In the distance

256 pages

English language

Published Jan. 21, 2017

ISBN:
978-1-56689-488-3
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OCLC Number:
975018812

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4 stars (8 reviews)

"A young Swedish boy finds himself in penniless and alone in California. He travels East in search of his brother, moving on foot against the great push to the West. Driven back over and over again on his journey through vast expanses, Håkan meets naturalists, criminals, religious fanatics, Indians, and lawmen, and his exploits turn him into a legend. Diaz defies the conventions of historical fiction and genre (travel narratives, the bildungsroman, nature writing, the Western), offering a probing look at the stereotypes that populate our past and a portrait of radical foreignness. At first, it was a contest, but in time the beasts understood that, with an embrace and the slightest push, they had to lie down on their side and stay until Håkan got up. He did this each time he thought he spied someone on the circular horizon. Had Håkan and his animals ever been spotted, the …

1 edition

Review of 'In the distance' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This is an immersive, innovative, compelling story. There's elements of Cormac McCarthy's mythic plains here, but not quite so nightmarish. More just flat and bleak.

The protagonist spends the majority of the story keeping himself as far as possible from civilization, but when he inevitably ends up back in touch with a human being, he ends up re-encountering a magnified version of his brutal self, whereupon he flings himself back into the void of the wilderness again.

This book is for any seeker of an identity that no longer exists.

Subjects

  • Male immigrants
  • Frontier and pioneer life
  • Swedes
  • Fiction

Places

  • United States