Synopses & Reviews
From the bestselling author of The Women comes an action- packed adventure about endangered animals and those who protect them. Principally set on the wild and sparsely inhabited Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara, T.C. Boyle's powerful new novel combines pulse-pounding adventure with a socially conscious, richly humane tale regarding the dominion we attempt to exert, for better or worse, over the natural world. Alma Boyd Takesue is a National Park Service biologist who is spearheading the efforts to save the island's endangered native creatures from invasive species like rats and feral pigs, which, in her view, must be eliminated. Her antagonist, Dave LaJoy, is a dreadlocked local businessman who, along with his lover, the folksinger Anise Reed, is fiercely opposed to the killing of any species whatsoever and will go to any lengths to subvert the plans of Alma and her colleagues.
Their confrontation plays out in a series of escalating scenes in which these characters violently confront one another, and tempt the awesome destructive power of nature itself. Boyle deepens his story by going back in time to relate the harrowing tale of Alma's grandmother Beverly, who was the sole survivor of a 1946 shipwreck in the channel, as well as the tragic story of Anise's mother, Rita, who in the late 1970s lived and worked on a sheep ranch on Santa Cruz Island. In dramatizing this collision between protectors of the environment and animal rights' activists, Boyle is, in his characteristic fashion, examining one of the essential questions of our time: Who has the right of possession of the land, the waters, the very lives of all the creatures who share this planet with us? When the Killing's Done will offer no transparent answers, but like The Tortilla Curtain, Boyle's classic take on illegal immigration, it will touch you deeply and put you in a position to decide.
Review
Review
Praise for
San Miguel
“Mesmerizing and elegiac…the star of the book is the island itself, San Miguel, in all its glorious barrenness…the island is entirely cut off from civilization for weeks or months at a time. Boyle skillfully captures that tension-filled quietude in the pared-down, mundane details of clearing, cooking, caring for livestock and enduring the tedium of unchanging days…it is a brave stylistic choice that pays off, allowing the reader a visceral experience of what life was like at that time.” —Tatjana Soli, The New York Times Book Review
“An absorbing work of historical fiction based on the lives of two real families who resided on San Miguel island in the 19th and 20th centuries…the intensity of Boyle’s narrative never lets it flag…San Miguel lures you away by yourself, off to a quiet, lonely place, and makes you think about how lives play out and then pass across the natural world.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post
“A saga of women, three women brought to the island by men…Boyle has carved out a beautiful, damp, atmospheric novel, sharp and exacting…[his] spirited novels are a reckoning with consequence laced with humor, insight, and pathos.” —Terry Tempest Williams, The San Francisco Chronicle
“Although his sentences are vivid and vigorous, and his observations are, as always, uncannily precise, the reader is aware not so much of the writer as of the three stalwart women whose rich stories he tells.” —The Atlantic
“Throughout his career, Boyle has shown a fascination with remote, forgotten places as a kind of stage where various shadings of the American character are revealed…As always, he fills his pages with wonderfully precise character studies and lush descriptions of the physical landscape.” —Hector Tobar, The Los Angeles Times
“While the prose remains as exuberant and biting as ever, Boyle has stripped away every trace of his landmark irony to stunning effect…he never suggests that [the Lesters] – or any of these people – deserved their fate. In the past, Boyle has moved characters around like puppets to score satirical points. In San Miguel, he sets them free.” —Jennifer Reese, National Public Radio
“A book about the fallacy of more, of ownership, of second starts…Boyle is one of the most stylish, electric writers around. Here, though, he puts away the razzle-dazzle of his tool kit to write his way into the heart and mind of a woman with diminishing horizons.” —John Freeman, The Minneapolis Star Tribune
“The story of two families who lived on the windiest and wildest of the Channel Islands…the layering of these isolated lives, the archeology of human habitation, the different responses to self-sufficiency make this one of the most satisfying novels in Boyle’s canon.” —Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Magazine
“In T.C. Boyle’s San Miguel, two strong women generations apart are seduced and mistreated by the same powerful entity – not a man but a starkly beautiful, barely inhabited island off the California coast…Boyle portrays the heartbreaking toll San Miguel takes on these couples in a novel as beguiling as the island itself.” —O The Oprah Magazine
Review
Praise for
Sanandnbsp;Miguel andnbsp;
andnbsp;andldquo;Mesmerizing and elegiacandhellip;the star of the book is the island itself, San Miguel, in all its glorious barrennessandhellip;the island is entirely cut off from civilization for weeks or months at a time.andnbsp;Boyle skillfully captures that tension-filled quietude in the pared-down, mundane details of clearing, cooking, caring for livestock and enduring the tedium of unchanging daysandhellip;it is a brave stylistic choice that pays off, allowing the reader a visceral experience of what life was like at that time.andrdquo; andmdash;Tatjana Soli, The New York Times Book Reviewandnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;
andldquo;An absorbing work of historical fiction based on the lives of two real families who resided on San Miguel island in the 19th and 20th centuriesandhellip;the intensity of Boyleandrsquo;s narrative never lets it flagandhellip;San Miguel lures you away by yourself, off to a quiet, lonely place, and makes you think about how lives play out and then pass across the natural world.andrdquo; andmdash;Ron Charles, The Washington Postandnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp; andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;
