Synopses & Reviews
Jim Harrison is one of our finest writers, whose robust, tender, and deeply felt fictions like
Dalva,
Legends of the Fall,
The Road Home, and his most recent novel, the widely acclaimed
True North have made their mark on the contemporary American literary landscape. Now he delivers a collection of three novellas infused with all the wisdom and generous spirit that have made him one of our masters.
Witty, earthy, and joyful, The Summer He Didn't Die is a sheer celebration of life and all its magic. In the title novella, "The Summer He Didn't Die," Brown Dog, a hapless Michigan Indian loved by Harrison's readers, is trying to parent his two stepchildren and take care of his family's health on meager resources. "Republican Wives" is a riotous satire on the sexual neuroses of the right, the mystery of why any person desires another, and the irrational power of love that, when thwarted, can turn so easily into an urge to murder. "Where Are We?" mines Harrison's private religion of the sensuous and sensual as integral to the transcendent joy of living.
The Summer He Didn't Die displays wit as sharp and prose as lush as any Harrison has yet written. It is a resonant, hilarious, and joyful ode to our journey on this earth.
Review
"This collection of stories about indigent American Indians, Republican housewives and grisly murder is vintage Harrison rhythmic, intelligent and surprising in its bluntly related twists and turns." Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
Review
"Celebrates life and its magic." Duluth News-Tribune
Review
"An appealing...work..." Library Journal
Review
"Harrison's earthy prose, uniquely evocative of place, is economical, precise, and hearty, and is sometimes startling in its ability to touch on core truths." Booklist
Review
"[T]his candid look back may be of interest to those who care about the writing game or about Jim Harrison's fiercely independent life in particular." Washington Post
Review
"With The Summer He Didn't Die, Jim Harrison solidifies his position as a seasoned chronicler of outdoor life and inner turmoil..." San Diego Union-Tribune
Review
"Jim Harrison cannot write too often....His three novellas packaged in The Summer He Didn't Die will be eagerly received by fans here and abroad..." Minneapolis Star Tribune
Synopsis
The acclaimed author of True North now delivers a collection of three novellas infused with all the wisdom and generous spirit that have made him one of America's masters. Witty, earthy, and joyful, this work is a celebration of life and all its magic.
Synopsis
A sparkling and exuberant collection of novellas from a writer who is one of the contemporary masters of the form, The Summer He Didn't Die is a celebration of love, the senses, and family, no matter how untraditional.
Synopsis
From the author who penned
The Wake of Forgiveness, ten remarkable stories that tackle what it means to be a man.
Synopsis
From the critically acclaimed author of
The Wake of Forgiveness—“a mesmerizing, mythic saga,” as described by the
New York Times—come ten remarkable stories that uncover unexpected beauty in the struggles of the modern American male.
Like Richard Russo, Bruce Machart has a profound knowledge of the male psyche and a gift for conveying the absurdity and brutality of daily life with humor and compassion. Whether they find themselves walking the fertile farmland of south Texas, steering trucks through the suffocating sprawl of Houston, or turning logs into paper in the mills just west of the Sabine River, the men of these stories seek to prove themselves in a world that doesnt always welcome them. Here are men whose furrows are never quite straight and whose hearts are near to bursting with all the desires they have been told they arent supposed to heed.
“Bruce Machart is one of our most ambitious and fearless young writers. With Men in the Making, he has composed a remarkable paean to the complex fragility of the American male. I read these stories in a state of tender amazement.”—Steve Almond, author of Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life
About the Author
Jim Harrison is also the author of four volumes of novellas, The Beast God Forgot to Invent, Legends of the Fall, The Woman Lit by Fireflies, and Julip; seven other novels, The Road Home, Wolf, A Good Day to Die, Farmer, Warlock, Sundog, and Dalva; ten collections of poetry, including most recently Braided Creek, with Ted Kooser, and The Shape of the Journey: New and Collected Poems; and three works of nonfiction, Just Before Dark, The Raw and the Cooked: Adventures of a Roving Gourmand, and the memoir Off to the Side. The winner of a National Endowment for the Arts grant, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Spirit of the West Award from the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association, he has had his work published in twenty-two languages.