{"product_id":"caribou-island-a-novel-isbn-9780061875731","title":"Caribou Island: A Novel","description":"“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 \u003cem\u003eA Good Scent from a Strange Mountain\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Exceptional….An unflinching portrait of bad faith and bad dreams.” —Ron Rash, author of \u003cem\u003eBurning Bright\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eSet against the backdrop of Alaska’s unforgiving wilderness, \u003cem\u003eCaribou Island \u003c\/em\u003eis 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, \u003cem\u003eLegend of a Suicide\u003c\/em\u003e, Vann takes up the mantle of Louise Erdrich, Marilyn Robinson, and Rick Moody, delivering a powerfully wrought, enthrallingly emotional narrative of struggle and isolation.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e | \u003cp\u003eOn a small island in a glacier-fed lake on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, Gary and Irene’s marriage is unraveling. Following the outline of Gary’s 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBrilliantly drawn and fiercely honest, \u003cem\u003eCaribou Island\u003c\/em\u003e is a drama of bitter love and failed dreams—an unforgettable portrait of desolation, violence, and the darkness of the soul.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“The reader’s 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.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOlivia Laing, New Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Vann forces us to watch, to pay attention. He refuses to provide his characters—or us—with 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.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKevin Grauke, Philadelphia Inquirer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Reaffirms Vann as a talented conjurer of the natural world, and of our nakedness in the face of its power and cruel impassivity.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eIan Crouch, New Republic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Vann’s beautiful, spare portrait of a marriage’s end casts a singular spell.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePeople\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eCaribou Island\u003c\/i\u003e is a beautiful, richly atmospheric if unsettling novel, and deserves to consolidate Vann’s position among America’s literary high flyers.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMelanie McGrath, London Evening Standard\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“As bleak as an Alaskan winter, but it also wields an unforgiving, elemental power that is breathtaking to read.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDoug Johnstone, Independent (UK)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Vann summons an atmosphere of terrestrial and emotional permafrost so intense that it’ll freeze your bones.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLee Randall, Scotsman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Moving, powerful . . . Vann’s people are hurtling irretrievably toward a dark outcome, and while putting the book down might save you from it, you can’t stop reading, just as you can’t unlearn its truths.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCaitlin Roper, Los Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eCaribou Island\u003c\/i\u003e builds to an horrific climax and stands as an engrossing and disturbing work of art.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAlan Cheuse, NPR\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“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.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Daily Post (New Zealand)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[David 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+” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSheerly Avni, San Francisco Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[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+” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSheerly Avni, San Francisco Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[Vann uses] American landscape as a metaphor to tremendous effect. . . . Vann’s brilliance as a writer lies in his willingness to expose everything. . . . A writer to read and reread; a man to watch carefully.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Economist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“David Vann’s \u003ci\u003eCaribou Island\u003c\/i\u003e is my favorite novel of the past few years.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCaitlin Roper, Paris Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Beautifully gloomy….Compelling….[\u003ci\u003eCaribou Island\u003c\/i\u003e] 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 character’s emotional distress.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTyrone Beason, Seattle Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“It’s 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.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRobert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“In this exceptional first novel by the celebrated author of \u003ci\u003eLegend of a Suicide\u003c\/i\u003e, an oncoming Alaska winter becomes metaphor as a troubled marriage moves implacably toward a bleak reckoning. \u003ci\u003eCaribou Island\u003c\/i\u003e is an unflinching portrait of bad faith and bad dreams.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRon Rash, author of Burning Bright\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“When writing about landscapes, David Vann writes with a poetry born of connectedness, of deep observation.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMax Winter, Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Compared to \u003ci\u003eCaribou Island\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Road\u003c\/i\u003e is grim-lit lite. . . . Welcome to Vann’s demon land.