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As soon as I found out that Glenn Taylor was coming to the Festival America in Vincennes, I wanted to read the book who got him to be compared to his fellow writers : Faulkner, Twain and McCullers.
I have to admit I was a little skeptical about this book and the main character, Early Taggart, nicknamed Trenchmouth. Why ? Well, you’ve got to have some guts to write the life of a man who lived 108 years. But you know what ? Glenn Taylor made it happen.
Meet Trenchmouth Taggart, born in 1903 in the West Virginia. He wasn’t two month old when his Mom, a bigot, lost her mind and believed that she had given birth to the son of the Devil and decided to throw him away in a river. But the boy didn’t drown – he was found by the Widow Dorsett, a strong and fearful mountain woman who adopted him. The woman, who had already adopted a little girl, named Crissilda, was one of a kind. Smart, ruthless – she hunt, fished and was one of the biggest producer of moonshine. The boy had a terrible dental affliction : his teeth rot on his gems. The boy was in great pain, and the only way to ease the pain was to rub the gems with moonshine. The widow taught him to hunt and how to survive and fight for his life. The boy grew fast and could master the rifle as no one else. The boy fell in love with a girl from his class whose father was a preacher. One day, Trenchmouth went to the mass and ended up with a snake in his mouth : the Preacher soon believed God had sent this boy for a purpose. The kid, aged 13, didn’t really care about religion but he did enjoy the married women he was able to please their husbands could not.
At 13, he was already 6 foot tall and big enough to go to work in the coal mines. But at that time, the West Virginia was going through a rough period opposing the miners to the coal owners. Trenchmouth eventually joined the union. But his sniper skills were soon to cost him a lot. The young man was exiled to the back-woods of Appalachia’s foothills for nearly twenty five years. The years passed but one day, he eventually went home. And the story goes on for another fifty years … Many lives still awaiting him.
Glenn Taylor writes about that long-forgotten region of the United States – the Appalachian Mountains and its inhabitants, often seen as hillbillies, stupid and ignorant people of the woods. One fascinating part of the book is to find out that American scientists were sent to actually study the inhabitants, born of interracial relationships, of Black, Indian and Irish/Scottish descent as if they were of another species. Trenchmouth was one of them.
Now, folks – is this story true ? Who was Trenchmouth ? The story starts with a journalist coming up to interview this 108 y.old man. Can he be telling the truth ? Or is it a tale ? Here’s a man, a murderer, and whom musicians have written upon a ballad, is he just another liar ? Who can tell ? And what about you, reader ? I, for myself, do believe it.
Here Trenchmouth Taggart’s story, like the best ballads, etches its mark deep upon the memory and yes, Glenn Taylor has definitely Mark Twain’s genes in his DNA. He’s a true storyteller – and he shows you a side of America which hasn’t been shown in years. His people are big, loud and so amicable !
A true American character, trust me.