This was a different kind of read for me, not something I normally pick up. I will say that the writing was good but the story overall was difficult for me to get through. I didn’t enjoy the story or the characters, it was slower and I couldn’t stay focused on what I was reading .

A cross between historical fiction and magical realism, "Inland" spreads out like the Arizona desert the novel is set it, encompassing both decades and a single day. Told in both the perspectives of Lurie, a man literally haunted by the needs of ghosts, and Nora, a homesteading mother trying to keep her family alive in the middle of a drought - this novel explores the subtle ways that our lives intersect with the most surprising characters and finding a meaningful life under adverse conditions.

A special thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

***Spoilers***


Full disclosure, I have never read this author's well-reviewed first novel. This book has two separate story lines, that sort of strangely connect at the very end. The writing is lyrical, but the plot drags and the characters are not well-fleshed out. I struggled to complete the book, as I had little interest throughout the novel. The story lines are odd; one about a murderous immigrant that moves all over the United States and territories via camel and the second about a woman in the middle of nowhere Arizona territory trying to survive and get water, missing her husband (who may or may not be dead) and having an emotional affair with one of the few men in the desolate area. Also, both story lines feature ghosts (which really didn't help the plot). In the end, the main camel ends up running over the top of the woman, her love interest and her niece, injuring all three, with the dead character from the other story line tied (and decomposing) on it's back, and then just stops.

This is an epic story about 2 lives that eventually intersect at the very end. It builds and builds and I predict every reader will be surprised by the unexpected ending. I really enjoyed the book. I definitely recommend it.

The writing of this book is both its defining quality and the thing that had me struggling. There is nothing wrong with this book - the setting is amazing, the story is unique, and prose is epic. I should have realized it wouldn't quite connect with me because I am a reader that gets bored waaaay too quickly. So many books that most everyone else loves, I struggle with because it doesn't have enough action or fast-paced plot lines to keep me hooked. I seriously wish I could find a way to really revel in the details and the way the author paints such an amazing picture of the setting, but I think I am just too used to reading thrillers or fast-paced historical fiction/romance novels that when a book has a slower pace, I really struggle.

This one is beautiful. It's an amazing story. It's definitely a book that most fans of historical fiction will adore. It just wasn't quite for me.

I was really excited for this book! I thought it would be really fascinating, given the description. However, I really had a difficult time to get through this one. It was difficult to connect with the characters and I really had a hard time with the writing.

This book hooked me in and would not let me go. The characters felt so real and human. The sense of place and landscape was both dreamy and harsh, a real testament to the difficulty of homesteading in the West at the end of the 1800's. The book had an over-arching sense of the magical, with the camels and conversations with the dead that wove through the story seamlessly. This only heightened the novel; my favorite parts were Nora's conversations with Evelyn, a dead baby and yet expressed as a complete character. So well done. I can't wait to recommend this book at my bookstore.

2.5 stars, rounded down

I picked this purely because I thought it took place in Arizona and I’ve always wanted to read a historical novel from the Arizona Territory days. I have not read Obreht’s prior book.

This one just never grabbed me. Told from two POVs, Lurie, a wanted man from Missouri who becomes a cameleer, and Nora, a frontier woman awaiting the return of her husband and older sons, it was choppy and stilted. Both are haunted by ghosts. In Laurie’s case, they literally make demands of him. And his narrative is directed to the camel he leads across the west. Nora holds conversations with her dead daughter.

I debated just putting this one down numerous times. The pace of this book is as slow as a desert tortoise. The story also meanders across time and place. To be honest, I only kept reading because other reviews mentioned how great the ending was (and it was worth finishing for the ending). In a way, it reminded me of Lincoln in the Bardo, similar language and of course, the ghosts. If you like that book, you’ll probably like this one. I didn't care for either. I was an outlier on that book and will probably by on this one as well.

Also, I had to do some research, but it would appear that Nora’s homestead was actually in what is now New Mexico, up close to the Four Corners. While the author spends a lot of time writing about the homestead, she didn’t give me a real sense of place. Anyone who has spent time in NM and AZ knows how different the landscape can be and I resented having to research it to get a better feel. And despite them being down to their last cups of water, huge periods of time pass when it doesn’t factor into the story at all. And how can there be mud in a drought? Little things like that irritated me. I did enjoy the story about the camels and their trek. In fact, the relationship between Burke and Lurie was the one part of the story I did enjoy.

My thanks to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.

The first half of this book is written to create a richly atmospheric feel to the American Southwest setting and the foreboding of something, be it sinister or tragic or merely revelatory, on its way. I was completely immersed in the setting because of the rich detail to every nuance of character, dialogue, action and event. There were times, however, that the rich detail of everything bogged down for me. To use half of the book to achieve that was not necessary. The plot really started driving and revealing itself after the first half and I continued on, like a camel driven to find water, to arrive at my final destination. I give this book 3 and a half stars and recommend to readers who enjoy setting-driven and atmospheric tales. A very interesting read. Thanks to netgalley and random house for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book. It is two separate stories and they are both complete on their own. When they finally do intersect it is not a surprise - it is brief, beautiful and heartbreaking. They are stories of the American Southwest in the 1890's and of homesteading, exploring and persevering. The imagery and setting are as much of the story as the characters are, and she renders it both precisely and metaphorically.

