Customer Reviews

Lost Nation (Adventure)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The first novel by this author was entitled, "In The Fall", and was exceptional. It was also his first work. Whatever he was to offer readers on his second effort would not only have to compete with his first, but would also have to demonstrate the depth of his talent. Critics would be looking for the sophomore jinx or the opportunity to label him a one hit wonder. "Lost Nation", is another extremely fine piece of writing that is unique, it does not rely on any repetition or formula from his first work. Quite to the contrary the cadence of this work is distinct from, "In The Fall", the dialogue is structured differently, at times almost a staccato exchange. I think the author deserves credit for not repeating what he has done in the past; his works to date has been wide and deep.

"Many people are cruel given the chance." That quote is from his first book and to the extent his two works share commonality of perspective, "Lost Nation" embraces this idea as well. I wrote the following words about his previous work almost two years ago to the day. They applied to, "In The Fall", and they apply to, "Lost Nation". The writer I thought of when enjoying this work was John Steinbeck. The same way "The Grapes Of Wrath" stays with you years after it was read, or "East Of Eden" or "Cannery Row" lingers, this book will do the same. This is a story you will remember in detail, these are characters whose names you will recall, this caliber of book is why I read. "In The Fall" is the first book I have read in years that I believe will be a true classic in time. "Instant Classic" is a contradiction in terms. A classic has to age, to endure, to continue to be relevant, this work has all the necessary credentials, and in abundance.

The book begins in 1838 and concludes in 1896. Unlike his first book this is not a tale that methodically works its way through three generations. Much of the work is contained in a fairly brief span of time which is not a negative just an observation. This is also a story filled with characters that are quick to hate, accuse, and at best often have an uneasy and fragile relationship with their peers. The author's New Hampshire is a state with a piece of territory that is orphaned, neither this man's nor another's, neither of The United States nor Canada. These pioneers are determined yet their hold on their land and work is doubtful; they are subjected to the laws of two masters who only appear to inflict damage and recrimination.

When authority is taken by the settlers themselves the brittle equilibrium of their world is threatened. Violence is first tangential to the community but ultimately escalates to a point that actions taken will determine the community's future. A character who is easily judged when the story begins, is eventually shown as a man who is a philosopher, self-centered, focused, and a man who can express himself with eloquence, and in French, Greek, and Latin as well. He is like the book; Mr. Lent shares enough familiarity of time and place and of persons to get his readers settled, and then reveals his own tale with characters that are not one dimensional clichés you have met countless times before, rather his own people placed in his place and time.

If you missed, "In The Fall", add both books to your reading list. If you have enjoyed this man's work before, you are sure to enjoy his world once again.

This latest effort by Jeffrey Lent escapes traditional confines in the service of an innovative writing style. Lost Nation challenges the accepted format of his first novel, unrestricted by conventional standards, more edgy and jagged, yet unlike stream-of-consciousness, with an overpowering sense of immediacy.

When Blood tethers child-prostitute Sally to the back of his cart and pushes off from Maine toward the vast northern wilderness, his intent is a simple life carved from the unyielding soil of a remote settlement. Blood is singular in purpose, beholden to no man, almost primal in his response to indifferent surroundings. Sally is but an opportunity, a commodity to be bartered as the need arises. Lent draws Blood in coarse, primitive strokes, a fearsome man who lacks the nuances of civilized society. Sally, as well, is spare and quick, by necessity ever watchful. As they adapt to the rigors of the journey north toward Canada's challenging landscape, their tentative relationship is defined less by personality than circumstance and immediate need. Over time, the blunt manner in which Blood discloses himself to Sally binds the story in subtle threads of tension. Can Lent sustain the impetus of this tale throughout? Yes, and he does so consistently. The world Sally and Blood inhabit is laced with imminent danger, the threat of the unknown never farther away than the trees that ring the rough-hewn tavern/trading post where Blood finally settles.

