Facing the prospect of fatherhood, disillusioned by his fledgling teaching career, and mourning the loss of a fraught former relationship, 25-year-old Francis Mason is a prisoner of his past mistakes. But when his second-grade class discovers a dead body during a field trip to a San Francisco beach, Francis spirals into unbearable grief and all-consuming paranoia. As his behavior grows increasingly erratic, and tensions arise with the school principal and the parents of his students, he faces the familiar urge to flee — a choice that forces him to confront the character weaknesses that have shattered his life again and again — and to accept the wrenching truth about the past he’s never been able to move beyond.
Bright Before Us (A Tin House New Voice)
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Arnold-Ratliff's impressive debut explores an everyman's descent into madness, rendering his ungluing with a palette heavy in paranoia and disillusionment. Narrator Francis Mason, a young teacher in San Francisco whose second-grade class discovers a body while on a field trip to the beach, is hung up on memories of a whirlwind romance with his childhood soul mate, Nora, that followed her parents' death in a car accident. Meanwhile, his unhappiness in his marriage grows in intensity from neglecting and harboring a quiet disdain for his pregnant wife to erratic behavior and verbal abuse. Meanwhile, there's an increasingly amplified dissonance between what is (possibly) real and (possibly) imagined, particularly in relation to what happened at the beach, and soon paranoia sets in as Francis begins to believe his students' parents and the police are out to get him, despite indications that he's well liked. Arnold-Ratliff has a knack for juxtaposing familiar imagery (a classroom poster of Einstein with his tongue out) with startling description ("You looked like a Halloween costume of yourself, like your face was on crooked"), and despite the occasional forays into cloying breathlessness, Francis proves to be a formidable narrator, tough to crack and a morbid pleasure to observe. (May)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review
“Arnold-Ratliff has a knack for juxtaposing familiar imagery with startling description . . . Francis proves to be a formidable narrator, tough to crack and a morbid pleasure to observe.”
—Publishers Weekly
"[Katie Arnold-Ratliff's] undeniably gorgeous prose and ability to launch troubled characters into impossible, tumultuous situations mark her as a writer to watch."
—Booklist
"Bright Before Us (Tin House)—an ambitious debut novel from O assistant editor Katie Arnold-Ratliff—is a nihilistic road trip of a book, full of lyrical, dreamlike prose. It's also a story that reminds us that love, however deeply felt, is not necessarily pretty or kind."
—O, The Oprah Magazine
“Standout debut novel.”
—The Oregonian
“With lilting description and deft handling of often-strange scenes, Arnold-Ratliff guides the reader over new, sometimes bloodied, ground on the ancient battlefield of love and marriage.”
—ForeWord Reviews
“An assured piece of work . . . There’s plenty to admire about Bright Before Us. The story shows us how the past has the power to erode the present, especially when love is concerned. The author patiently leads Francis—and us—through the heartbreaking, very human work of becoming an adult and letting someone go.”
—The Rumpus
"A knockout writer, every page littered with sensation-rich imagery."
—The Austin Chronicle
“You’ll no doubt marvel at [Francis’] character and the author’s ability to capture his ambivalence and ennui.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Arnold-Ratliff's turned out one hell of a debut."
—Portland Mercury
"An unmoored man who yearns for a woman he failed, while failing another (his wife), is still able to claim he just wants 'the lazy momentum of a married evening.' This duality is central to the author's creation of the disequilibrium she sustains throughout Bright Before Us. The chilly and unforgiving beauty of the San Francisco Bay Area is a perfect fit for this eerie, impeccably told story."
—Amy Hempel, author of The Dog of the Marriage
"In Bright Before Us, Katie Arnold-Ratliff writes sentences that have the luminous candor of X-rays, laser-traceries of the human heart. Young Francis is a fascinating and exquisitely drawn character, and the urgency of his story left me breathless."
—Karen Russell, author of St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves and Swamplandia!
"In Katie Arnold-Ratliff's relentless debut, the ragged ends of a relationship are set on fire with intense and inventive language, and thrown against a darkened sky."
—Ed Park, author of Personal Days
"What a rare book! Bright Before Us is an unrequited love story, but it's also a meditation about the flash decisions we make, or fail to make, and the devastating way they undo us. A remarkable and compassionate debut."
—Robin Romm, author of The Mercy Papers
—Publishers Weekly
"[Katie Arnold-Ratliff's] undeniably gorgeous prose and ability to launch troubled characters into impossible, tumultuous situations mark her as a writer to watch."
—Booklist
"Bright Before Us (Tin House)—an ambitious debut novel from O assistant editor Katie Arnold-Ratliff—is a nihilistic road trip of a book, full of lyrical, dreamlike prose. It's also a story that reminds us that love, however deeply felt, is not necessarily pretty or kind."