Weird and wonderful, with two disparate stories that intersect in an unlikely way in 1890s Arizona Territory.

Much of the book is a Western—which I love—centered around an impulsive, hot-tempered, strong woman fighting to make a life for her family in a remote town during a devastating drought; the other plotline concerns a man and his surprising, loyal, exotic companion and their adventures and challenges.

Nora is reflecting on her static, hardscrabble life and how she came to feel stuck within it. Her lightness in and affection for the company of a man other than her husband seem rooted in her ability to talk honestly about her fears and hopes and varied opinions—precisely what had built her marital closeness in the first place, but has faded in the face of struggle and annoyance and shared frustration within her marriage to Emmett.

Meanwhile Lurie’s path twists and turns for years, until he’s not sure if his continuous running and escape is from a real or imagined threat.

With fantastical elements throughout that make even the most jaded characters believers in the odd and unbelievable. A remarkable and unusual story that seems like one I’ll have flashes of for a long time.

Random House Publishing Group provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received this from Netgalley.com for a review.

In the lawless, drought-ridden lands of the Arizona Territory in 1893, two extraordinary lives collide. Nora is an unflinching frontierswoman awaiting the return of the men in her life.

This is one of my fav genres but this was a struggle to read! I never connected with any of the characters and the story seemed to meander over here and then over there.

2☆

Unfortunately I did not finish this book, because I could not get into the story. I think it was a combination of the writing style and the world the story was set it. It did not hold my attention. I tried several times to read it, but it was not to be.
I think it will be for somebody else who enjoys this type of novel.

Inland is another mythic and sweeping tale by Tea Obrecht and flows better than The Tigers Wife. Worth the read!

4.5 Stars

It’s been around eight years since I read Téa Obreht’s debut novel, The Tiger’s Wife, but the fact that I loved the beautiful writing and the story had been enough incentive for me to request this second novel, Inland. I’m so glad that I did.

This story has a duel narrative, which kept me on my toes, and wanders over time, over centuries, and around the world in one of the narratives. Over the course of a day in another narrative, traveling through time using memories revisited, times and places, loves and losses over a lifetime. Through all of this, Obreht weaves this story of the early days of the Arizona Territory, 1893, with an enchanting sprinkling of magical realism, as well as a spiritual connection – both of these two narrators have conversations with, and connections to the dead.

This isn’t a carefree, cheerful read, yet it doesn’t dwell in the harshness of these lives. There is much pondering and wonderment of their surroundings, as bleak as they are, and through these we learn their stories. Obreht manages to skillfully weave into this story the historical experimentation of the United States Camel Corps. using camels as pack animals in the Southwest during the mid-19th-century development of the country. The US Army eventually decided to abandon this project, despite the camels’ stamina. This added another layer to the story, but what I loved most about this was the vivid portrayal of the era, the landscape, and the memories of these two people, their stories, as well as their conversations with those who haunt their days and nights.

If there were brief moments while reading this where it felt as though I had wandered in the desert too long, the breathtaking ending is one that will remain etched in my mind.



Pub Date: 13 Aug 2019


Many thanks for the ARC provided by to Random House Publishing Group – Random House

Two narrators switch off in this lyrically written tale of life in the late 19th century American southwest. A Turkish immigrant tells the story of how he got involved in the U.S. Army's Camel Corps- which really existed- and his story unfolds over years. The other narrator is a homesteading wife and mother whose story takes place in one very thirsty day. Both of these characters interact with ghosts. This is excellent historical fiction with a dash of magical realism.

This is one western that will blow your mind. Obreht has used the same mythical voice she used in the Tiger's Wife to lay over an already dreamlike landscape of drought in Arizona. A mother and half grown sons generate a powerful dynamic not often explored, and the youngest, who knows about scary beasts, brings magic and intuition. Not for the just the facts reader, but a journey into a barren world, inside and out.

Tea Obreht has written a very unusual historical novel set in the Arizona territory. There are two main characters, Lurie and Nora. Lurie is a hardscrabble, down on his luck, scrappy kid who becomes a man over the course of years. He wends his way through many mishaps and adventures that test his resolve, ingenuity and luck. Nora is the wife of the owner of small newspaper. She has come West with him in a burst to escape her Midwest expectations for the lure of something better. She is the mother of four (one deceased) who is confronted with an alien land, loneliness, and now an unending drought. Her husband is missing and her sons are delayed. Obreht tells her story in the space of maybe a day or so.

This is a skillful writer who is able to balance two stories and two very different timelines over a long novel. She achieves this by always keeping in land….as the title suggests…Inland. The environment itself challenges these characters in ways that accentuate what they desire, what they fear and what they dare hope for in the future.

This is not your ordinary Western but a novelist’s meditation on what life may have been like in such a vast, uncertain world. Not an easy read but language, description and the unique pacing propels the reader to find out what befalls these characters. This book stayed with me long after the last page.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this title. Great cover!

I never start a book that I don’t finish even though it is not the type of book that I thought it was going to be but I’m sure others will be happy with it

Inland by Obreht made me continuously hold my breath. Even when I wanted to look away, I couldn't. Dressed as a frontier story, this tale of survival and reckoning stirs something primal in the reader whether male or female, young or old. You will continue to think about the characters even after the last page.