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Shangri-La Trailer Park
If an Indian falls in the woods, can you hear him scream? Dora Shear did, and her life was about to get interesting. After Maistoinna Standing Bear tackles a tree, Dog Shear Dora - as she’s known in the trailer park - is left to pick up the pieces. Only she’s up to no good.Uncover the secrets of a Jewish love triangle, why the IGA checkout lady trashes a car, why a trip over the coffee table is better than Novocain, and more importantly, the difference between a Canadian Passport and a Kentucky Waterfall. Hop on board with Maistoinna for a crazy forty-eight hour ride through the world’s most dysfunctional trailer park.WARNING! Don’t read if your A) easily offended B) politically correct C) like everything nice or D) believe in the Easter Bunny!
208 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 23, 2011
5 people are currently reading
653 people want to read
About the author
John Zunski
3 books96 followersJohn was born and raised in suburban Philadelphia. In 2003, he sailed across the country in a U-haul and settled in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana with his wife Tammy, their dogs and an occasional meandering bear. He is the Author of Cemetery Street, Shangri-la Trailer Park, and Nightwatching. He is currently working on Cemetery Street's sequel, Montana Rural.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 27, 2011
This story is not for the delicate of the heart. Suspenseful wild ride of the mind.
Shangri-La Trailer Park by John Zunski is a full impact story about a character searching for a lost part of his soul. He decided to hike the Appalachian Trail looking for salvation but does not know what direction to travel. He has visions which are directing him on his path; he had an accident and meets a stranger that brings him, actually holds him hostage in a trailer park. In the trailer park, he is slowly becomes part of their demented world of the bad rift raft. There are some serious graphic plot scenarios in this story. At first one could be offended but as the story unravels, these details are necessary to conclude like a surprise gift, the villain had to be described as the dark psycho as his is and his victims needed to suffer the toil of his wicked actions for the hero to be justified in his actions.
The author declares in the description of this story," Hop on board for a forty-eight hour ride through the world's most dysfunctional trailer park. WARNING! Don’t read if your are: A) easily offended B) politically correct C) like everything nice or D) believe in the Easter Bunny!
As a reader I have read his other stories and know that he has a gift to create a story that captures an individual's heart and make one cry and this story captures an individual’s morals and takes you on a wild ride into the dark side of the mind, leaving you breathless at the conclusion. This story is not for the delicate at heart. If you are a reader looking for wicked fun when the kiddies go to bed, then this is the story for the grown-ups in you who can tolerate a hard core tale to see the villain pounded and the hero relishing in his victory.
Shangri-La Trailer Park by John Zunski is a full impact story about a character searching for a lost part of his soul. He decided to hike the Appalachian Trail looking for salvation but does not know what direction to travel. He has visions which are directing him on his path; he had an accident and meets a stranger that brings him, actually holds him hostage in a trailer park. In the trailer park, he is slowly becomes part of their demented world of the bad rift raft. There are some serious graphic plot scenarios in this story. At first one could be offended but as the story unravels, these details are necessary to conclude like a surprise gift, the villain had to be described as the dark psycho as his is and his victims needed to suffer the toil of his wicked actions for the hero to be justified in his actions.
The author declares in the description of this story," Hop on board for a forty-eight hour ride through the world's most dysfunctional trailer park. WARNING! Don’t read if your are: A) easily offended B) politically correct C) like everything nice or D) believe in the Easter Bunny!
As a reader I have read his other stories and know that he has a gift to create a story that captures an individual's heart and make one cry and this story captures an individual’s morals and takes you on a wild ride into the dark side of the mind, leaving you breathless at the conclusion. This story is not for the delicate at heart. If you are a reader looking for wicked fun when the kiddies go to bed, then this is the story for the grown-ups in you who can tolerate a hard core tale to see the villain pounded and the hero relishing in his victory.
December 10, 2022
A great read. The chaotic happenings of the trailer park brought together into a complete composition. John Zunski is an artist.
June 27, 2025
To be honest, Shangri-La Trailer Park isn't something I'd normally read. Nobody dies, there's no mystery to unravel, and there are certainly no ninja cyborg hamsters. But I was intrigued by the plot synopsis, and the author, John Zunski, was kind enough to answer a bunch of pretentious literary nerd questions and front some swag for a giveaway. He also told me that if I didn't review it, he'd send that big cinnamon bear in the story to talk off my ear and drink all my coffee in the middle of the night. Always protective of my beauty sleep (and caffeinated comestibles), I agreed. Now that I’ve finished it, I'm glad I did.
