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American Spirits
From one of America’s most celebrated storytellers come three dark, interlocking tales about the residents of a rural New York town, and the shocking headlines that become their local mythologies.
A husband sells property to a mysterious, temperamental stranger, and is hounded on social media when he publicly questions the man’s character. A couple grows concerned when an enigmatic family moves next door, and the children start sneaking over to beg for help. Two dangerous criminals kidnap an elderly couple and begin blackmailing their grandson, demanding that he pay back what he owes.
Suspenseful, thrilling, and expertly crafted, American Spirits explores the hostile undercurrents of our communities and American politics at large, as well as the ways local tragedies can be both devastating and, somehow, everyday. Ushering the reader through the town of Sam Dent, Russell Banks has etched yet another brilliant entry into the bedrock of American fiction.
A husband sells property to a mysterious, temperamental stranger, and is hounded on social media when he publicly questions the man’s character. A couple grows concerned when an enigmatic family moves next door, and the children start sneaking over to beg for help. Two dangerous criminals kidnap an elderly couple and begin blackmailing their grandson, demanding that he pay back what he owes.
Suspenseful, thrilling, and expertly crafted, American Spirits explores the hostile undercurrents of our communities and American politics at large, as well as the ways local tragedies can be both devastating and, somehow, everyday. Ushering the reader through the town of Sam Dent, Russell Banks has etched yet another brilliant entry into the bedrock of American fiction.
224 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 5, 2024
82 people are currently reading
5489 people want to read
About the author
Russell Banks
103 books1,006 followersRussell Banks was a member of the International Parliament of Writers and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work has been translated into twenty languages and has received numerous international prizes and awards. He has written fiction, and more recently, non-fiction, with Dreaming up America. His main works include the novels Continental Drift, Rule of the Bone, Cloudsplitter, The Sweet Hereafter, and Affliction. The latter two novels were each made into feature films in 1997.
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March 23, 2024
Banks, a master storyteller, presents three stories about residents of Sam Dent, a rural town in upstate New York. These are conservative citizens who believe in God, country, and Donald Trump. Some are barely making ends meet, others have scrimped and saved, and managed to make their dreams come true only to find nightmares seeping in. Life is hard; bad things happen to good people, and that's certainly true in these tales. They're depressing, and sad, and very hard to put out of your mind.
Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the read.
*Note to self:
The middle story is VERY similar to an episode of Atlanta. As I was googling to see who did it first, Banks or Donald Glover, I found that both plots were based on a real, and incredibly tragic event.
Sigh.
Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the read.
*Note to self:
The middle story is VERY similar to an episode of Atlanta. As I was googling to see who did it first, Banks or Donald Glover, I found that both plots were based on a real, and incredibly tragic event.
Sigh.
November 10, 2023
Russell Banks, always a favorite, caps his legacy with this series of three linked, dark tales, all set in a small town in upper New York state, just across the Canadian border. Each story is a counterpart from the headlines, familiar to anyone cognizant and curious about, say, the, to many, unlikely ascent of the popularity of Donald Trump. So sorry to learn of his recent death, meaning that there won't be any more of his cleareyed insights.
February 22, 2024
4.5 “American Spirits” is a portrait America in the Age of Trump. All the main characters in the book voted for him. Most of them own a red MAGA hat. And guns. Even the very naming of the small rural New York town in which the action takes place conjures thoughts of Trump, or at least a Trump avatar. The town is, oddly, called Sam Dent. Dent, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, took land stolen from the Native people who originally lived there, then expanded it by cheating illiterate or careless White American landholders until the holding reached the size where he could found a town and name it after himself. “Dentville was not acceptable to him, nor was simply Dent. A man with an Olympian ego, he had insisted that it had to be her one and only Sam Dent.” Lest anyone miss the point, Banks tells us that Dent was “a real estate mogul and developer.”
Russell Banks passed away in January of 2023. He found the material for his books while drinking beer and watching football at local bars in Keene, NY, with townsfolk. Much of what he heard over the years made its way into the three interconnected stories that make up “American Spirits,” his final book. This is indeed a Trump town, but Banks gives us a far more nuanced and empathetic picture of Trump voters than we’re used to seeing.
The first story is called “Nowhere Man.” Its protagonist, Doug Lafleur, is a self-described “Dedicated Second Amendment man.” His family once owned much of the land in and around Sam Dent. As the fortunes of the town faded, however, he and his siblings had to sell more and more of the land, until he is left with only a small parcel at the base of a dead end road. The story opens with Doug waking from a “slurry, hungover” sleep to the sound of automatic gunfire coming from the nearby shooting range, property he and his siblings had sold to the Israeli-American owner of a New Jersey-based security firm.
