Nobody Gets Out Alive, by Leigh Newman (Scribner, 2022, $26.99, 278 pp)
With eight short stories about women in modern-day Alaska, one wonders why the title story is number three. In some anthologies, it would be the first story, or the last, or not at all. Perhaps for Nobody Gets Out Alive, it may just be the luck of the draw.
The Best Part!
The best part of Nobody is the cover illustration! I simply love it! With colors of orange and yellow, and a bit of green tossed in, the very striking cover reminds one of army boots perhaps, as the illustration is a shoe print, but a shoe print with a paw print and two (probably) women - one with a heavy back pack and one with a fur anorak (parka with a hood lined with fur). And, if you look carefully at the boot print you may just see a wolf. So, the book is a collection of stories about women in the wilderness in winter, with a dog or two thrown in?
I Beg to Differ
Starred by Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and Booklist, Nobody also was long-listed for the National Book Award. Plus, it is a Most Anticipated Book by Vogue, Lit Hub, Oprah Daily and The Millions. Although this history is not exceptional, it is quite impressive at first sight.
However, I beg to differ. Even though author Leigh Newman is adept at dialogue and funny to boot, we don't really get to know the characters and the plots are weak, so much so that I didn't finish the book, though I did read about 25% of the stories. I realize I may have missed some great ones in the remaining six but I didn't want to wade through any more tedium.
Your view may differ.
Newman does, however, paint a realistic picture of Alaska (Anchorage) and even mentions my hometown! (Spokane, Washington) in the first selection, of a young girl whose mother left. In another, "High Jinks," fourth- and fifth-grade girls go river camping with their fathers, flown in by private plane.
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