The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake

At the age of 26 Breece D'j Pancake took his own life but left us with a collection of short stories he had written. The stories were published after his death and are set in is home of West Virginia.

The stories are authentic and emotion filled. There is nothing glamorous about the stories in this book but it is real.

Each story talks of different truth of life in rural West Virginia. Stories of life on a failing farm ran by a son that always wanted more out of life but who now must take care of the farm and his ailing parents, a man in love with a women he can never have, the passing of time, men struggling with the idea of life in a small farm town but wanting to get out, and each story draws some type of parallel to Pancake's own life experiences.

This book is raw and takes more time than the thin pages give notion to. There is so much rooted into the words of each short story. Take your time with this one and read deeper into each story. The stories give an insight into Pancake's life that only exist in the pages of these stories.

Memorable Quotes:

“But if life has any definition at all, it is the things that happen to us while we are making plans.”

“I stop in front of the bus station, look in on the waiting people, and think about all the places they are going. But I know they can’t run away from it or drink their way out of it or die to get rid of it. It’s always there, you just look at somebody and they give you a look like the Wrath of God.”

“I feel my fear moving away in rings through time for a million years.”

"I'm going to come back to West Virginia when this is over. There's something ancient and deeply-rooted in my soul. I like to think that I have left my ghost up one of those hollows, and I'll never really be able to leave for good until I find it. And I don't want to look for it, because I might find it and have to leave." - Breece D'J Pancake (From a letter he wrote to his mother)

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