Peopled with pioneers, ideologues and misfits, the families settled before Blood and Sally on the land, for all their civilized pretensions, often seem to circle the trader and his young helper like a pack of hungry wolves waiting for the opportunity to strike. Blood remains neutral, in reality more moral than the other settlers, serving his customers with dispassionate regard. Always an outcast, this driven but damaged man becomes a target of their discontent. Aside from his personal demons, Blood remains a sympathetic character throughout, scarred by his past actions and sentenced to live out the agonizing years ahead, a self-inflicted endeavor of repentance. Meanwhile, Sally, her spirit newly awakened, begins to raise her head, less fearful of an intolerant and brutal environment. Blood's uncommon strength allows her to consider a life other than one constricted by survival. The plot moves inexorably towards a violent conclusion, a drama of treachery, betrayal, passion, loyalty, loss and redemption.

In Lost Nation, Jeffrey Lent has hit his stride as an author, with powerful, confident prose that rarely disappoints and frequently surprises with moments of unexpected tenderness. His novel is an insightful journey into the heart of darkness, limned with courage and a commitment to the enlightenment of shared grace.

In 1829 both the United States and Cnada claimed the northernmost part of the state of New Hampshire. A hardscrabble lot had settled this virgin Connecticut Lake region in the late 1700's. They had heard stories told about it from the returning Rogers Rangers, who had hunted and trapped the area. The Rangers had discovered spring-fed bogs and brooks that rickled down out ot the mountains to create the Fourth Connecticut Lake. It fed into the Third, which fed into the Second, then the First Connecticut Lake. Not far south from its beginnings, the Connecticut River became a major one, on it's way over 400 miles south to the ocean. The Rangers had told tales of warmer weather, large meadows, abundant game, and fine hunting and fishing. An isolated land up for grabs. A homesteader only had to clean five acres, build a home, work the roads, and the property was his.
Folks were slow to move up there though, because there was not an established border with Canada. A Settler could shoot a dear on the United States side, but not be sure if it fell in Canada or the U.S. A trapper could run his lines in both the U.S. and Canada and never be sure what country they were in. Although there was a customs house in Canaan, VT., catle smuggling and norder disputes were common. Soon rowdy lawbreakers and steely-eyed men on the run from their past began to migrate north the the Indian Stream Territory, as it came to be known. Eventually there were houses, a sawmill, tavern and a gristmill, but so much bad feeling grew between the settlers, the New Hampshire government, and the Canadians that on July 9, 1833 the settlers met at the Center School and declared their independence from both. They drew up a constitution to serve them until it was decided under which government they really did belong. The people of Indian Stream were tired of being taxed by both countries. They came up with their own flag, money, stamps, and government. This upstart nation declared no taxes at all, and a General Assembly was made up of the entire voting populations.
It worked quite well for a while, but there were too many unsavory characters in the territory. Kidnappings, knife fights, raids back and forth. Eventually shots were fired from both sides and some blood was she. The New Hampsire Militia invaded Indian Stream Republic, and in just three years the nation came to an end.
It is in this wild untamed Indian Stream country, high in the New Hampshire wilderness, where the luckless and outlawed tried to make a stand, that author Jeffrey Len sets his extraordinary new saga, "Lost Nation." The New York Times best-selling author of the critically acclaimed first novel, "In The Fall", has written a majestic saga of individualism and nationhood. As rich in character and plot, as the black dirt soil along the lakes of the North Country.
"Lost Nation," inroduces the reader to a man known only as Blood. He is a man of contradictions. Both wise and learned, but brutal and withdrawn. From over the White Mountains he comes with an oxcart filled with black Barbados rum and supplies, a hugh loyal dog, and trailing behind them and the wagon, a barefoot and afraid, grimy young girl named Sally. Blood had purchased her from a gin-sot bawd in Portland, in a seamy barroom over a game of cards. Although Sally has been abused both physically and mentally by the men who use her, a fierce independence flows in her veins and she sets her course behind Blood's hobnailed boots, for his is all she knows.
After Blood and Sally arrive in Lost Nation he builds a tavern, and it soon becomes the meeting place and waering hole for the men of the settlement. It also becomes a place for Sally to set up her business in a tiny back bedroom. She slowly learns to cook, tend a garden and wander the beauty of the land. Gradually Sally begins to see something of a future for her misery filled young life.
Blood becomes a mediator of sorts. Although he is determined to stay aloof, happy to count his coin and prosper, he soon finds himself confronting ghosts from his past, and being blamed for the troubles facing Lost Nation. In this wild, untamed part of New Hampshire, we are introduced along the way to an array of fully developed and sometimes sympathetic characters that have their distinct voices, and dreams for the land they have tried to tame. The reader cares for these people as they endure the figid winter storms, while they toil and sweat to duild something that they can call their own, while swiping ineffectively at the swarms of gnats and flies encircling their heads in summer. The pages turn easily and there are many powerful moments and rich rewards awaiting the reader.
The author, who lives in Vermont with his wife and daughters, writes with authentic realism, and some scenes are not for the faint hearted. This was a hard land, peopled by hard men and women, and the pistol shot, flash of a knife, and horrific revenge take by some chills the bones. Thoug vivid, the realism is tempered by sudden images of warmth and pure poetry. Mr. Lent
writes some passages that take the breath away with their tender grace. His language is elegant and of the times he writes about. The prose is remarkable in its wisom and precision. Blood and Sally are two damaged souls, outwardly shunning the caring, healing touch, but longing and needing it so very much.
Jeffrey Lent has written a unique American mosaic. He is New England's Cormac McCarthy. A marvelous and provocative work of fiction, that will endure as long as the mighty Connecticut Rvier twists its way south to the sea.
To find out more about Indian Stream Republic, I highly recommened Daniel Doan''s classic "Indian Stream Republic: Settling a New England Frontier, 1785-1842. University Press of New England. It is scrupulously researched and beautifully written, with maps and the names of all the first settlers in Indian Stream, many who's decendents still work the land in Northern New Hampshire and Vermont.

