Serena is described on the cover as a “retelling of Macbeth in Appalachia” and that is the most accurate five-word description that can be given to this book, except in this version, Lady Macbeth quickly outdistances her husband. George Pemberton is the owner of a timber business in 1929, and he and his new wife Serena seek to dominate and to expand this business by any means, often ruthless, necessary. When Serena discovers she cannot bear children, she turns this same ruthlessness towards Pemberton’s illegitimate […]
A Formidable But Evil Woman – And Cannonball
I haven’t seen Winter’s Bone yet, but while reading this, I kept wondering how audiences were going to react to Jennifer Lawrence, America’s sweetheart, as a ruthless bitch. Set in a logging camp in 1929 North Carolina, Serena is a hard woman with no time for sentimentality, and there are definitely things about her to admire. She holds her own among the men,and is often the smartest person in the room. She knows more about logging than most if not all of the men, and she and […]
Ruthless people
I heard about Serena from a Buzzfeed list of books to read before they become movies; as a huge fan of Jennifer Lawrence I knew I’d be seeing the movie so the book climbed my “to read” list. Set in the wilderness of North Carolina in the 1930s, Serena is the story of a wealthy married couple in the timber business who crush anyone who gets in their way. Pemberton impregnates a 17-year old girl, Rachel, before Serena joins him at the logging site but […]