Rhoda

A searing investigation of family, grief, and the indelible wounds passed from father to son.

In semiautobiographical stories set largely in David Vann's native Alaska, Legend of a Suicide follows Roy Fenn from his birth on an island at the edge of the Bering Sea to his return thirty years later to confront the turbulent emotions and complex legacy of his father's suicide.

Vann charts the quiet unraveling of trust as a young boy watches his father grasp at domestic stability. The prose examines the arrival of a twenty-four-year-old stepmother with a shuttered eye who steps into a fractured household.

The narrative frames tense afternoons in a California walnut orchard beside mountainsides of brush. The collection traces the fault lines between parents and children, recording how silence and sudden violence take root within domestic routines.
American Literature: A devastating portrait of family fracture and grief.Coming of Age: Twelve-year-old Roy receives a .30-.30 carbine and a Walkman for his father's wedding, testing his loyalty between his parents and his enigmatic new stepmother.Family Life: Tensions simmer across generations as a fragile marriage unravels.Also by This Author: Caribou Island, Goat Mountain and Dirt.