—O, The Oprah Magazine
“Standout debut novel.”
—The Oregonian
“With lilting description and deft handling of often-strange scenes, Arnold-Ratliff guides the reader over new, sometimes bloodied, ground on the ancient battlefield of love and marriage.”
—ForeWord Reviews
“An assured piece of work . . . There’s plenty to admire about Bright Before Us. The story shows us how the past has the power to erode the present, especially when love is concerned. The author patiently leads Francis—and us—through the heartbreaking, very human work of becoming an adult and letting someone go.”
—The Rumpus
"A knockout writer, every page littered with sensation-rich imagery."
—The Austin Chronicle
“You’ll no doubt marvel at [Francis’] character and the author’s ability to capture his ambivalence and ennui.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Arnold-Ratliff's turned out one hell of a debut."
—Portland Mercury
"An unmoored man who yearns for a woman he failed, while failing another (his wife), is still able to claim he just wants 'the lazy momentum of a married evening.' This duality is central to the author's creation of the disequilibrium she sustains throughout Bright Before Us. The chilly and unforgiving beauty of the San Francisco Bay Area is a perfect fit for this eerie, impeccably told story."
—Amy Hempel, author of The Dog of the Marriage
"In Bright Before Us, Katie Arnold-Ratliff writes sentences that have the luminous candor of X-rays, laser-traceries of the human heart. Young Francis is a fascinating and exquisitely drawn character, and the urgency of his story left me breathless."
—Karen Russell, author of St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves and Swamplandia!
"In Katie Arnold-Ratliff's relentless debut, the ragged ends of a relationship are set on fire with intense and inventive language, and thrown against a darkened sky."
—Ed Park, author of Personal Days
"What a rare book! Bright Before Us is an unrequited love story, but it's also a meditation about the flash decisions we make, or fail to make, and the devastating way they undo us. A remarkable and compassionate debut."
—Robin Romm, author of The Mercy Papers
Product Details
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More About the Author
Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Katie Arnold-Ratliff received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and is a Senior Editor at O, the Oprah Magazine, where her writing appears regularly. She has been published in Slate, Salon, Time, Tin House, Alaska Quarterly Review, Opium Magazine, and elsewhere. She lives in New York. Visit her at katiearnoldratliff.com.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Bright Before Us is a first novel by Katie Arnold-Ratliff, published by the literary house, Tin House. With this novel, Arnold-Ratliff, an assistant editor at O, The Oprah Magazine, forcefully enters the literary world.
The novel's narrator, Francis Mason, is a twenty-something, progressive second grade teacher in San Francisco. On a field trip to the beach with his class, Mason discovers the body of a suicide victim. The trauma of the experience unravels Mason, who becomes lost in memories of his childhood love, Nora, who lost her parents in a car accident, and forces him to contend with marital unhappiness and anxieties about his wife's pregnancy. Mason rapidly unhinges and becomes slightly paranoid, mixing reality and fantasy, while he contends with choices and understandings about love and loss. Mason ends up on a road trip (see a cool map documenting the trip that Arnold-Ratliff put together on her website) and addresses his fears.
While Arnold-Ratliff uses simple and approachable language, there is nothing simplistic about this novel. Arnold-Ratliff paints a vivid and believable portrait of San Francisco (an excellent choice of back drop for this novel) and paranoia. At one point, Mason's paranoia becomes so intense that the novel begins to feel more like a murder mystery than a literary novel. Arnold-Ratliff effectively switches narrational approaches in each chapter as a way of marking two separate but interlinked story lines. The risk with a novel that explore the inner-psyche of its characters is that the plot stagnates (if there is one at all). Throughout the novel, Arnold-Ratliff maintains authorial command and convincingly propels the narrative forward.... Read more ›
The novel's narrator, Francis Mason, is a twenty-something, progressive second grade teacher in San Francisco. On a field trip to the beach with his class, Mason discovers the body of a suicide victim. The trauma of the experience unravels Mason, who becomes lost in memories of his childhood love, Nora, who lost her parents in a car accident, and forces him to contend with marital unhappiness and anxieties about his wife's pregnancy. Mason rapidly unhinges and becomes slightly paranoid, mixing reality and fantasy, while he contends with choices and understandings about love and loss. Mason ends up on a road trip (see a cool map documenting the trip that Arnold-Ratliff put together on her website) and addresses his fears.
