Sad and funny and weird and beautiful. It is a strange tale. The turns of the plot are often unexpected, but always culturally and emotionally relevant.

Yuri reminds me of a lot of people I have known.

Maybe Mr. Douglas and I grew up in different souths, but as a native South Carolinian, with family in Kentucky and Mississippi, I really didn’t relate much to the situations presented by the movie. Yes, the film appeared to attempt to showcase Mr. Douglas’s understanding of The South, but I found that understanding to be alien and even hollow. The action seemed staged at points (Was that “random” old man/known southern author the crew picks up on the road trying to pull one over on us, or what?) I ain’t never met nobody like the people in that there film.

Also, though the music was enjoyable, I don’t understand why the majority of the artists weren’t even from the south.

Still, the movie was interesting, though more as a work of art than as a documentary. It just disappointed me a bit.

I really enjoyed this book. I picked it up at the library not really knowing what I was getting into (all I had read was that it was an alternate history starting with the European plague), and immediately got sucked into the story. It isn’t perfect, sure, but, still definitely worth the haul.