It’s a dark comedy, a strange mix between Native American spirit journey and white trash train wreck. The main character is a Blackfoot named Maistoinna from Montana trying to hike the Appalachian trail. He has a little “mishap” on the Pennsylvanian leg of trail and ends up dislocating his shoulder. Luckily, a local hiker (and recent ex-con) known to the locals as “Dog Shear Dora” happens along and offers her help. Maistoinna and Dora hit it off like Tom and Jerry, antagonizing each other and bellyaching and generally expressing their intense dislike for each other. But Dora feels some inexplicable attraction to the crass Blackfoot, and she offers to take him to the hospital and put him up in her singlewide at the Heaven’s Lake trailer park. His stay there intersects with a local redneck love triangle… except it involves five people total, so it’s really more of a love pentagon. And like any good story about rednecks and trailer parks and dysfunctional relationships, there’s a lot of satire to be had. There’s also some stereotyping, but as one who comes from a long line of good redneck stock, I didn’t at all mind. Along the way the narrative is peppered with Maistoinna’s dream visions, where a great cinnamon-colored bear—Maistoinna’s spirit totem, or something like that—converses with Maistoinna and offers advice in a suitably mystical and cryptic fashion.
One word of warning I would give any prospective readers, though, is that the novel contains a couple scenes depicting violence against women, mostly within the contents of domestic and sexual relationships. Zunski presents it with a fairly even hand and doesn’t glorify the violence, but he’s also unflinching in his portrayal. I know it seems kind of impossible to do—write a comedic novel while peppering it with domestic abuse—but you have to keep in mind that the abuse isn’t the part that’s supposed to be funny. The funny part mostly comes in when the various dysfunctional personalities get what’s coming to them. Oh, and just about everything Maistoinna says. I especially loved the a-typical curses he used like “bison anus.” But as always, I digress.
The most egregious failing I noted in the book were a few typos and missing quotation marks here and there, but they really weren’t all that noticeable—so then I guess you could say it wasn’t egregious at all. Stylistically, there were a couple things that made my right eye tweak a time or two, but I really think it’s because I’m just a weirdo when it comes to certain stylistic elements. As you might have imagined (given how much I’ve ranted about it in other reviews), point of view (POV) was the one I keyed in on the most. What it all boils down to, I guess, is that I just don’t like the third person omniscient. That’s probably a testament to Zunski’s storytelling ability more than anything, because I really did enjoy the book despite the fact he used the much-loathed “TPO.” Plus, I can see why he chose that POV for his novel, as it has a way of fostering a tone similar to Chuck Pala-whatever-his-name-is that is very conducive to dark comedy. And then there were a couple instances where adjectives ran rampant over a sentence or two, but either Zunski tamed them by the end of the book or I was enjoying the story enough not to notice them anymore.
Like I said, I’m a weirdo.
All told, I found Shangri-La Trailer Park to be quite humorous and entertaining. Except for Maistoinna, the characters are mostly of the stock variety and they deal heavily in white trash stereotypes, but seeing as how the novel is a dark comedy, you can hardly blame Zunski for that. I also appreciated the fact that he avoided making the ending into some stereotypical rom-com Twelfth Night farce in which all the star-crossed lovers are shuffled around and matched up in their cosmically ordained pairings. Major points to him on that. So if I had to give it a rating (and according to the law of the land, I must), I’d say it was three and a half stars.
It’s a dark comedy, a strange mix between Native American spirit journey and white trash train wreck. The main character is a Blackfoot named Maistoinna from Montana trying to hike the Appalachian trail. He has a little “mishap” on the Pennsylvanian leg of trail and ends up dislocating his shoulder. Luckily, a local hiker (and recent ex-con) known to the locals as “Dog Shear Dora” happens along and offers her help. Maistoinna and Dora hit it off like Tom and Jerry, antagonizing each other and bellyaching and generally expressing their intense dislike for each other. But Dora feels some inexplicable attraction to the crass Blackfoot, and she offers to take him to the hospital and put him up in her singlewide at the Heaven’s Lake trailer park. His stay there intersects with a local redneck love triangle… except it involves five people total, so it’s really more of a love pentagon. And like any good story about rednecks and trailer parks and dysfunctional relationships, there’s a lot of satire to be had. There’s also some stereotyping, but as one who comes from a long line of good redneck stock, I didn’t at all mind. Along the way the narrative is peppered with Maistoinna’s dream visions, where a great cinnamon-colored bear—Maistoinna’s spirit totem, or something like that—converses with Maistoinna and offers advice in a suitably mystical and cryptic fashion.
