood I knew people who lived almost as primitively as the Proctors (although usually with slightly more regard for the sanctity of hot water and soap), as well as those others whose accommodation and acceptance lent a certain dignity to that stained and encrusted existence. For this reason, perhaps, I truly appreciate what Clinch has done, and what he has not done, in bringing his characters and their story to life. He hasn’t invented anything; rather he has opened the blinds on a world where these people live and breathe, and allowed us to watch from a comfortable distance so that we can bear to see it. In structure and content comparisons to Faulkner are inevitable, and appropriate. Kings of the Earth is told from multiple perspectives, including that of each brother; their younger sister Donna, who left the farm for education, marriage and cleanliness; the siblings’ long-dead parents; neighbors Preston and Margaret Hatch; the State Police captain who investigated the potential crime; and several other members of the local community. Each individual voice sounds clear and true, and there isn’t a false note to be heard.
    • 5/5
      Kings of the Earth may be written in simple prose, but the themes of this book are complex and thought-provoking. Though I finished the book yesterday, I am still trying to sort through it all a day later. Hopefully, I can muster up a good enough review to compel people to read this book. It's powerful and a damn good story.The book revolves around three unmarried brothers who live on a dairy farm in northern New York. Raised poor, they live a simple, sheltered life. They think nothing of not bathing, sharing the same bed or riding a tractor to town. They smell, have rotten teeth and work their fingers to the bone. One night, the oldest man, Vernon, dies in bed with his two brothers along side of him. As part of procedure, Vernon's body was taken to the medical examiner, who determines that Vernon may have been strangled, forcing the police to take a hard look at Vernon's brothers: Audie, a simple-minded man with poor linguistic skills, and Creed, an unsophisticated man who doesn't easily make associations or connections. Did one of Vernon's brothers kill him?The book is told from a myriad of perspectives - each one with its own voice and personality. The brothers alternate their stories and histories (I always liked Audie's chapters). The reader also meets Preston, the boys' neighbor who acts as an unofficial guardian to them; Donna, the boys' sister who lives in town; Tom, the boys' nephew who is growing marijuana on their farm - and many other characters. Surprisingly, the multiple viewpoints are not confusing and add a great deal of depth to the story.Kings of the Earth is not merely a "who done it" - but a look at a way of life much simpler than ours. By the novel's end, I was moved by each character in some way, especially Vernon, Audie and Creed. None had an easy life, by our standards, but they didn't see it that way. They just endured. Kings of the Earth is gritty, written in a style like Cormac McCarthy or Robert Olmstead, but will touch your heart and your soul. I can't recommend this book highly enough.
    • 4/5
      I really liked this novel, more than I expected to. I loved most of the voices, especially Preston. He is a good-hearted neighbor and wise. The story is told by the three Proctor brothers (Vernon, Audie, and Creed) and their younger sister (Donna) as well as by their neighbors (Preston and Margaret), and various relatives and involved characters. Set in extremely rural upstate New York, the story centers around the suspicious death of Vernon but it really tells the story of a family isolated from mainstream society. Their absolute lack of awareness (or concern) regarding other people's views of them - and even simple customs of daily life (Creed seems surprised that the ketchup just comes for free with the meat loaf in the restaurant) is charming and frightening. The story is well-told and the characters fall easily into sympathetic and not-so-much. It's easy to dislike the younger generation, characterized by greed, conceit, and sloth. And the ending left me feeling sad but not disheartened. The world is cruel, yes, but there are redeeming souls to be found.
    • 4/5
      “There’s always some killin’ you got to do around the farm.”Tom WaitsOn a ramshackle dairy farm, in upstate New York, live three brothers. Seasoned bachelors, unkempt and taciturn. One morning, the oldest Proctor brother is found dead, in the same fetid bed that he shared with his siblings. He had been ill, so it wasn’t a surprise, but once the police are called in, suspicions arise.This dark, atmospheric tale is told through a chorus of voices, spanning over fifty years, following the lives of the Proctor family. Each chapter is an alternating voice, setting different tones and perspectives. My favorite of these, is Preston, an elderly neighbor who assists the brothers, with unremitting kindness and attention. There is mystery here, along with a stark look at the human condition, focusing on individuals who cannot or refuse to change.Actually this novel is loosely based on a true incident, which is explored in an excellent documentary called “Brother’s Keeper”, which was released in the 90s.
