Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart: A Novel

By M. Glenn Taylor

Meet Trenchmouth Taggart, a man born and orphaned in 1903, a man nicknamed for his lifelong oral affliction. His boyhood is shaped by the Widow Dorsett, a strong mountain woman who teaches him to hunt and to survive the taunts of others. In the hills of southern West Virginia, a boy grows up fast. Trenchmouth sips moonshine, handles snakes, pleases women, and masters the rifle—a skill that lands him in the middle of the West Virginia coal wars. A teenaged union sniper, Trenchmouth is exiled to the back-woods of Appalachia's foothills, where he spends his years running from the past. But trouble will sniff a man down, and an outlaw will eventually run home. Here Trenchmouth Taggart's story, like the best ballads, etches its mark deep upon the memory.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Aug 4, 2009
• ISBN: 9780061964466

M. Glenn Taylor

Glenn Taylor is the author of the novels A Hanging at Cinder Bottom, The Marrowbone Marble Company and The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, GQ, and Electric Literature, among others. Glenn was born and raised in Huntington, West Virginia, and he now lives with his wife and three sons in Morgantown, where he teaches in the MFA Program at West Virginia University.

Reviews for Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart

[kittycunningh-815148 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First novel by this author. I feel like I know the land of West-By-God, now. And like Trenchmouth was a friend of mine.

[patrickgarson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Glenn Taylor has written an engaging addition to the "Americana" genre, that successfully avoids common pitfalls yet still brings some originality to the table. Trenchmouth Taggart is born in Virginia hills, and his life will encompass the better part of a century. Union ally, crack shot, writer, musician and more, his tale is taller than Robert Wadlow. I enjoy this Twain-esque sub-genre, but there's no denying its population often stumbles under the weight of burdensome prose that's all shine and no structure. Taylor, thankfully, does a brisk trade in simile and his writing is probably one of the defining pleasures of the book. He never sacrifices accuracy for colour - and he skirts cliche with facility. I suppose it also helps that - for all the hyperbole of these folk tales - he has a keen insight in people, and isn't afraid to root parts of his story in quieter realities. Indeed, this inner contrast, an understanding that even in stories like this, some things need to be smaller as well as larger than life, kept my interest towards the end as the narrative started to peter out. By that stage, I was attached to Trenchmouth and the other characters. I can't deny, I probably would have enjoyed a novel that dealt more thoroughly with just *one* chapter of Trenchmouth's fabled life, but these books don't offer that, and you have to take them as they are. Short, sharp, fun, and well-written, you could do a lot worse.

[elpaca · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hoping for more out of this. Definitely no Forrest Gump, T. Made a practice of reenacting his own abandonment throughout the book. I am from southern WV although I no longer reside there. I saw ribbons of truth in the narrative, especially the writing around the Mine Wars. However the characters are fringe elements (excepting Sid Hatfield, perhaps)' and not to be confused with your run of the mill inhabitants of the region. And BTW, please remember reviewers that WV is NOT a region. It is a state with a diversified culture. The southern coalfields would be a region within that state. It is what it is.

[laurat81 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I didn't know what to expect from a novel called The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart, but what I discovered was a unique story epically told, just like the best tales in the foothills of Appalachia. The novel covers the life of Trenchmouth Taggart, a wopping 108 years, from his tramatic infancy to his mountainman adulthood in West Virginia. From snake handling to Pulitzer Prize winning, Trenchmouth does it all. Despite being an outlaw on the run for most of his life, the urge to return to his childhood home is hard to ignore.

[heikem_13 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Yes, this is a good one. The story of 'Trenchmouth' Taggart, growing up with a mountain woman who takes him in after his birthmother went mad. She makes her living by distilling moonshine, teaches him to shoot, hunt and be strong in the face of adversary. He becomes a teenage union sniper in the West Virginia coal wars and is consequently exiled into the backwoods of the Appalachian foothills. Of course he is never free, always hunted by his opponents until in the very end he comes back home. Fantastic story, full of life, very colourfully told. A real treat.

[michiy_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While no where near being a perfect book, I was able to get past its shortcomings because I really fell in love with the trenchmouth and the widow, and the setting, the mysticism. I read it for book club, and the interesting coincidence was that all those who did not enjoy the book were older, non-gentile men.

[yhaduong · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this for a book club and was surprised at how engrossing the story is. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Written in 3 parts, the novel follows the life story of Trenchmouth Taggart, born in West Virginia.What I found most appealing was the manner in which the author took the traditional and exaggerated manner of telling tall tales and re-told it in a modern novel. I didn't find the novel fantastical so much as a new telling of old tales. The strength of the story was in the first part of Trenchmouth's life, following his childhood in the hills of West Virginia. It successfully combines exaggerated tales and bits of historical moments in the mining operations of West Virginia.The second and third parts feel a little abbreviated, as if the author needed more time to tell them. Trenchmouth's subsequent incarnations seem too short and not delved into deeply. The writing is solid and fun. For a first time author I thought it was a carefully crafted tale that could have used more depth in the last two parts but overall was thoroughly enjoyable.

[shawnd_72 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Verging on fantastical and repellant, this first novel is a mix of The Beans of Egypt, Maine and Forrest Gump, written in a not-for-the-faint-of-stomach style. The author is clearly writing about a culture he knows, and the deep realism of the coal country ultra-poor is beautifully done and makes this book a must read. Except for some small slices, it's written in the third person, and tracks the protagonist through his life--one might call the book a vicious, scandalous, crude life story. The main character has a number of exploits as well as bad luck raining down on him, with specific skills. The book toggles at times from explaining country living in a Foxfire-esque style to using labor troubles in coal regions before strip mining as a backdrop for the story. Overall, the book tries to do too much, but there are sections where the author gets close to perfection. Warning: includes explicit and disgusting content that might offend your sensibilities.