Synopses & Reviews
At age thirty, Kyle Boelte finds himself living in San Francisco, a city where the summer fog blows inland off the ocean, altering the landscape from moment to moment. Amidst this ever-changing sea of fog, Kyle struggles to remember his brother Kris, who committed suicide in the family's Denver home when Kyle was just thirteen.
In this impressive debut, Boelte sets up a dual narrative: one investigates San Francisco's climate to explain the science behind the omnipresent fog; another explores Kyle's memory as well as letters, notes, newspaper articles, and other artifacts that tell the story of his brother's short life and eventual suicide.
Weaving a complex and engaging story from personal, historical and environmental threads, Boelte's search for meaning takes him to a range of unexpected places: from San Francisco Harbor circa 1901, when fog was responsible for routinely sinking steamships, to a dusty medical library where he studies the grim details of asphyxiation and death by hanging; from the redwood forests where scientists are now learning about fog's ability to sustain life, to a beat up cardboard box containing memories of a long-dead brother.
The Beautiful Unseen is as much a meditation on experiencing loss at an early age as it is a study of the impermanence of memory, the science of fog and the history of San Francisco.
About the Author
Kyle Boelte was born in a small town on the high plains of Kansas, grew up near Denver, Colorado, and moved to San Francisco as an adult. A finalist for the Annie Dillard Award, his writing has appeared in Orion Magazine, The Rumpus, and High Country News.
Exclusive Essay
Read an exclusive essay by Kyle Boelte