andldquo;A saga of women, three women brought to the island by menandhellip;Boyle has carved out a beautiful, damp, atmospheric novel, sharp and exactingandhellip;[his] spirited novels are a reckoning with consequence laced with humor, insight, and pathos.andrdquo;andnbsp;andmdash;Terry Tempest Williams, The San Francisco Chronicleandnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;
andldquo;Although his sentences are vivid and vigorous, and his observations are, as always, uncannily precise, the reader is aware not so much of the writer as of the three stalwart women whose rich stories he tells.andrdquo; andmdash;The Atlanticandnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;
andldquo;Throughout his career, Boyle has shown a fascination with remote, forgotten places as a kind of stage where various shadings of the American character are revealedandhellip;As always, he fills his pages with wonderfully precise character studies and lush descriptions of the physical landscape.andrdquo; andmdash;Hector Tobar, The Los Angeles Timesandnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp; andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;
andldquo;While the prose remains as exuberant and biting as ever, Boyle has stripped away every trace of his landmark irony to stunning effectandhellip;he never suggests that [the Lesters] andndash; or any of these people andndash; deserved their fate.andnbsp;In the past, Boyle has moved characters around like puppets to score satirical points.andnbsp;In San Miguel, he sets them free.andrdquo; andmdash;Jennifer Reese, National Public Radioandnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;
andldquo;A book about the fallacy of more, of ownership, of second startsandhellip;Boyle is one of the most stylish, electric writers around.andnbsp;Here, though, he puts away the razzle-dazzle of his tool kit to write his way into the heart and mind of a woman with diminishing horizons.andrdquo; andmdash;John Freeman, The Minneapolis Star Tribuneandnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;
andldquo;The story of two families who lived on the windiest and wildest of the Channel Islandsandhellip;the layering of these isolated lives, the archeology of human habitation, the different responses to self-sufficiency make this one of the most satisfying novels in Boyleandrsquo;s canon.andrdquo; andmdash;Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Magazineandnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;
andldquo;In T.C. Boyleandrsquo;s San Miguel, two strong women generations apart are seduced and mistreated by the same powerful entity andndash; not a man but a starkly beautiful, barely inhabited island off the California coastandhellip;Boyle portrays the heartbreaking toll San Miguel takes on these couples in a novel as beguiling as the island itself.andrdquo; andmdash;O The Oprah Magazineandnbsp;
Synopsis
A superb new collection from "a writer who can take you anywhere" (The New York Times) In the title story of this rich new collection, T.C. Boyle has created so vivid and original a retelling of the story of Victor, the feral boy who was captured running naked through the forests of Napoleonic France, that it becomes not just new but definitive: yes, this is how it must have been. The tale is by turns magical and moving, a powerful investigation of what it means to be human.
There is perhaps no one better than T.C. Boyle at engaging, shocking, and ultimately gratifying his readers while at the same time testing his characters' emotional and physical endurance. The fourteen stories gathered here display both Boyle's astonishing range and his imaginative muscle. Nature is the dominant player in many of these stories, whether in the form of the catastrophic mudslide that allows a cynic to reclaim his own humanity ("La Conchita") or the wind-driven fires that howl through a high California canyon ("Ash Monday"). Other tales range from the drama of a man who spins Homeric lies in order to stop going to work, to that of a young woman who must babysit for a $250,000 cloned Afghan and the sad comedy of a child born to Mexican street vendors who is unable to feel pain.
Brilliant, incisive, and always entertaining, Boyle's short stories showcase the mischievous humor and socially conscious sensibility that have made him one of the most acclaimed writers of our time.
Synopsis
T.C. Boyle's most powerful and fully realized work yet-andquot;terrifically exciting and unapologetically relevantandquot; (The Washington Post).
Principally set on the wild Channel Islands off the coast of California, T.C. Boyle's new novel is a gripping adventure with a timely theme. Alma Boyd Takesue is a National Park Service biologist spearheading the efforts to save the islands' native creatures from invasive species. Her antagonist, Dave LaJoy, is a local businessman who is fiercely opposed to the killing of any animals whatsoever and will go to any lengths to subvert her plans. As their confrontation plays out in a series of scenes escalating in violence, drama, and danger, When the Killing's Done relates a richly humane tale about the dominion we attempt to exert, for better or worse, over the natural world.
Synopsis
The brilliant and acclaimed New York Times bestseller from the author of The Women and When the Killings Done Just off the coast of Southern California, two familiesone in the 1880s and one in the 1930scome to desolate, windswept San Miguel Island in search of self-reliance, freedom, and a new start in their lives. Both Marantha Waters and Elise Lester strive to help their war veteran husbands pursue their dreams but must themselves grapple with the more nebulous hardships of raising a family in brutal isolation. Boyle skillfully captures that tension-filled quietude” (The New Times Book Review) in this lyrical, intimate, and unforgettable novel.
About the Author
T. C. Boyle is the author of eleven novels, including
World's End (winner of the PEN/FaulknerAward),
Drop City (a
New York Times bestseller and finalist for the National Book Award), and
The Inner Circle. His most recent story collections are
Tooth and Claw and
The Human Fly and Other Stories.