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The Outlanderby Gil Adamson
Staff Pick
The Outlander by Gil Adamson is a wondrous vacation for your mind. With its eccentric characters and luminous prose, this novel is a romping escapade of big fun.
The Outlander is a rare novel. Its beautifully breathless language seduces your attention to the smallest detail. From the first sentence you find yourself running, running with a woman you've just met, for reasons unclear, from pursuers unknown. Yet you don't stop running, nor does she. She runs, in fear and confusion, across fields and up mountainsides, in her mind and through her dubious memory. The frenetic pace carries you through the story and uncovers a world of survival and isolation, brutality, freedom, and love, and introduces you to an extraordinary cast of reprobates, rugged outsiders, and a pair of unusually large, red-headed twins. So incredible is Adamson's description of this journey, I believe The Outlander will be my number one pick for years to come. Review-a-Day (What is Review-a-Day?)"Welcome to The Outlander, an absorbing adventure from a Canadian poet and short story writer who knows how to keep us enthralled. Of course, the Girl Being Chased is one of the most enduring figures of chivalric and chauvinistic literature, a staple of television dramas and horror films (the dark street, those panicked backward glances, that plaintive cry: 'Oh, why did I wear these heels?!'). But Gil is short for Gillian, and her strange and complicated heroine has nothing in common with Hollywood's worn-out damsels in distress." Ron Charles, Washington Post Book World (read the entire Washington Post Book World review) Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:In 1903 a mysterious young woman flees alone across the West, one heart-pounding step ahead of the law. At nineteen, Mary Boulton has just become a widow — and her husband's killer. As bloodhounds track her frantic race toward the mountains, she is tormented by mad visions and by the knowledge that her two ruthless brothers-in-law are in pursuit, determined to avenge their younger brother's death. Responding to little more than the primitive fight for life, the widow retreats ever deeper into the wilderness—and into the wilds of her own mind—encountering an unforgettable cast of eccentrics along the way. With the stunning prose and captivating mood of great works like Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain or early Cormac McCarthy, Gil Adamson's intoxicating debut novel weds a brilliant literary style to the gripping tale of one woman's desperate escape. Review:"Set in 1903, Adamson's compelling debut tells the wintry tale of 19-year-old Mary Boulton ('[w]idowed by her own hand') and her frantic odyssey across Idaho and Montana. The details of Boulton's sad past — an unhappy marriage, a dead child, crippling depression — slowly emerge as she reluctantly ventures into the mountains, struggling to put distance between herself and her two vicious brothers-in-law, who track her like prey in retaliation for her killing of their kin. Boulton's journey and ultimate liberation — made all the more captivating by the delirium that runs in the recesses of her mind — speaks to the resilience of the female spirit in the early part of the last century. Lean prose, full-bodied characterization, memorable settings and scenes of hardship all lift this book above the pack. Already established as a writer of poetry (Ashland) and short stories (Help Me, Jacques Cousteau), Adamson also shines as novelist." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"Adamson's debut work is simply enough, a superb novel....The frayed material of the North American west is rendered in an astoundingly fresh light....[A] condition only occasioned by first rate fiction" Jim Harrison Review:"Enriched by vivid language that reflects Adamson's background as a poet, Outlander is a riveting tale of a woman's thirst for freedom. (Grade: A-)" Entertainment Weekly Review:"A lovingly crafted novel." Kirkus Reviews Review:"The slow unfolding of story and character coupled with lyrical descriptions of the terrain, an occasional touch of bizarre humor, and a multitude of well-chosen historical details will appeal to readers of literary writing as well as historical-fiction fans." Booklist Review:"Authentic historical details, a strong female character running for her life, and a murder-driven plot will appeal to fiction readers....Highly recommended." Library Journal Review:"A remarkable first novel, full of verve, beautifully written, and with all the panache of a great adventure." Michael Ondaatje Review:"The Outlander deserves to be read twice, first for the plot and the complex characters, which make this a page-turner of the highest order, and then a second time, slowly, to savor the marvel of Gil Adamson's writing. This novel is a true wonder." Ann Patchett About the AuthorGil Adamson's acclaimed short fiction and poetry have been widely published in magazines and literary journals. Her two poetry books (Primitive, 1991; and Ashland, 2003) and her collection of stories, Help Me, Jacques Cousteau (1995), received rave reviews. The Outlander is Adamson's first novel. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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