    • 3/5
      Desperate and dreary, the life of three elderly brothers living together gets analyzed by the law when Vernon is found dead in a bed that all three of them share. Although the death could be considered old age, natural passing of a hard working milk farmer or suffocation by one of the other two brothers this story is told in an interwoven tale by all characters of the book. The story is the current review of how Vernon could have or did die, with an undercurrent story of the brothers’ nephew who utilizes the brothers’ property to harvest his own illegal lifestyle. Although Clinch writes the chapters short, he interchanges between the first and third person often as well as vaulting from 1932 through 1990. This book requires some concentration for the reader to keep up with the constant changing of time and point of view, so it may not be a book for everyone.
    • 5/5
      I will drive the New York State Thruway hundreds of times more in my lifetime (west to east & back). Never will I look at the many dilapidated, sad, dying farms along the way in the same manner ever again. The three Proctor brothers. What can I say about them? Just read the book and find out for yourself. Excellent writing.
    • 4/5
      The Short of It:Stark, gritty but beautiful to behold.The Rest of It:At the beginning of the year, I read and reviewed Finn, which was Clinch’s debut novel. I knew then, that I’d be looking for his next book and sure enough, Kings of the Earth managed to find its way into my hands.Kings of the Earth tells the story of the Proctor brothers, Vernon, Audie and Creed. The Proctors live on a dilapidated farm in upstate New York. Vernon, the oldest Proctor, believes he is dying of the same cancer that took his mother many years ago. Audie is feeble-minded and often oblivious to what’s going on around him. Creed is the youngest, yet the only one who’s seen the “real” world, so his time on the farm is especially tragic."Work and woe had done to these men not their worst but just their usual, which was enough." (152)Besides the boys, there is a sister, Donna. Donna somehow manages to slip away from farm life and lives with her husband in a nearby town. She visits the boys often and does what’s needed on her end, but she is careful and keeps her distance when possible. Mostly as a protective measure because it’s clear that she loves her brothers dearly.The story opens with Vernon’s death. It’s assumed that cancer is the cause, but an autopsy says otherwise. Clinch tells the story in short, snippets. Not chapters really, but brief, alternating points of view. We hear from the brothers, Donna, the parents, the neighbors and law enforcement while going back and forth in time.Although this method of storytelling is complex and not easy to pull off, Clinch manages to do it beautifully. Clinch’s description of farm life left me with dust on my shoes and a bit of grit in my mouth. I have a term that I like to use for novels like this, “atmospheric fiction.” The other books that I’ve read that have fallen into this category are Cormac McCarthy’s Outer Dark and Child of God. All of them being incredibly detailed and rounded with rough edges.Although very rich, and nicely told, I was expecting (and wanting) a slightly different ending. However, I sat on my reaction for several weeks and let it roll around in my head. Now that some time has passed, I see the appropriateness of the ending. It really could not have ended any other way.I was not aware of it as I was reading the book but the Proctor brothers are loosely based on the Ward brothers who also lived on a rural farm in upstate New York.If you choose to pick-up this book, I don’t think you will be disappointed and in fact, you may find a new favorite author to add to your list.
    • 4/5
      Do you remember the documentary "Brother's Keeper" about the Ward Brothers, elderly dairy farmers of upper New York state? I saw it years ago but still remember the shock of seeing men in America in modern times living in such a state of filth and backwardness. Here, Jon Clinch fictionalizes their story and adds heart to show the bond between brothers. The short, quick changes of narrators and timeframes carried me along like a slow-moving river flowing further into their lives. The author builds suspense and patience is required, but for me, I was emotionally rewarded and left with a longing for the old-fashioned connections of love and compassion that are found within the pages of this book.