One word of warning I would give any prospective readers, though, is that the novel contains a couple scenes depicting violence against women, mostly within the contents of domestic and sexual relationships. Zunski presents it with a fairly even hand and doesn’t glorify the violence, but he’s also unflinching in his portrayal. I know it seems kind of impossible to do—write a comedic novel while peppering it with domestic abuse—but you have to keep in mind that the abuse isn’t the part that’s supposed to be funny. The funny part mostly comes in when the various dysfunctional personalities get what’s coming to them. Oh, and just about everything Maistoinna says. I especially loved the a-typical curses he used like “bison anus.” But as always, I digress.
The most egregious failing I noted in the book were a few typos and missing quotation marks here and there, but they really weren’t all that noticeable—so then I guess you could say it wasn’t egregious at all. Stylistically, there were a couple things that made my right eye tweak a time or two, but I really think it’s because I’m just a weirdo when it comes to certain stylistic elements. As you might have imagined (given how much I’ve ranted about it in other reviews), point of view (POV) was the one I keyed in on the most. What it all boils down to, I guess, is that I just don’t like the third person omniscient. That’s probably a testament to Zunski’s storytelling ability more than anything, because I really did enjoy the book despite the fact he used the much-loathed “TPO.” Plus, I can see why he chose that POV for his novel, as it has a way of fostering a tone similar to Chuck Pala-whatever-his-name-is that is very conducive to dark comedy. And then there were a couple instances where adjectives ran rampant over a sentence or two, but either Zunski tamed them by the end of the book or I was enjoying the story enough not to notice them anymore.
Like I said, I’m a weirdo.
All told, I found Shangri-La Trailer Park to be quite humorous and entertaining. Except for Maistoinna, the characters are mostly of the stock variety and they deal heavily in white trash stereotypes, but seeing as how the novel is a dark comedy, you can hardly blame Zunski for that. I also appreciated the fact that he avoided making the ending into some stereotypical rom-com Twelfth Night farce in which all the star-crossed lovers are shuffled around and matched up in their cosmically ordained pairings. Major points to him on that. So if I had to give it a rating (and according to the law of the land, I must), I’d say it was three and a half stars.
December 2, 2011
Have you ever marveled at how Coltrane can take squeaks and squeals, seemingly discordant explosions of sound, and roll them out into an experience of sublime musical beauty? That’s how Shangri-La reverberated in my senses. More than the sum of its parts, the story takes some pretty distasteful dysfunction squealing and squalling its way through to another plane – an ethereal co-ordinate where the dream world and the consciousness fuse into a continuum.
I hate the gratuitous violence and sadism that has become a mainstay of our present day entertainment. I hate most what it speaks about the depravity of our tastes, the lows of human desire unplugged; the ancient beast in us fed the raw bloody feast of its nature. But gratuitous shock value is not what I found here – not once all the parts of this literary fusion had been put into place. As when listening to a masterful improv composition, one knows in the end that not a single false note has been played.
Not for everyone’s taste, Shangri-La Trailer Park is going to upset some people. This is the raw of life with no candy coating to get it down. Beware, though. These characters may capture you even as the repulsion towards them makes you want to put the book down. There’s no doubt they are real – maybe that’s the hardest pill to swallow.
As the trailer park occupants go about their painfully dysfunctional lives, the protagonist, Maistoinna, a Blackfoot from the north country of Montana, operates on a different plane. Fully modern, armed with all the smart talk and flippant slang he needs to keep trailer park culture at bay, this quirky anti-James Fenimore Cooper NDN has his act together as he communicates with his bear clan spirit guide with the familiarity of a family member
John Zunski is a fine word smith, and a composer of beauty from the rough stuff of life. .
I hate the gratuitous violence and sadism that has become a mainstay of our present day entertainment. I hate most what it speaks about the depravity of our tastes, the lows of human desire unplugged; the ancient beast in us fed the raw bloody feast of its nature. But gratuitous shock value is not what I found here – not once all the parts of this literary fusion had been put into place. As when listening to a masterful improv composition, one knows in the end that not a single false note has been played.
Not for everyone’s taste, Shangri-La Trailer Park is going to upset some people. This is the raw of life with no candy coating to get it down. Beware, though. These characters may capture you even as the repulsion towards them makes you want to put the book down. There’s no doubt they are real – maybe that’s the hardest pill to swallow.
As the trailer park occupants go about their painfully dysfunctional lives, the protagonist, Maistoinna, a Blackfoot from the north country of Montana, operates on a different plane. Fully modern, armed with all the smart talk and flippant slang he needs to keep trailer park culture at bay, this quirky anti-James Fenimore Cooper NDN has his act together as he communicates with his bear clan spirit guide with the familiarity of a family member
John Zunski is a fine word smith, and a composer of beauty from the rough stuff of life. .