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eIan Sansom, London Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Explodes in a tremendously disturbing conclusion. The ending of \u003ci\u003eCaribou Island\u003c\/i\u003e is amply foreshadowed, but the minor incidents that build to it are so believably presented that it still has the capacity to shock.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSam Sacks, Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Vann keeps the pages turning with the skill of the best mystery novelists.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePatrick Condon, Associated Press\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eCaribou Island\u003c\/i\u003e gets to places other novels can’t touch. . . . Though it wears the clothes of realism—the beautiful exactness of the language, the unerring eye for detail—it takes us someplace darker, older, more powerful than the daylit world.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKevin Canty, New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘’Everything that made \u003ci\u003eLegend\u003c\/i\u003e so absorbing, and rightly acclaimed, is here deepened and strengthened. . . . Jonathan Franzen’s \u003ci\u003eFreedom\u003c\/i\u003e . . . feels like a soap opera in comparison. . . .  \u003ci\u003eCaribou Island\u003c\/i\u003e is a novel of fine artistry and stark emotional truth—full of our darkest currents and faintest sounds.’’ - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTom Gatti, Times (London)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Approach David Vann’s first novel. . . with a mixture of fascination and fear. . . . Although he’s a graceful writer, he never spins the kind of poetic prose that infects too many literary novels with distracting prettiness. . . . For a few moments after this perfectly choreographed horror, it’s impossible to say anything at all.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRon Charles, Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Transfixing and unflinching. . . . Full of finely realized moments. . . . Comparison with Cormac McCarthy is fully justified.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eToby Lichtig, Times Literary Supplement (London)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eLegend\u003c\/i\u003e earned him the acclaim of being one of the best writers of his generation. His first novel is a worthy successor. . . . \u003ci\u003eCaribou Island\u003c\/i\u003e gives us a climax as haunting and realized as any in recent fiction.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWayne Harrison, San Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Bleak, beautifully written and bitterly funny. . . . What really distinguishes Vann’s 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.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJake Kerridge, Financial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Both [\u003ci\u003eCaribou Island\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLegend of a Suicide\u003c\/i\u003e] are intense tragedies set against an unforgiving landscape. Both are delivered in clear, lyric prose. . . . Vann isn’t delivering happy endings, but he is delivering life in crystalline, unforgettable prose.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRobin Vidimos, Denver Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Vann is a poet of the animal swings between men and women struggling for the upper hand.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKaren R. Long, Cleveland Plain Dealer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Beautifully gloomy. . . . Compelling. . . . [\u003ci\u003eCaribou Island\u003c\/i\u003e] 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 character’s emotional distress.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTyrone Beason, Seattle Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“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.’” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“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.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMike Dunham, Anchorage Daily News\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Greatness has arrived: \u003ci\u003eCaribou Island\u003c\/i\u003e is a powerful first novel of love, lust, and regret set on an island near Soldotna, a fishing town on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.... Vann slowly and quietly builds the drama toward an emotional gut-punch of an ending—think Cormac McCarthy on ice.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOutside Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An existential page-turner and literary breakthrough. . . . The novel’s primal power, moral depth, and narrative command show the author making a big leap.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDon McLeese, Kirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A taut and riveting study of isolation, insanity, and violence.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBret Anthony Johnston, Men's Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“It’s 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. \u003ci\u003eCaribou Island\u003c\/i\u003e is deeply in touch with the same dark truths of the human condition as his remarkable story collection, \u003ci\u003eLegend of a Suicide\u003c\/i\u003e, and in the longer form he gives the reader sustained, rich joy. Yes, joy. Vann knows the darkness but he writes from the compassionate light of art.  This is an essential book.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRobert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Vann’s brilliance lies in his willingness to expose all. . . . Desolate, violent, heartbreaking. . . . A striking novel filled with the violence borne of a bitter life.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews (Starred Review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44887935975653,"sku":"NP9780061875731","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780061875731.jpg?v=1730227777","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/caribou-island-a-novel-isbn-9780061875731","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}