Robert E. Saunders’ Tales of the Beechy Hollow Great Outdoors Club is a collection of wild, funny, and oddly heartfelt stories centered around a ragtag group of Appalachian misfits who call themselves the Beechy Hollow Great Outdoors Club. The book follows Rob Greenwood, a small-town journalist who returns home to Looneyton, West Virginia, and falls back in with his late father’s eccentric circle of friends, hunters, hikers, and backwoods philosophers who turn every camping trip into a slapstick odyssey. From “Bobcat Boogie,” a harebrained mountain lion hoax gone wrong, to “The Evil Psychic Mule of Devil Ridge,” each story feels like a campfire yarn told by someone who’s laughing too hard to finish their sentence.

This book made me grin like an idiot more than once. Saunders writes with that kind of sly humor that sneaks up on you, mixing tall tales with a sharp understanding of small-town life. The characters are loud and flawed and strangely endearing. Rufus Sneed, the ornery old-timer, might be one of my favorite literary rednecks of all time, and Rob’s dry narration grounds the chaos with a wry self-awareness. What I enjoyed most was the sense of place, the muddy trails, the smell of woodsmoke, the hiss of an old coffee pot in the corner of a rundown diner.

At times, though, the story lingers long on the jokes. I found myself wanting him to dig deeper into Rob’s quiet loneliness. Still, when the humor lands, it really lands. Beneath the goofiness, there’s a current of melancholy, a sense that these characters are clinging to something pure in a world that’s gotten too polished and fast. That emotional undertow surprised me and made the funny parts hit even harder.

Tales of the Beechy Hollow Great Outdoors Club is a gem for anyone who’s ever loved the woods, small-town storytelling, or that peculiar mix of friendship and foolishness that only seems to happen outdoors. It’s for readers who crave laughter with a hint of truth hiding underneath. If you’ve ever told a fish story that grew with every retelling, this book will feel like home.

Pages: 274 | ASIN: B0FTT78W4K