About
The American West has long been a place where myth and legend have flourished. Where men stood tall and lived rough. But that West is no more. In its place Shann Ray finds washed-up basketball players, businessmen hiding addictions, and women fighting the inexplicable violence that wells up in these men. A son struggles to accept his father's apologies after surviving a childhood of beatings. Two men seek empty basketball hoops on a snowy night, hoping to relive past glory. A bull rider skips town and rides herd on an unruly mob of passengers as he searches for a thief on a train threading through Montana's Rocky Mountains.
In these stories, Ray grapples with the terrible hurt we inflict on those we love, and finds that reconciliation, if far off, is at least possible. The debut of a writer who is out to redefine the contours of the American West, American Masculine is a deeply felt and fiercely written ode to the country we left behind.
In these stories, Ray grapples with the terrible hurt we inflict on those we love, and finds that reconciliation, if far off, is at least possible. The debut of a writer who is out to redefine the contours of the American West, American Masculine is a deeply felt and fiercely written ode to the country we left behind.
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Reviews
"The sentences in this book have such grace and muscularity that they seem more performed than written, and the author's images and events carry the nearly visceral weight of memory . . . American Masculine is a powerful, resonant work of literature, and Shann Ray is a masterful and original writer."
Robert Boswell, Bakeless Prize Judge
"Shann Ray writes about small western towns and their residents in tough, poetic, and beautiful ways. I recognize many of these people, and that's good, but I'm also surprised and stunned by many others, which is great. Buy the book and read it tonight. You'll love it, too."
Sherman Alexie
"Shann Ray's prose brings to mind Cormac McCarthy and Annie Proulx but is, thankfully, entirely his own. His work is lyrical, prophetic, brutal yet ultimately hopeful."
Dave Eggers