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Cured by Fire Down Home Press
Reviews “In McLaurin's third novel (after Woodrow's Trumpet), a series of tragic accidents unites the destinies of two middle-aged men who have little in common other than their Southern origins and early work in the tobacco fields. Lewis Calhoon is a contractor and ex-college football star who accidentally shoots his wife dead, abandons his young daughter and then compounds the tragedy by becoming a freakish-looking burn victim when he leaves a bedside cigarette unattended during a drunken binge. Elbridge Snipes, meanwhile, is a racial outcast, half black and half Native American, who forfeits his entire family when his alcoholic wife immolates both herself and the couple's young daughters after a financial setback. Fleeing their separate tragedies, the two men meet while living on the streets in Seattle. There, despite his anti-religious cynicism, Calhoon chooses to help his devout companion battle a series of increasingly dangerous lung infections. McLaurin gets solid mileage from the religious contrasts between his two principals and generates a reasonable amount of dramatic tension.” “In their native North Carolina, Lewis, the son of an alcoholic plumber, and Elbridge, a child of mixed race who was abandoned by his mother and raised by his grandfather, share childhood traumas but never meet. Football prowess gets Lewis an education and a start in a construction career. Faith and a penchant for hard work help Elbridge provide a home for his wife and children. The futures of both men change dramatically as tragic accidents destroy their families. In response, Elbridge commits himself to an exhausting journey across the continent, while Lewis loses himself in alcohol. Their encounter among the homeless in Seattle opens the way for each to regain a sense of purpose and peace.” “Brilliant . . . The aching beauty of McLaurin’s word pictures foreshadows the ultimate beauty of the story. McLaurin is a writer of exquisite compassion, who sees the ugliness of life well enough, but in the end writes about ‘the secrets of the stars.’ ” “Fine and unflinching . . . McLaurin has a knack for moving to the heart of the human experience and for doing so with grace and simple eloquence.”
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