Subduction
A Novel
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
"Utterly unique . . . examines themes of love, intrusion, loss, community and trust against a backdrop of a Makah reservation in the Pacific Northwest." —Ms. Magazine
Selected as a Staff Pick by The Paris Review
Silver Medal winner in the Independent Publisher Book Awards in Multicultural Fiction
Fleeing the shattered remains of her marriage and treachery by her sister, a Latina anthropologist named Claudia takes refuge in Neah Bay, a Native whaling village on the jagged Pacific coast. Claudia yearns to lose herself to the songs of the tribe and the secrets of a spirited hoarder named Maggie. Instead, she stumbles into Maggie's prodigal son Peter, who, spurred by his mother's failing memory, has returned seeking answers to his father's murder. Claudia helps Peter's family convey a legacy delayed for decades by that death, but her presence, echoing centuries of fraught contact with indigenous peoples, brings lasting change and real damage. Through the ardent collision of Peter and Claudia, Subduction portrays not only their strange allegiance after grievous losses but also their shared hope of finding solace and community on the Makah Indian Reservation. An intimate tale of stunning betrayals, Subduction bears witness to the power of stories to disrupt—and to heal.
"Young beautifully and vividly renders the Pacific Northwest, particularly the unique world of Neah Bay. Subduction is at once a thought-provoking meditation on the geography and geology of the natural world and a generous exploration of the natural shifts and movements that shape her characters." —Jonathan Evison, New York Times-bestselling author of Legends of the North Cascades
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Young's gutsy if circumscribed debut takes an outsider's view of the Makah reservation on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Forty-year-old anthropologist Claudia flees Seattle after discovering her husband's adultery with her sister, and returns to the whaling village of Neah Bay, where she'd previously collected songs and stories from the Makah. En route to "Indian Country," she reflects on her childhood in Mexico and compares herself to previous well-meaning but flawed interlopers who came to Neah Bay in the previous two centuries. After arriving, she meets Peter, an underwater welder in his late 30s who is returning home after years away, and the two begin an affair. In passages alternating between Claudia's and Peter's points of view, Young highlights the tension of Claudia's awkward presence in Neah Bay, as she encourages a woman to pose with a mask that doesn't belong to her, and of Peter's return to investigate the murder of his father. Claudia's complicated romance with Peter, as they move at cross purposes, brings her relationship with the community to an impasse, and highlights the limits of her hope for belonging. While Young diligently explores questions about cultural appropriation, in the end her tale falls short by being all about Claudia.
