mpurdy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
When I found this book I was looking for work based in Montana. I am from western Montana and now that I no longer live there I enjoy reading things that can bring that nostalgia back for me.
Come West and See by Maxim Loskutoff did that for me but not in the way I expected. First his writing is immersive the descriptions and the depictions of the 'Redoubt' area was spot on. There were parts of stories I could see my hometown Missoula the accuracy was uncanny. But more importantly he invoked the feeling of isolation that you get being in the wilderness that I have yet to experience anywhere else.
Now what I didn't expect was to feel the cultural narrative. The Redoubt is the last frontier wild and unpopulated compared to the mega cities in other states. This type of environment attracts a certain type of person. Many survivalist and preppers live here. That is not made up and there is aura in rural towns you can feel. I myself didn't experience this till I had moved away and came back. When you are living in it it is normal. After you move away you can see it's just a cultural norm that attracts people of the same mettle.
My only qualms was that almost every story had a sexual nature to it that in some instances added to the uncomfortable narrative he is depicting but sometimes they felt a little extreme to me. Some scenes made me uncomfortable as they are supposed to but I feel that they could have been leftout and the reader could still have grasped the feelings that Loskutoff wanted to invoke.
I think after reading some other reviews it's important to point out that the women in this book are seen as background characters. Who are undermined and mistreated. Though in my opinion I feel it was necessary to show the selfishness of the main male characters and their poor decisions as they make their choices pertaining to the redoubt. But more importantly it shows the traditional culture that is still practiced in these areas.
This is not saying there aren't good men in the west or independent women. But highlighting the fictional movements beliefs based on factual events that have occured.
Overall I really enjoyed his writing and am looking to pick up Ruthie Fear soon.
Come West and See by Maxim Loskutoff did that for me but not in the way I expected. First his writing is immersive the descriptions and the depictions of the 'Redoubt' area was spot on. There were parts of stories I could see my hometown Missoula the accuracy was uncanny. But more importantly he invoked the feeling of isolation that you get being in the wilderness that I have yet to experience anywhere else.
Now what I didn't expect was to feel the cultural narrative. The Redoubt is the last frontier wild and unpopulated compared to the mega cities in other states. This type of environment attracts a certain type of person. Many survivalist and preppers live here. That is not made up and there is aura in rural towns you can feel. I myself didn't experience this till I had moved away and came back. When you are living in it it is normal. After you move away you can see it's just a cultural norm that attracts people of the same mettle.
My only qualms was that almost every story had a sexual nature to it that in some instances added to the uncomfortable narrative he is depicting but sometimes they felt a little extreme to me. Some scenes made me uncomfortable as they are supposed to but I feel that they could have been leftout and the reader could still have grasped the feelings that Loskutoff wanted to invoke.
I think after reading some other reviews it's important to point out that the women in this book are seen as background characters. Who are undermined and mistreated. Though in my opinion I feel it was necessary to show the selfishness of the main male characters and their poor decisions as they make their choices pertaining to the redoubt. But more importantly it shows the traditional culture that is still practiced in these areas.
This is not saying there aren't good men in the west or independent women. But highlighting the fictional movements beliefs based on factual events that have occured.
Overall I really enjoyed his writing and am looking to pick up Ruthie Fear soon.
Content Warnings
Minor: Blood, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Death of parent, Animal death, and Suicidal thoughts
crookedtreehouse's review against another edition
5.0
***I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for reviewing it on Goodreads.***
The blurbs on the back of this book had me worried. They give the impression that this is a book that glorifies the separatists movements in the Western United States, as well as a blurb that claims this book is "A ferocious love letter to the forgotten and the scorned...unlike any book you'll read this year. It blazes with soul." which is an impressive series of sentences if you are trying to get me to never read a book. Therefore I was a bit nervous that I was going to Hate this book.
The very first page of this book had me hopeful. A very poetic, but not flowery or verbose, description of a bear. I was excited to see where it was going. On page two, I found myself asking "Does this guy want to...fuck a bear? Where is this going?"
The first story, "The Dancing Bear" took the story of a guy who finds himself wanting to fuck a bear to places I wasn't prepared to go, but was not unhappy to arrive at. (This is your only spoiler: he does not fuck the bear)
This was true of much of the stories in this collection. The thread that connects most of these stories is that there is a separatist movement (or possibly several separatist movements intertwining) in the Western United States. The stories never do more than flirt with the borders of the movement. Rather, they focus on how the standoff impacts the people around the movement, whether they are merely people geographically tangential to the separatists, or people who have lost family, friends, or livelihood to the standoff. We also get stories about people whose situations have them actively considering whether or not to join the movement.
