Caribou Island (P.S.) - Softcover

"The reader's awareness of real deaths, real griefs, gives his work something of the lethal intensity of handling an unsheathed knife: at times the power is exhilarating, and at other times it cuts bloodily and to the quick."--Olivia Laing, New Statesman

"Arguably the first literary masterpiece to take place on the Kenai Peninsula. . . . Like a macabre machine, the narrative ratchets ever tighter until the closing image of one final, forlorn hope that will be smashed as soon as the story-telling stops and the reader closes the book."--Mike Dunham, Anchorage Daily News

"[Vann uses] American landscape as a metaphor to tremendous effect. . . . Vann's brilliance as a writer lies in his willingness to expose everything. . . . A writer to read and reread; a man to watch carefully."--The Economist

"Vann keeps the pages turning with the skill of the best mystery novelists."--Patrick Condon, Associated Press

"Vann is a poet of the animal swings between men and women struggling for the upper hand."--Karen R. Long, Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Compared to "Caribou Island", "The Road" is grim-lit lite. . . . Welcome to Vann's demon land."--Ian Sansom, London Review of Books

""Legend" earned him the acclaim of being one of the best writers of his generation. His first novel is a worthy successor. . . . "Caribou Island" gives us a climax as haunting and realized as any in recent fiction."--Wayne Harrison, San Francisco Chronicle

"Both ["Caribou Island" and "Legend of a Suicide"] are intense tragedies set against an unforgiving landscape. Both are delivered in clear, lyric prose. . . . Vann isn't delivering happy endings, but he is delivering life in crystalline, unforgettable prose."--Robin Vidimos, Denver Post

"Transfixing and unflinching. . . . Full of finely realized moments. . . . Comparison with Cormac McCarthy is fully justified."--Toby Lichtig, Times Literary Supplement (London)

"An existential page-turner and literary breakthrough. . . . The novel's primal power, moral depth, and narrative command show the author making a big leap."--Don McLeese, Kirkus Reviews

“Dazzling.... Vann knows the darkness but he writes from the compassionate light of art.  This is an essential book.”  —Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

“Exceptional....An unflinching portrait of bad faith and bad dreams.” —Ron Rash, author of Burning Bright

Set against the backdrop of Alaska’s unforgiving wilderness, Caribou Island is David Vann’s dark and captivating tale of a marriage pulled apart by rage and regret.  With this eagerly anticipated debut novel, a masterful follow-up to his internationally bestselling short fiction anthology, Legend of a Suicide, Vann takes up the mantle of Louise Erdrich, Marilyn Robinson, and Rick Moody, delivering a powerfully wrought, enthrallingly emotional narrative of struggle and isolation.