Synopses & Reviews
The prize-winning author of Legend of a Suicide delivers his highly anticipated debut novel.
On a small island in a glacier-fed lake on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, a marriage is unraveling. Gary, driven by thirty years of diverted plans, and Irene, haunted by a tragedy in her past, are trying to rebuild their life together. Following the outline of Gary's old dream, they're hauling logs to Caribou Island in good weather and in terrible storms, in sickness and in health, to build the kind of cabin that drew them to Alaska in the first place.
But this island is not right for Irene. They are building without plans or advice, and when winter comes early, the overwhelming isolation of the prehistoric wilderness threatens their bond to the core. Caught in the emotional maelstrom is their adult daughter, Rhoda, who is wrestling with the hopes and disap-pointments of her own life. Devoted to her parents, she watches helplessly as they drift further apart.
Brilliantly drawn and fiercely honest, Caribou Island captures the drama and pathos of a husband and wife whose bitter love, failed dreams, and tragic past push them to the edge of destruction. A portrait of desolation, violence, and the darkness of the soul, it is an explosive and unforgettable novel from a writer of limitless possibility.
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“Vanns beautiful, spare portrait of a marriages end casts a singular spell.” People
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“A taut and riveting study of isolation, insanity, and violence.” Bret Anthony Johnston, Men's Journal
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“Caribou Island gets to places other novels cant touch. . . . Though it wears the clothes of realismthe beautiful exactness of the language, the unerring eye for detailit takes us someplace darker, older, more powerful than the daylit world.” Kevin Canty, New York Times Book Review
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“Transfixing and unflinching. . . . Full of finely realized moments. . . . Comparison with Cormac McCarthy is fully justified.” Toby Lichtig, Times Literary Supplement (London)
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“Legend earned him the acclaim of being one of the best writers of his generation. His first novel is a worthy successor. . . . Caribou Island gives us a climax as haunting and realized as any in recent fiction.” Wayne Harrison, San Francisco Chronicle
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“Compared to Caribou Island, The Road is grim-lit lite. . . . Welcome to Vanns demon land.” Ian Sansom, London Review of Books
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“[Vann uses] American landscape as a metaphor to tremendous effect. . . . Vanns brilliance as a writer lies in his willingness to expose everything. . . . A writer to read and reread; a man to watch carefully.” The Economist
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“Reaffirms Vann as a talented conjurer of the natural world, and of our nakedness in the face of its power and cruel impassivity.” Ian Crouch, New Republic
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“Caribou Island is a beautiful, richly atmospheric if unsettling novel, and deserves to consolidate Vanns position among Americas literary high flyers.” Melanie McGrath, London Evening Standard
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“As bleak as an Alaskan winter, but it also wields an unforgiving, elemental power that is breathtaking to read.” Doug Johnstone, Independent (UK)
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“Vann summons an atmosphere of terrestrial and emotional permafrost so intense that itll freeze your bones.” Lee Randall, Scotsman
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“Greatness has arrived: Caribou Island is a powerful first novel of love, lust, and regret set on an island near Soldotna, a fishing town on Alaskas Kenai Peninsula.... Vann slowly and quietly builds the drama toward an emotional gut-punch of an endingthink Cormac McCarthy on ice.” Outside Magazine
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“Vanns brilliance lies in his willingness to expose all. . . . Desolate, violent, heartbreaking. . . . A striking novel filled with the violence borne of a bitter life.” Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
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“Beautifully gloomy….Compelling….[Caribou Island] triumphs in its juxtaposition of claustrophobia-inducing relationships against the forbidding vastness of our 49th state….Vann uses chiseled phrases and verb-less declarations to evoke the natural ruggedness of the setting as well as the characters emotional distress.” Tyrone Beason, Seattle Times
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“Moving, powerful . . . Vanns people are hurtling irretrievably toward a dark outcome, and while putting the book down might save you from it, you cant stop reading, just as you cant unlearn its truths.” Caitlin Roper, Los Angeles Times
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“The readers awareness of real deaths, real griefs, gives his work something of the lethal intensity of handling an unsheathed knife: at times the power is exhilarating, and at other times it cuts bloodily and to the quick.” Olivia Laing, New Statesman
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“Vann forces us to watch, to pay attention. He refuses to provide his charactersor uswith an easy, happy resolution. Instead, he gives us something much more valuable: an unflinching portrait of what can happen to lives when hopes and ambitions wander off, get lost, and surrender to the merciless cold.” Kevin Grauke, Philadelphia Inquirer
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“Vann keeps the pages turning with the skill of the best mystery novelists.” Patrick Condon, Associated Press
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“Vann is a poet of the animal swings between men and women struggling for the upper hand.” Karen R. Long, Cleveland Plain Dealer