While Arnold-Ratliff uses simple and approachable language, there is nothing simplistic about this novel. Arnold-Ratliff paints a vivid and believable portrait of San Francisco (an excellent choice of back drop for this novel) and paranoia. At one point, Mason's paranoia becomes so intense that the novel begins to feel more like a murder mystery than a literary novel. Arnold-Ratliff effectively switches narrational approaches in each chapter as a way of marking two separate but interlinked story lines. The risk with a novel that explore the inner-psyche of its characters is that the plot stagnates (if there is one at all). Throughout the novel, Arnold-Ratliff maintains authorial command and convincingly propels the narrative forward.... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By M. Reynolds
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I couldn't stop reading this book even though I couldn't stand the protagonist, whose disappointments and follies become predictable by book's end. Still, that this new author, a female, wrote so well from a male's perspective makes this all the more intriguing.
The promise of paranoia did not fully materialize as expected. It turns out that while he does crumble, Francis is a self-aware mess whose apparently incurable penchant for lying buries him. His paranoia is not unjustified nor a stretch (as a mental health professional, I hoped for more here).
Through undulating narrative between past and present, this is a story that makes you feel, think, and relate. While part of you yearns to know more about the body at the beach, you eventually grow equally curious about the entire person. Well done.
The promise of paranoia did not fully materialize as expected. It turns out that while he does crumble, Francis is a self-aware mess whose apparently incurable penchant for lying buries him. His paranoia is not unjustified nor a stretch (as a mental health professional, I hoped for more here).
Through undulating narrative between past and present, this is a story that makes you feel, think, and relate. While part of you yearns to know more about the body at the beach, you eventually grow equally curious about the entire person. Well done.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By momanem35
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I had to take my time in deciding how to rate this book, because by the time I was halfway through the book I was reasonably certain I would give it 3 stars, but at the time I finished it, I was inclined to give it 4. In the end, I settled on the higher rating because of how this story lingered in my mind and because of all the emotions I felt during and after reading. After all, isn't the point of a good book that it affect you in some way? Preferably in a positive way, but not necessarily. Even though the narrator, Frank was such an unsympathetic character (he was a cowardly, weaselly, lying, whiny little turd, and his wife deserved everything she got for putting up with him), I couldn't help feeling sorry for him in the end. It's impossible to grow up in the type of family environment he grew up in without becoming scarred. So he reached out and clung to something that made him feel normal, and when that didn't work out, well, it's impossible to suffer a loss like that without suffering after effects. It was the glimpses into his past made me want to keep reading to find out how his predicament would resolve. Also on the plus side, I suppose is the fact ending took me by complete surprise. It was not at all what I was expecting.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
As usual, another book from Tin House Publishing that is a winner. "Bright Before Us" is a very, very dark book. The protagonist is hard to like, as he openly admits to being cruel and manipulative. However, he did garner some sympathy from me, as he is in constant conflict and knows his faults, in particular his anger and resentment issues.
The subject matter hit a little too close to home with the subjects of mourning and parents dying. I could completely relate to the falling apart that happens during grief, as it often happens in unexpected and unpredictable ways. Much like the characters in the book, grief does not always manifest in ways that people generalize. I think that although it's possible to have compassion for people going through loss, it is impossible to really understand it, unless you are experiencing it. I think the author captivated these emotions too precise to have not experience them herself. I felt like those parts of the books left me feeling raw and exposed.
My only problem with the book was the way it flipped around from different time periods and characters. On one had, this was part of what made the book so unique and from a narrative perspective, it set the tone for the story and gave it an air of mystery. On the other hand, there were several moments that I had to stop and think about where the story was currently. It worked for the most part, but without remembering specifics, there were moment where the narrative style didn't quite gel. That aside, it was a fantastic, compelling read. I would recommend it to anyone ready to take a dark ride!
Please visit my blog for more reviews and musings.
The subject matter hit a little too close to home with the subjects of mourning and parents dying. I could completely relate to the falling apart that happens during grief, as it often happens in unexpected and unpredictable ways. Much like the characters in the book, grief does not always manifest in ways that people generalize. I think that although it's possible to have compassion for people going through loss, it is impossible to really understand it, unless you are experiencing it. I think the author captivated these emotions too precise to have not experience them herself. I felt like those parts of the books left me feeling raw and exposed.
My only problem with the book was the way it flipped around from different time periods and characters. On one had, this was part of what made the book so unique and from a narrative perspective, it set the tone for the story and gave it an air of mystery. On the other hand, there were several moments that I had to stop and think about where the story was currently. It worked for the most part, but without remembering specifics, there were moment where the narrative style didn't quite gel. That aside, it was a fantastic, compelling read. I would recommend it to anyone ready to take a dark ride!
Please visit my blog for more reviews and musings.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great read
I really enjoyed this book! It was short and sweet and I couldn't put it down. Simple yet the character development of the main charter was interesting to follow. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Kara
1.0 out of 5 stars
Kritters Ramblings
A short and sweet review - I wasn't a fan. A book that switched between two different voices - the first being the character being in the present and living, while the other he is... Read more
Published on May 21, 2011 by Kristin Durham
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