The Sawdust Pile: Growing up in Southwest Georgia

Front Cover
iUniverse, Jul 21, 2005 - Fiction - 312 pages
In 1996, Alexander Rumpkin was at the top of his game: he was CEO of America's largest health care organization. His ruthless trampling of people to get there is the story of The Sawdust Pile. Coming of age with two white cousins and a black kid in the segregated South, Alex had none of the tools commonly needed to climb to the top; but he succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams because he allowed nothing and no one to block his path.

The Sawdust Pile is a riveting account of boys and the adults they became. Their contradictory relationships are developed with sensitivity and insight-a realistic portrayal of growing up on both sides of the color line in rural Georgia during the forties and fifties. Transitioning to the nineties and modern Atlanta, this story demonstrates with a vengeance that the boys-with all their faults and strengths-were truly "fathers of the men."

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A sophisticated critic says:

"This is a fast-paced story of boys becoming men and the lifelong consequences of youthful bonding and conflicts. Elements energizing the characters-competition, survival, domination, love, hatred, loyalty, betrayal, religion, sex, and family-are all in the mix, appearing early in this fascinating world and impacting all that follows.

In a highly unusual first novel, the author delivers a bittersweet, provocative probe into the lives of men and women inhabiting The Sawdust Pile-evoking deep emotions, yet satisfying completely."
Jane Penland Hoover
Founder, Greensboro Writers' Guild
Greensboro, Georgia

 

Selected pages

Contents

Section 1
1
Section 2
9
Section 3
21
Section 4
31
Section 5
44
Section 6
55
Section 7
68
Section 8
80
Section 14
172
Section 15
179
Section 16
187
Section 17
196
Section 18
209
Section 19
226
Section 20
237
Section 21
244

Section 9
98
Section 10
106
Section 11
120
Section 12
128
Section 13
151
Section 22
258
Section 23
270
Section 24
286
Copyright

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About the author (2005)

Don Mobley Adams grew up in southwest Georgia and was an in house lawyer for a large Atlanta corporation for 25 years before retiring in 1993. His childhood and adult experiences provided the unique scaffolding for his novel. Living now in central Georgia, he continues to write humorous essays, fiction and poetry.

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