But this is not a love story to this fictional movement (based on several less fictional movements, such as The Bundy standoff). Almost all of the characters who consider joining the movement, or who are associated with the movement, are presented as people who routinely make awful decisions at the expense of those they love. Not villains, but assholes, or idiots. People you want to shake and say "stop fucking up". It's impressive that, with a few exceptions, I neither hated nor felt any pity for most of the characters in this book, yet I was invested in their stories. The stories didn't seem to aim for my emotions, rather they presented believable protagonists and side characters, and tended more to small stakes scenarios than bombast.
"End Times", "Ways To Kill A Tree", "Prey", and "Harvest" (which certainly falls more on the bombast side) were my favorites of the collection. "Too Much Love" was the only time when I found myself skipping paragraphs to see if it was going anywhere interesting.
I would recommend this book for people looking for realistic and character-driven stories, fans of Spoon River Anthology who prefer twenty page long short stories to page long eulogies, people exhausted by stories that take place in New York as if it's the only place in America worth writing about, guys who are really into bears (but not in the queer subculture way), people looking for morality stories that pose interesting questions instead of claiming to present answers.
The blurbs on the back of this book had me worried. They give the impression that this is a book that glorifies the separatists movements in the Western United States, as well as a blurb that claims this book is "A ferocious love letter to the forgotten and the scorned...unlike any book you'll read this year. It blazes with soul." which is an impressive series of sentences if you are trying to get me to never read a book. Therefore I was a bit nervous that I was going to Hate this book.
The very first page of this book had me hopeful. A very poetic, but not flowery or verbose, description of a bear. I was excited to see where it was going. On page two, I found myself asking "Does this guy want to...fuck a bear? Where is this going?"
The first story, "The Dancing Bear" took the story of a guy who finds himself wanting to fuck a bear to places I wasn't prepared to go, but was not unhappy to arrive at. (This is your only spoiler: he does not fuck the bear)
This was true of much of the stories in this collection. The thread that connects most of these stories is that there is a separatist movement (or possibly several separatist movements intertwining) in the Western United States. The stories never do more than flirt with the borders of the movement. Rather, they focus on how the standoff impacts the people around the movement, whether they are merely people geographically tangential to the separatists, or people who have lost family, friends, or livelihood to the standoff. We also get stories about people whose situations have them actively considering whether or not to join the movement.
But this is not a love story to this fictional movement (based on several less fictional movements, such as The Bundy standoff). Almost all of the characters who consider joining the movement, or who are associated with the movement, are presented as people who routinely make awful decisions at the expense of those they love. Not villains, but assholes, or idiots. People you want to shake and say "stop fucking up". It's impressive that, with a few exceptions, I neither hated nor felt any pity for most of the characters in this book, yet I was invested in their stories. The stories didn't seem to aim for my emotions, rather they presented believable protagonists and side characters, and tended more to small stakes scenarios than bombast.
"End Times", "Ways To Kill A Tree", "Prey", and "Harvest" (which certainly falls more on the bombast side) were my favorites of the collection. "Too Much Love" was the only time when I found myself skipping paragraphs to see if it was going anywhere interesting.
I would recommend this book for people looking for realistic and character-driven stories, fans of Spoon River Anthology who prefer twenty page long short stories to page long eulogies, people exhausted by stories that take place in New York as if it's the only place in America worth writing about, guys who are really into bears (but not in the queer subculture way), people looking for morality stories that pose interesting questions instead of claiming to present answers.
mahireads's review against another edition
1.0
Had to quit after reading a third of it. Loskutoff’s female characters (some of whom are disabled or disfigured) are treated more like props than people. The first story is surrealist and funny, but afterwards the collection fell into the depressing pattern of stories about women suffering because of men close to them. The pain experienced by the female characters starts to read as self-indulgent. This book borders on trauma voyeurism/trauma porn and ultimately does a disservice to real people from the rural west who are strong and complex and who I thought would be better represented here.
lornarose's review against another edition
3.0
Not sure what I think of this yet. Probably more of a 2.5.
lenaandcalliope's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War
rapgamenancyreagan's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
jmcordero's review against another edition
I was put off by the bestiality.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Sexual content
Spoiler
A character fantasizes about fornicating with a bear.specialkxb's review against another edition
2.0
I love this premise of this book. However, I was bored throughout this book. Especially after the first story. It gave me Haunted by Chuck Palinick vibes where the first story was crazy and fun but then afterwards the story just fell through that eventually became a very lack luster experience as a reader.
paperbackpotables's review against another edition
5.0
Incredible book of short stories, each woven together by threads of a western separatist land rights movement not unlike the Sagebrush Rebellion. Loskutoff had amazing prose, even if the narrative wasn’t always that interesting. Many of his one-liners stopped me in my tracks and I reread them three or four times because they said things so familiar to me but which I could never put into words. Some of my favorites: Ways to Kill a Tree; We’re in this Together You Know, God; and End Times.