Did you ever read a book that was so apparently simple you raced through it and then said, "I have to read that again"? That was my reaction to Kinfolks. Each story is complete on the surface, but it has hidden depths of character, conflict, and history. By following a boy to manhood in his Appalachian family, Gurney Norman says more about the culture of the area and the devastation that coal mining (and the collapse of the industry) have left behind than all the nonfiction books I have read about this region so far. And the stories are gems of fiction.