Review
------
Praise for Whiskey When We’re Dry:
“Mulan meets Deadwood in a Wild West novel narrated by its
straight-shooting heroine.” –O Magazine
“A smooth yet bracing Western yarn that both celebrates and
subverts the romance of the Old West through more complex
contemporary perspectives on gender and race…. As in Charles
Portis’ classic “True Grit,” much of the appeal of the telling
hangs upon the distinct voice of its narrator, and Jesse’s
narration combines folksy vernacular with an easy loping gait.”
—Seattle Times
“A tale of the Old West with a fresh perspective.”—New York Post
“Larison’s neo-Western, about a young woman who heads West while
disguised as a boy, is already generating plenty of buzz: film
and TV rights have already been acquired by the team behind
the Planet of the Apes reboot.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Larison writes with unrelenting momentum and thoughtfully
explores questions of gender identity, power, and
violence.” —Outside Magazine
“[A] sweeping saga… John Larison’s new book plunges readers into
the American West while simultaneously reimagining the mythic
frontier. It examines issues of gender and race through the story
of 17-year-old Jesse Harney and begins in the spring of 1885,
when she dresses in men’s clothes, s her horse, and sets out
west in search of her big brother, an outlaw on the
frontier.”—Southern Living
“Larison has developed a pitch-perfect voice for his intrepid
heroine.”—Publishers Weekly
"Larison gifts Jess with a strong voice to narrate her own
story…. his western epic has wide appeal” —Booklist
“Told in -Jessilyn’s hard-hitting voice, [WHISKEY WHEN WE’RE
DRY] has the resonance of a high lonesome ballad.” —Library
Journal
“Like Philipp Meyer’s The Son or Robert Olmstead’s Savage
Country, Whiskey When We’re Dry draws on Larison’s own
experiences with the “cowboy arts” to paint a vivid portrait of
the American West as witnessed by an unforgettable
character.”—BookPage
“An evocative portrait of the old west with all its grittiness
and all its openness.” – The Roundtable
"An orphan girl straight out of a Gillian Welch song, betrayed
in every way imaginable by the brutality that 'won the West,' is
left no way to hew a family or honor but to become a virtuoso
cross-dressed killer of Manifest Destiny's men. As Jessilyn
Harney takes on the great lies and liars with lyrical violence,
her voice takes flight, becoming a sustained, forlornly
beautiful, mind-bending aria for our age." —David James Duncan,
author of The River Why
"Whiskey When We're Dry is the story of a surprising heroine. In
her search for home and family, orphaned Jessilyn Harney rides
out on a lonely quest, and invents herself anew. Narrated in a
voice cobbled out of slang and sagebrush, Larison's novel is a
vivid and fast-paced frontier saga." —Kate Manning, author of My
Notorious Life
Read more ( javascript:void(0) )
About the Author
----------------
John Larison spent much of his childhood in remote regions
of Australia, the Caribbean, Canada, the South Pacific, Alaska,
and the American West before graduating from high school in
Ithaca, New York. He studied philosophy and literature at the
University of Oregon, and became a renowned fly-fishing guide
ahead of earning an MFA from Oregon State University, where he
stayed to teach while writing Whiskey When We’re Dry. He lives
with his family in rural Oregon.
Read more ( javascript:void(0) )
See all Editorial Reviews (
/dp/product-description/073522045X/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&isInIframe=0
)