Southernmost by Silas House

Reviewed by Ashley

Set shortly after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, when some counties were still refusing to issue marriage licenses for same sex couples, Southernmost introduces us to Asher Sharp, an evangelical pastor.

The book opens with a flood, and we are quickly introduced to Asher as his priorities are laid out. First, save his mother-in-law, who has always been more like a mother to him than his own. Up next, he goes looking for his dog, likely separated from home by the river that rose so suddenly. When his son goes looking for their dog and disappears, Asher’s anxiety reaches a peak, and we know what his ultimate love in life is: his son. He finds his son, helping and being helped by two men who have recently moved into their small town in middle Tennessee, whose house he watched wash away just hours earlier. The men assist Asher when another house sweeps by, two members of his congregation hanging out of a window and calling for help.

Asher takes in the devastation around him and knows that his view of the world is expanding beyond the narrow views he has preached for years.

When he watches his wife turn away the two men who helped his son because she doesn’t agree with their lifestyle, he knows his faith has changed. When he listens to his congregation turn away the two men who risked their own lives to pull some of them from that raging river, solely because the men love each other, he knows his faith has changed. When he faces the guilt he has lived with for years over how he and his mother treated his brother for that same sort of love, he knows his faith has changed.

The divorce is ugly, the custody battle is bitter, and the aftermath leaves him reaching for a new life altogether. He abandons everything he knows, the world he grew up in, and uses the upheaval to take his son and see what else is out there. Following the postcards his brother has sent him over the years- never with a written message, but leading him to writings that have helped him expand his views on the world, they land in Key West.

What follows is a story about a man struggling to understand how to adjust to a world that has moved on without him, learning what it means to grow faster than those you love but slower than society has grown. With a dash of found family and a considerable amount of character growth, Southernmost explores what it means to watch our beliefs change. It examines the things we hold dear and believe in, the things we would do absolutely anything for, and the mistakes we make in trying to stand firm in our faiths. Southernmost asks us to examine our actions and live with the consequences, no matter the outcome.

While I would have loved it if the book had spent more time in Key West or delving into the found family aspect of the story, I absolutely understood that these things weren’t the focus of the book. I did feel the ending was almost rushed, compared to the rest of the book, but honestly, I’m glad that the ending seemed to move as quickly as the flood that opened the book, reflecting the speed at which our lives can change not just from natural disasters, but also through our own decisions and actions.

I checked this book out on a whim, thinking I’d try a few chapters and move on, but instead found myself devouring it in mere hours. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever questioned their beliefs or felt like they’ve outgrown the things they once held true, to anyone who has ever looked at their decisions and been tempted to run away from their problems rather than face them.