Come West and See: Stories
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
An NPR Best Book of 2018
"Devastating.…Grows increasingly bizarre and haunting until it’s left an indelible mark." —Janet Maslin, New York Times
In an isolated region of Idaho, Montana, and eastern Oregon, an armed occupation of a wildlife refuge escalates into civil war. Against this backdrop, Maxim Loskutoff shatters the myths of the West: a lonesome trapper falls in love with a bear; a newly married woman hatches a plot to murder a tree; and an unemployed millworker joins a militia after returning home. Written with “blade-sharp prose” (Electric Literature), the twelve stories in this debut collection expose the simmering rage and resentments of small-town America “with extraordinary eloquence and compassion” (National Book Review).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Loskutoff sets his slightly disturbing debut collection in an alternate present during a new American Civil War led by libertarian Western separatists. As the rebellion in Montana hovers in the background, the author explores the motivations of those who sign up as well as those who become trapped in indecision. The media-shy widow of one of the first rebels to die tries to explain the cause to her children in "Daddy Swore an Oath." Another mother in "We're in This Together You Know, God" recounts the discovery of her daughter's tormenting of the family's horses. Socially awkward 20-something Derek frets over his snake's loss of appetite and his only friend moving away in "Prey." In "Umpqua," Russ declares his support for the rebellion to obscure his inadequacy after sparks fly between his girlfriend and a strapping Midwestern tourist. And in "Harvest," a former soldier and his dead comrade's preteen daughter hide out from federal troops in an underground bunker, though his motivations are less protective than they seem. A persistent focus on sexuality narrows the range of relationships throughout. Nevertheless, Loskutoff's collection presents a chilling glimpse into a plausible future of ravaged American disunion.