Marvin Minkler of the North Star Monthly

I have just finished reading Lost Nation after reading Lent's other book, In the Fall. I cannot remember being so captivated by an author. These books read like thrillers but the characters are deep and complex and are slowly revealed to the reader as the story unfolds. Lent is a deep sea diver on the human condition and he integrates his characters, his story, and nature with the reader so you become involved through your own emotions and senses. He has a feel for dialect and draws people quickly and distinctly. I don't think I have ever been drawn in so quickly and thoroughly to the story or its characters by any other other author and I have read many, many, books. The only other comtemporary author I have read who is in his league is Charles Frazier who wrote Cold Mountain. If you liked Cold Mountain, you will love reading Jeffrey Lent who is even better I think. You will get to meet Sally in this book and she will be an unforgettable as Daphne is in In the Fall. The other characters are written so well that I feel like I know them and wish I could get in a time machine and go visit them. I cannot recommend Lent enough. His name will be spoken in the same breath as Twain and Melville someday.

I read LOST NATION and was completely hypnotized by Mr. Lent's true talent as a literary artist. Just finished his debut novel, IN THE FALL, and I must concur with most of the reviewers that Mr. Lent is an extraordinary writer that will not be flying under the radar for long if he keeps writing beautiful, heart-wrenching stories such as these. DO NOT BE MISLEAD by those reviewers who did not have the patience to fully absorb the rich characters and their environments. Never have I read such amazing characterization that explores the true nature of the human condition. These are the most multi-dimensional characters to grace the pages of a novel in awhile. Some of the passages are so expertly and beautifully constructed that they will take your breath away. Excellent plot structure, narrative pacing, and a truly gifted appraoch to writing. A wholly enriching literary experience. Highest recommendation.

Having spent the first 18 years of my life in Lancaster, New Hampshire, I found the book especially captivating as Blood, the main character, and his ilk represent my roots! Jeffrey Lent portrays in chilling detail the incredibly hard, ruthless and bleak existence in the early 1800's and one can still sense these qualities today in the land and in the people of Northern New England. The book gave me new appreciation for the steely determination and toughness of my ancestors which Lent captured so beautifully. It's not an easy book to read as it draws one in to the suffering of Blood and the girl, Sally. I felt as though I was literally living with them throughout.

