Morgan writes near-perfect prose, whether she’s describing the mountains of Kentucky or sex or the acute longing for consolation that brings impoverished farmers together at church each Sunday. If we can all agree that it’s a struggle to write well about sex, or about God, then we’d all do well to spend some time with C.E. Morgan’s novel, one of the most astonishing fiction debuts of recent years ... While the dangers posed to the farm ostensibly drive the plot forward through the long, parched summer – and Morgan’s evocative language is perhaps at its sharpest and clearest when describing the unforgiving landscape that surrounds Aloma—the book is essentially a study in loneliness ... This first novel is written with all the deceptive simplicity of a poem and yet the incantatory resonance of a prayer.
As the story unfolds, descriptions are so vivid, yet so integrated and organic, that the reader can almost feel the lassitude of stifling humid air, smell the rich, warm earth, and see the furrowed fields, the dark mountains in the distance ... The level of poetic detail makes All the Living a slow, seductive dive into another time and place, a deep, quiet place foreign to the frantic pace of contemporary urban life ... In sharp contrast is the dialogue. With its jarring grammatical lapses and rough syntax, each conversational exchange can be a tough slog for those with a keen ear for proper usage. However, Morgan, a native Kentuckian, gets the rhythms just right and makes graceful transitions ... But while the writing can be exquisite, the story line of All the Living is less affecting, though it has a subtle emotional pull. Less plot-driven than slow-moving reflection, it tracks a kind of coming of age.
...the writing is simply astonishing: The way small movements betray a character, the effects of hard labor, the damaging power of communication withheld. It is the writing of a much older (at times, even world-weary) author. Descriptions of the landscape of the rural South remind a reader of Willa Cather. The characters’ utter lack of a sense of entitlement calls to mind Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre ... How is it possible for a young writer to know so much about self-sacrifice?
All the Living is not quite a southern gothic—it has none of the warp, satire, and frank social comment of, say, Flannery O’Connor’s or Eudora Welty’s fiction—and Morgan does not delve, as Marilynne Robinson does, into the backlog of town and family history, though her writing possesses something of Robinson’s numinous style. This novel is, instead, a study of feeling bound up with place ... Morgan at once probes and tempers this privation in rich, poetic prose. She knows the land and her characters in minute detail and sets them forth with startling, lyric certainty ... Her prose is both earthbound and hymnlike, with the slight inflection of southern scripture
But here was a first novel so self-assured and unto itself, so unswerving in its purpose, so strummed through with a peculiar, particular, electrifying sound, that I found myself reading in a state of highest perplexity, and also gratitude and awe ... It's a novel that makes you think on all of that anew, and that spares nothing and no one in the process ... This is the story, and it's a very good story. But it's the language that gets you. Austere and full of losses.
Chronicling a young woman’s self-discovery through the promise of love and the inevitable disappointments that ensue, Morgan’s spare but intense narrative is a poetic meditation that burrows to our most basic human emotions ... While Morgan’s publisher rightly compares her to Marilynne Robinson and Annie Proulx, a more apt equation might be Annie Dillard, for this talented young writer can take a reader’s breath away with her clear, precise depiction of the natural world. In this elegant, impressive debut, Morgan deftly traverses the jagged fissures of love and seeks to locate the primal bonds between the human soul and the world it inhabits.
Her writing is ambitious, sometimes overly so. She is ready to turn words to her purpose, and while this inventiveness usually serves her, it sometimes falls flat. However, these failures are clearly the marks of a strong young writer testing her talent ... All the Living is a timeless story in many ways, and the novel betrays few clues as to a specific time or location, though it seems to be set in Kentucky or Virginia in the not-too-distant past.
All the Living isn’t a feminist fable wrapped in a Gothic romance; it’s a morality play, slow-moving and considered ... With its Appalachian setting and atmosphere of quiet, All the Living puts one in mind of the novels of Tony Earley ... Morgan does love a lyrical description, as when Aloma walks into the neglected farmhouse for the first time. 'Over her head a porch fan hung spinless, trailing its cobwebs like old hair, its spiders gone' ... And sometimes she goes overboard with the pretty phrases ... But Morgan hits more than she misses, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with swinging for the linguistic fences.
Young Aloma's growing understanding of love and devotion in the midst of deep despair is delicately and persuasively rendered through the lens of belief—be it in religion, relationships or music. Morgan's prose holds the rhythm of the local dialect beautifully, evoking the land, the farming lifestyle and Aloma's awakening with stirring clarity.
A somber, heartfelt and flawed debut from Kentucky resident Morgan ... Will she stay with him, or will she go? This is the question at the heart of this story, but some readers may not be willing to stick around for the answer. Morgan is an earnest and creative writer, but she lacks the kind of discernment needed to propel a novel ... And her narrative suffers from a tendency to describe everything in lyrical, lavish detail ... Wearying.
