AN APPALACHIAN EULOGY

By: B. CAMP

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Zeke Horn was born in the year 1918 in the mountains of east Tennessee. At the age of seven he lost his family and was forced out into an uncaring world with winter fast approaching. Thanks to the help of kind strangers, he was barely able to survive the bitterly cold weather. Out of desperation, but with little hope, a letter was sent to the only relative he knew. His uncle, Abel Horn, responded and Zeke was saved from what would have been a terrible death.

Abel and Zeke set out on the long journey to Abel’s home in Kentucky. Along the way they were joined by a child who they found in circumstances that were very similar to Zeke’s. Zeke and Emma joined Abel’s daughter, Amy, and his wife, Elizabeth, to complete the Horn family.

For many years the Horn family provided the three children the love and the security they needed in order to thrive. Due to outside influences, the traditional mountain way of life was changing. Abel’s farm proved to be an island of peace, stability and tranquility in the midst of an ocean of change. Under the guidance of Abel and Elizabeth the family flourished.

Zeke and Amy were fortunate enough to escape the consequences of the turbulent times but Emma wasn’t so lucky. Her decisions placed her in an untenable situation that led to her separation from the Horn family. The family had forged bonds that time could never destroy and none of them were willing to accept her loss. Thus began a search that was destined to reach far into the future.

Poverty cycle among Appalachian families

Pretty accurate historical influences of poverty in this setting. How people scraped by, coped or gave in to despair.

AI voice recorded. Worst narration ever.

Sadly, I made it through 2.5 hrs of this book but couldn’t finish it. I liked the story and found it informative but the cadence of the AI voice is unbearable. Please don’t let this AI narration be our future!

Accurate representation.

Captured the essence of this area. Lived here for 48 years. Daughter and granddaughter of miners

Lessons in life

I chose this book with no expectations. Within a few chapters I was gripped to the story and the profound simple way of life this story told. Too many of us loose touch with the simple part of life and how profoundly blessed we are in this day and age. This book shows how intelligent mountain people are on what’s important in life and also tells the story of how hard of a life those people lived in those days .

Another AI disaster

The virtual narration is absolutely horrible. The Voice set so slowly as to make the person sound absolutely stupid, words were completely mispronounced, and the meeting of multiple sentences was lost due to where the inflection of the voice was placed. I don’t understand why that can’t be rectified. Also, there is no distinction between the voices of characters. There were many times when I couldn’t figure out who was actually speaking. I had to speed the speaking up just to be able to stand it. The story was boring, so much detail for things that weren’t that important and then at the end when it was amazing what had happened? It was just skimmed over. This was definitely a disappointment.