How a writer takes a character through through pain, conflicts, wits and instinct to develop a story with flesh-and-bone realism should be on every Contemporary American Literature syllabus with "Lost Nation" on the top of its reading list. Jeffrey Lent's story as words on pages comes at the reader as sensory experience, sopped with the sweaty, bloody thoughts of the main character as he runs from the emotional pains of his past. In a land and time of loneliness and ambiguities, "Blood" forges a physical and mental life beyond mere existence and survival. In his attempts to be left alone, he is compelled to imbue those around him with understanding of their surroundings and themselves, and discovers that what he gives does indeed come back to him. In the remoteness of a New England border forest he becomes his own best student in a rendez-vous with his past. Lots here for readers who like the action and setting of adventure novels AND expect real character development without giving it up in one paragraph. "Lost Nation" is gritty and gruesome, without happy barn-raising or justice-shall-previal passages. Appropriately "Blood" is no smarmy swashbuckler and the neighbors are no model citizens. Besides celebrating the anti-hero of colonial America settlement, Lent compels us posit "if it were me, what would I do?" in a setting bereft of institutions, technology, affable climate, and even morality. A book that has to be read more than once.

Reading Lost Nation was an authentic experience.

The characters have depth. The struggles are real. The author is invisible to the reader.

I'm hard to please. Modern authors often fail to give me an authentic experience. I usually feel like I'm being tugged through a book like an oxen with a ring in her nose, being told what to feel, what to look at, and what to think about it.

Lost Nation was more like life itself - an adventure in emotion and thought, complex, meaningful, and a brutal, but effective, teacher.

Jeffrey Lent's writing style is unique. I, personally, find it difficult to read. His syntax is not common and his descriptive sentences and passages are often over-written. This was particularly true for the first third to half of this book. I felt the second half was much more clearnly written and less cumbersome - fewer times did I have to go back and reread a sentence to figure its meaning.

Mr. Lent's characters in this book are far stronger than in In the Fall. Blood and Sally, the two main characters are strong, unique and haunting. Lent draws the reader into their growing relationship using their pasts effectively to explain their present personalities. These characters were the best part of the book. My major criticism of Lent's main characters is they are prescient beyond believability.

The plot line is very good until the end when it gets a bit hokey to fit with the rest of the hard-bitten story-line. The epilogue is useless and I could not figure out why it was included. It did nothing to add to the book.

This is not a book to read if you are looking for a sunshine view of humanity or the world. It does paint a good picture of an area in the wilds where people settled because they had a past they were not to be asked about - a seedy side of America's wilderness where people settled for reasons other than arable land or good climate. The characters in this book will stay with me for a long time. Unfortunately, I found it a task to plod through too many parts of it to rate it higher.

About all that doesn't work in this fine novel is the needlessly serious and vague title. Otherwise Jeffrey Lent jags his way through "Lost Nation" with intensely good writing, in language that's broad and quick and unique. His writing mixes inverted syntax, lovely descriptive passages, terse and often funny dialogue, careful plotting, and odd but well-timed fragments - all of which distinguish his language, making it seem both old and new. I'll mention Lent's writing at its best frequently reminded me of Lincoln's most eloquent written words.

Which is needed. The novel's a serious one, with a main character named Blood who's making pretense of escaping his past, towing along a girl named Sally won in a card game who he's soon set to work on her back. When his two abandoned, now grown sons come seeking him in the far reaches of New Hampshire, Blood's caught in a battle to confront and finally free himself from his past. No easy task. He's also caught in something of a range war, dealing with both local men of power and neighboring lawmen and trying to remain uninvolved.

Lent makes his mistakes - including the inclusion of an unnecessary postlude and worse a small trick of wordplay that envelopes the novel. Likewise the book's almost evenly divided between Blood's life before his sons find him, and what happens once they do, and sadly the plot drags slightly when his sons appear. They're just not as interesting as Blood. Small gripes. However any character who says, "I'd say you're about to witness mankind striving toward the best it can do and most likely failing utterly" is speaking in a novel I want to read.

The novel's part western, part love story, part reunion of fathers and sons and one woman all three, somehow, come to love. It's sad, funny, lovely, and like Lent's "In the Fall," in the end it suggests love redeems us all. Somebody else can cite at length the obvious: Lent's spent time reading his Cormac McCarthy and Faulkner and probably Larry McMurtry for that matter. Good for him. He's given us a serious novel that's great fun to read, one that makes us turn the pages. We're lucky.