Vernacular; Descriptive
Vernacular
By vernacular, what we mean is sounding like the people—in this case, people living in the Appalachians. The author does what she can to make M.C. sound as Appalachian as possible. For example:
Why come he can't see that spoil is going to fall, when even a Dude out of nowhere can see it? When the kids can. They don't see nothing 'cause it scares them. (3.159)
Hear the difference? She uses "why come he can't see" instead of just "why can't he see." Subtle little changes like this make the characters sound just a little more real, placing them regionally and differentiating between them and people from elsewhere in the world.
Descriptive
This novel is like a model of how to use your five senses to write descriptively. No really—just look at the second paragraph of the novel:
M.C., as he was called, felt warm, moist air surround him. Humidity trapped in the hills clung to the mountainside as the night passed on. In seconds, his skin grew clammy. But he paid no attention to the oppressive heat with its odors of summer growth and decay. For he was staring out over a grand sweep of hills, whose rolling outlines grew clearer by the minute. As he stood on the gallery of his home, the outcropping on which he lived on the mountainside seemed to fade out from under him. (1.2)
See how the author moves from the sense of touch ("warm, moist air") to the sense of smell ("odors of summer growth and decay") to the sense of sight ("he was staring out over a grand sweep of hills)? That's a lot to pack into one paragraph.
And in case you're wondering about the other two senses, just wait until you get to all the hunting and food scenes…