From Publishers Weekly
This accomplished, moving first novel (after Bailey's collection
Crow Man) is about fathers and sons, tough love and compassion, the bonds of community and the solace of belief. Gary and Susan Hazen are natives of Lost Lake, a hardscrabble town in the Adirondacks, high school sweethearts who have raised their two sons on the satisfaction of living off the land. At this suspenseful narrative's outset, Susan recollects a fateful day, the start of deer hunting season, hinting that some tragedy has struck her loving but combustible family. Gary is a highly principled and respected woodsman and hunter, but his self-righteousness brings him into conflict with his sons. Both young men have secrets that will strain the family fabric, and together father and sons weave a tangle of intention and circumstance that will culminate in an act that will test their power to survive. Alternately narrated by the Hazen family and members of the community, the novel sustains an elegiac tone even as events rise to a dramatic denouement. This novel has the validity of deeply felt truths and characters who are bound and motivated by a love that arches the chasm of divergent ambitions and desires.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–Gary Hazen lives with his wife and two grown sons in the Adirondacks, close to the Canadian border. They spend their days cutting trees, growing vegetables, and hunting for animals. Gary tries to keep his family together by providing for them as fathers have for centuries. Holding on to traditions and his own high standards, he expects them to do the same despite the many conflicts both internal and external affecting their lives. This exquisite novel centers around one event: opening day of deer-hunting season. An annual ritual for the Hazens, this important occasion determines how well they will eat during the harsh winter to come. When the younger son, a college student, decides not to participate in this years hunt, his father becomes enraged and hits him, prompting Kevin to move in with his pregnant girlfriend on campus. In the meantime, the newly hired environmental conservation officer is determined to catch Gary illegally bagging an extra deer. Each chapter, written from one of the Hazens viewpoints or those of other characters impacting their lives, builds up to the final tragedy as foreshadowed in the prologue. Vivid descriptions of the natural environment are abundant in this beautifully written first novel. A profoundly emotional experience, the story will hook readers.
–Pat Bender, The Shipley School, Bryn Mawr, PA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
