New Adult – Literary – Contemporary fiction – Women’s fiction
Date Published:10-20-2023
Publisher: Mapleton Press
This novel about friendship, nostalgia, and finding oneself is funny and tender, moving and poetic, while standing firmly in hope and love...
The characters are thinkers, overthinkers really, who are trying to find their way by asking the deep questions of life with wide-eyed wonder and talking through life's uncertainties. They fearlessly confront the choices they've made, examining their desires and their mistakes. The result is a smart, engaging novel depicting a young woman's search for the people and place she will call home.
Praise for Wild Asses of the Mojave Desert
'The best stories begin with wreckage.' Jack London
Wild Asses of the Mojave Desert is a novel that pulls at heart and mind alike. Through Skye's journey and process of letting go everything she's held tightly throughout her life, readers receive a compelling saga…
-D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
With lyrical prose and philosophical conversation, Skye's relationships light up as fiercely as the streaks marking the desert sky at night. This novel about friendship, nostalgia, and finding oneself is funny and tender, moving and poetic, while standing firmly in hope and love. The characters are thinkers, overthinkers really, who are trying to find their way by asking the deep questions of life with wide-eyed wonder and talking through life's uncertainties. They fearlessly confront the choices they've made, examining their desires and their mistakes. The result is a smart, engaging novel depicting a young woman's search for the people and place she will call home. Returning home is a powerful and effective plot device that, in this author's hands, feels vibrant and new partly because of the fully realized characters and strong dialogue that endow the relationships with wise and vivid truths about life.
-RECOMMENDED by the US Review
My Review...
So, do you run back to your little sad sack town because
your heart’s been broken, and you don’t know where else to go? Do you run to stay
with a family member because you really don’t have a place to stay? That’s what
Skye did in this story, ran back to her old friends except things were
different now. If you’re from a small town like me, you’ll totally identify
with some of this. Things change, past boyfriends, old girlfriends, favorite haunts.
All those things you had in your picture are different, but have you changed?
I would describe this book as quaquaversal, a story with a
common center but pointing out in all directions. I think this is a style of
the author. Having read her previous books and liked them all, I find she does
have a sort of helter-skelter way of pulling you in. She tends to jump into the
story. Then there’s a point you notice your reading has quickened. Anna-Langston
has further grabbed your attention with heart-felt characters and laughs and
tears. Although each of her books is very different, somehow in each one she
makes you feel as vulnerable as her characters do. This style often makes me
wonder if the stories don’t come from personal experiences.
So how does this
author do this? How are you reading a sort of quirky story set in a run-down small
town and all of a sudden you can see a 360-degree view rather than only the 180
that you could at the beginning? Now you aren’t seeing the same story. You are
feeling philosophical, waxing nostalgic about past loves, and wondering if
you’ll survive. What you thought was going to be one story turns out to be
another. What you thought might be sort of offbeat has now become somewhat
profound. It’s funny, and yet it’s heavy. It seems to be her style and every
book is a new ride. This one just happens to be on a wild ass.
About the Author
Lis Anna-Langston was raised along the winding current of the Mississippi River on a steady diet of dog-eared books. She attended a Creative and Performing Arts School from middle school until graduation and went on to study Literature at Webster University. Her novels have won the Parents’ Choice Gold, Moonbeam Book Award, Independent Press Award, Benjamin Franklin Book Award and NYC Big Book Awards. A three-time Pushcart award nominee and Finalist in the Brighthorse Book Prize, William Faulkner Fiction Contest, George Garrett Fiction Prize and Thomas Wolfe Fiction Award, her work has been published in The Literary Review, Emerson Review, The Merrimack Review, Emrys Journal, The MacGuffin, Sand Hill Review and dozens of other literary journals.
Hailed as “an author with a genuine flair for originality” by Midwest Book Review and “a loveable, engaging, original voice…” by Publishers Weekly, you can find her in the wilds of South Carolina plucking stories out of thin air.
Contact Links
Twitter @LisAnnaLangston
Purchase Links
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