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“Compelling. As the plot moves toward a gruesome finale, the reader is submerged in ‘slow waves of pressure, water compacting but no edge to it.” New Yorker
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“An existential page-turner and literary breakthrough. . . . The novels primal power, moral depth, and narrative command show the author making a big leap.” Don McLeese, Kirkus Reviews
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“Arguably the first literary masterpiece to take place on the Kenai Peninsula. . . . Like a macabre machine, the narrative ratchets ever tighter until the closing image of one final, forlorn hope that will be smashed as soon as the story-telling stops and the reader closes the book.” Mike Dunham, Anchorage Daily News
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“Expect to have to stop and think now and then as answers may be hard to find, but the questions are everywhere. Read it and be prepared to expand your mind.” < i=""> The Daily Post <> (New Zealand)
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“Bleak, beautifully written and bitterly funny. . . . What really distinguishes Vanns work is his feel for his wintry setting. . . . But he is, oddly, just as memorable when describing a soul-crushing afternoon at the local fish cannery.” Jake Kerridge, Financial Times
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“Both [Caribou Island and Legend of a Suicide] are intense tragedies set against an unforgiving landscape. Both are delivered in clear, lyric prose. . . . Vann isnt delivering happy endings, but he is delivering life in crystalline, unforgettable prose.” Robin Vidimos, Denver Post
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“Its rare when a fiction writer of extraordinary literary merit is equally brilliant in both the short story and novel forms. David Vann is a dazzling exception….Vann knows the darkness but he writes from the compassionate light of art. This is an essential book.” Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
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“In this exceptional first novel by the celebrated author of Legend of a Suicide, an oncoming Alaska winter becomes metaphor as a troubled marriage moves implacably toward a bleak reckoning. Caribou Island is an unflinching portrait of bad faith and bad dreams.” Ron Rash, author of Burning Bright
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“[Vann] has come fully into his own voice, from the striking opening scene to the fateful final sentence.... An oddly exhilarating horror story in which human demons spring from the smoke of their own disappointment and regret. Caribou Island earns Vann a seat beside the masters. A+” Sheerly Avni, San Francisco Magazine
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“Caribou Island builds to an horrific climax and stands as an engrossing and disturbing work of art.” Alan Cheuse, NPR
Synopsis
"Dazzling.... Vann knows the darkness but he writes from the compassionate light of art. This is an essential book." --Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
"Exceptional....An unflinching portrait of bad faith and bad dreams." --Ron Rash, author of Burning Bright
Set against the backdrop of Alaska's unforgiving wilderness, Caribou Island is David Vann's dark and captivating tale of a marriage pulled apart by rage and regret. With this eagerly anticipated debut novel, a masterful follow-up to his internationally bestselling short fiction anthology, Legend of a Suicide, Vann takes up the mantle of Louise Erdrich, Marilyn Robinson, and Rick Moody, delivering a powerfully wrought, enthrallingly emotional narrative of struggle and isolation.
Synopsis
On a small island in a glacier-fed lake on Alaskas Kenai Peninsula, Gary and Irenes marriage is unraveling. Following the outline of Garys old dream and trying to rebuild their life together, they are finally constructing the kind of cabin that drew them to Alaska in the first place. But the onset of an early winter and the overwhelming isolation of the prehistoric wilderness threaten their bond to the core.
Brilliantly drawn and fiercely honest, Caribou Island is a drama of bitter love and failed dreams—an unforgettable portrait of desolation, violence, and the darkness of the soul.
Synopsis
“Dazzling…. Vann knows the darkness but he writes from the compassionate light of art. This is an essential book.” —Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
“Exceptional….An unflinching portrait of bad faith and bad dreams.” —Ron Rash, author of Burning Bright
Set against the backdrop of Alaskas unforgiving wilderness, Caribou Island is David Vanns dark and captivating tale of a marriage pulled apart by rage and regret. With this eagerly anticipated debut novel, a masterful follow-up to his internationally bestselling short fiction anthology, Legend of a Suicide, Vann takes up the mantle of Louise Erdrich, Marilyn Robinson, and Rick Moody, delivering a powerfully wrought, enthrallingly emotional narrative of struggle and isolation.
About the Author
David Vann is an internationally bestselling author whose work has been translated into nineteen languages. He is the winner of fifteen prizes, including Frances Prix Médicis étranger, Spains Premi Llibreter, the Grace Paley Prize, a California Book Award, the AWP Nonfiction Prize, and Frances Prix des lecteurs de LExpress. His books—Legend of a Suicide, Caribou Island, Dirt, A Mile Down, and Last Day on Earth—have appeared on seventy best books of the year lists in a dozen countries. A former Guggenheim fellow, Wallace Stegner fellow, John LHeureux fellow, and National Endowment for the Arts fellow, he is a professor at the University of Warwick in England. He has written for the Atlantic, Esquire, Outside, Mens Journal, McSweeneys, the Sunday Times, the Observer, the Sunday Telegraph, and many others, and he has appeared in documentaries for the BBC, Nova, National Geographic, and CNN.