February 28, 2013
When I finished with Shangri-La Trailer Park I set my kindle down and said wow. I had felt like I had just stepped off a loop to loop, corkscrewing rollercoaster. First off, what the book isn't. It's not a literary masterpiece that will leave you gasping of flowery prose, but it does have an element of Dickenson plot, in the end the fast paced plot is delivered to the reader in a neatly wrapped package with a big bow on top. But within the package, it's kind of like getting a bear cub for a Christmas present. There's going to moments of the worlds great, but there's going to be times when your world, and in this case, Heaven's Lake Trailer Park is going to be turned upside down. This story is a pinch of Hiaasen, two dabs of Toole, a scoop of Native American Mythology wrapped up into an explosive adventure that will leave you revolted and laughing - often on the same page. Warning, it's not for the faint of heart!
I'm off to read more of Zunski's work. I'm wondering where it's going to take me.
I'm off to read more of Zunski's work. I'm wondering where it's going to take me.
September 7, 2012
Shangri-La Trailor Park isn't something I normally read, but this book really opens up your senses and makes you reflect on your own life. The story is about a Native American taking his journey through the Appalachian Mountains and gets hurt while hiking. He runs into a misunderstood woman called Dog Shear Dora and gets sucked into the drama of a dysfunctional Trailer Park. The characters I felt for the most through out the book was Dog Shear Dora for her misunderstood lifestyle and for Jessica, a girl who is abused and hunted by her boyfriend Abe. It is a must-read book that you should not put down, it will take you through a roller coaster of emotions and self realization.
John Zunski's other novels include Cemetary Street, which are one of my favorites. He is extremely talented author with vision for storytelling and a real insight for life's lessons.
John Zunski's other novels include Cemetary Street, which are one of my favorites. He is extremely talented author with vision for storytelling and a real insight for life's lessons.
November 23, 2011
Book Title: "Shangra - La Trailer Park"
Author: John Zunski
Published By: Amazon (John Zunski)
Age Recommended: 18 +
Reviewed By: Kitty Bullard (Great Minds Think Aloud Literary Community)
Raven Rating: 4
Review: The warning is true! Do not read this book if you are easily offended, on the other hand if you can handle tongue-in-cheek humor and anecdotes with a bit of good fun at the expense of one slightly illiterate Native American, you'll enjoy this book. It is expressly laugh-out-loud funny and has quite an odd bit to do with bears. That's all I'm going to say. So pick up a copy!
Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.probo...
Author: John Zunski
Published By: Amazon (John Zunski)
Age Recommended: 18 +
Reviewed By: Kitty Bullard (Great Minds Think Aloud Literary Community)
Raven Rating: 4
Review: The warning is true! Do not read this book if you are easily offended, on the other hand if you can handle tongue-in-cheek humor and anecdotes with a bit of good fun at the expense of one slightly illiterate Native American, you'll enjoy this book. It is expressly laugh-out-loud funny and has quite an odd bit to do with bears. That's all I'm going to say. So pick up a copy!
Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.probo...
February 10, 2012
I've read books that've made me want to eat a particular food. (The Novel-scrapple:), those that have made me want to try a type of beer. (The last good kiss-Tacate beer:) I've read books that have made me want to change my career, or, um...get one. (Another roadside attraction-mushroom picker:) Shangri-La Trailer Park made me want to pack a hefty bag full of clothes and travel until I found the rusty collection of homes with wheels and dig in, I wanted to drink Tecate, take mushrooms and eat scrapple with them. Roll around and just get dirty with them and then kiss and make up. If the book gods are with me and Maistoinna, we haven't heard the last from 'em.
December 13, 2013
I really tried to like this book, but I just can't. The characters were flat and the constant switching between storylines was very rough. Even though I won this book thru Goodreads giveaways, I just can't give it a good review.
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August 2, 2015A little offbeat story....
I found this story to be a little strange. Definitely not a ordinary piece of writing, that's for sure. If you like offbeat funny stories this is your cup of tea.
I found this story to be a little strange. Definitely not a ordinary piece of writing, that's for sure. If you like offbeat funny stories this is your cup of tea.
Read
August 7, 2013Ok, I got to the 4th chapter and I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to like it, because there were some promising characters, BUT the violent sexual content just disgusted me.
September 10, 2017
A native American wanders into white trash territory, with interesting consequences.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews