“Before Garth Stein made it big with The Art of Racing in the Rain, before he published How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets, there was this odd, mysterious, fascinating novel, published when Stein was a young sapling of a writer, then disappearing from bookstores for fourteen years and just re-released. Rougher around the edges than his other two, but still well-crafted and deeply compelling, this story is probably not like anything you’ve ever read. Jenna is a young woman living, or rather existing, in Seattle. She’s never been able to lay to rest the terrible drowning of her young son Bobby when the family was vacationing in Alaska a couple of years before. One day Jenna just walks out of her life, leaving her husband and taking a ferry up to Alaska. Once there, she finds there may be a reason she can’t reconcile with Bobby’s death. She hears a native story about beings called kushtaka, who steal the souls of drowning people and take them to live in a state neither dead nor alive (much like Jenna’s own emotional state, in fact). It’s wildly unbelievable, but Jenna needs to find out if it’s true. On her mission, she becomes involved with a wounded but very appealing man, a broken but still powerful shaman, and a stray dog who’s probably not just a dog. A strange, creepy, and thought-provoking tale with deeply flawed characters you’ll get attached to just the same, flavored with Garth Stein’s signature ability to make far-fetched things reach out and smack you with their realness.”—Amanda, Paulina Springs Books, Sisters, Oregon
Face Out
Raven Stole the Moon by Garth Stein
August 2, 2010