A gentle man, a sometime-musician who earns his living maintaining the properties of summer residents, Doug’s life is shaped not by resentment but by a heavy feeling of loss. He wants to teach his son to hunt, as boys in his family have been taught by their dads over many generations, but he has to get permission from his new neighbor to enter land that he and his family once owned, that he knows every inch of and thinks of as an integral part of who he is as a person. “Without that ancient connection to the land,” he thinks, “who was Doug Lafleur, anyhow? No one. Nothing… A nowhere man, that’s what he’d become. Like the guy in the Beatles’ song.” Doug feels diminished, powerless. Worthless. “It felt of a piece with the many forms of oppression and discrimination that afflicted him and made him feel small, weak, and childlike, made him think of himself as dumb and ignorant.” His enemies are the bankers and realtors, the summer residents who "treated him like their lackey," and all the politicians (except for President Trump) who "were secretly conspiring together to impoverish and humiliate him and keep him from being the man he was meant to be." He dreams of waking up one day not to gunfire but to the respect and admiration of others, "a man who nods his head in silence like a sage instead of singing folk tunes and playing the banjo like a clever monkey."
The relationship between Doug and his neighbor will become increasingly fraught until it reaches its awful conclusion, and the reader can’t help but feel an emotional connection to Doug as a good, if flawed, man who is battered by forces beyond his control.
In the second, called “Homeschooling,” we meet Kenneth and Barbara (not Ken and Barbie!) Odell, new owners of one of the largest houses in town. The Odells aspire to “a cosmopolitan adult social life for themselves and neighborhood friends for their children, and they also wanted rural privacy.” The house provided all three, as well as proximity to the correctional facility where Kenneth works as an administrator. In time the Odells meet their neighbors, the Webers, a vegan lesbian couple and their four adopted Black children from Texas. The Webers, who homeschool their children, are quite reserved; they’re pleasant enough to the Odells but not warm or neighborly. In time, Kenneth grows distrustful of the two women, wondering whether they were “trying to prove something,” like “that a couple of married lesbians can make a real family. Or that a pair of nice White liberal ladies can rescue a batch of poor Black children abandoned by their crackhead mother.” The two families maintain a cordial if distant relationship… until the children start coming to the Odell’s door at night asking for help.
The final story, called “Kidnapped,” is about an older couple — Franklin and Elizabeth Dent — who have taken in their grandson Stevie after their son, the boy’s father, is killed in Iraq and the boy’s mother becomes involved with drugs. Frank and Elizabeth tend to a trail through the woods where the locals hike, maintaining it as it changes from season to season, over time — as it has since the time Frank’s ancestor Sam Dent owned it. In this, the woods serve as a stand-in for how the modern world feels to the Dents: “That was a forest, not a woods. But the forest was not replaced by itself. It was displaced and replaced by these woods, which was a different and lesser thing.”
The Dents are good people. Conservative about many things (they left their church after the minister officiated at the wedding of a lesbian couple), but good neighbors. They care deeply about their grandson. They thought him a genius when he was young. (Stevie’s kindergarten teacher believed otherwise. She thought Stevie might be “borderline mentally ill,” in some way; his classmates were afraid of him.) Stevie grows up. He stays close to his grandparents after he moves out. And then one night two men in masks break into Frank and Elizabeth’s house and kidnap them. When one of the kidnappers asks if there are any guns in the house, Frank says no. The kidnapper doesn’t buy it: “Don’t fucking lie to me, man. I know you got guns. You’re American. Look at that hat you got on. You’re a goddamn Donald Trump supporter. I’m not stupid. You got guns?” Yes, he does. Lots of them, in fact. When the man asks why there are so many guns, Frank says they’re for hunting. “And in case of a home invasion, I guess.” The man laughs: “What the fuck do you think this is?”
This is the “Age of Trump” as depicted in “American Spirits,” the Trump-land populated by the people Banks shared beers and smokes with. They are caring in many ways, distrustful and judgmental in others. They struggle to make ends meet, are troubled by or unhappy with some of the changes they see in society, they have difficulty mastering the TV remote, they take care of their families, feel sorrow for what they’ve lost, and see loved ones drawn to drugs. Ordinary people living ordinary lives, not a single flag-waving, Capitol assaulting person in sight. At a time when negative partisanship is the order of the day in our politics, and caricature is the default mode for our social interactions, it’s important to be reminded that there are real people on “the other side.” Banks may not have approved at all in what Trump is and what he’s done to the country, but he certainly cared about people and the problems they were wrestling with. His final book is a gift to a country in desperate need of one.
Russell Banks passed away in January of 2023. He found the material for his books while drinking beer and watching football at local bars in Keene, NY, with townsfolk. Much of what he heard over the years made its way into the three interconnected stories that make up “American Spirits,” his final book. This is indeed a Trump town, but Banks gives us a far more nuanced and empathetic picture of Trump voters than we’re used to seeing.
The first story is called “Nowhere Man.” Its protagonist, Doug Lafleur, is a self-described “Dedicated Second Amendment man.” His family once owned much of the land in and around Sam Dent. As the fortunes of the town faded, however, he and his siblings had to sell more and more of the land, until he is left with only a small parcel at the base of a dead end road. The story opens with Doug waking from a “slurry, hungover” sleep to the sound of automatic gunfire coming from the nearby shooting range, property he and his siblings had sold to the Israeli-American owner of a New Jersey-based security firm.
A gentle man, a sometime-musician who earns his living maintaining the properties of summer residents, Doug’s life is shaped not by resentment but by a heavy feeling of loss. He wants to teach his son to hunt, as boys in his family have been taught by their dads over many generations, but he has to get permission from his new neighbor to enter land that he and his family once owned, that he knows every inch of and thinks of as an integral part of who he is as a person. “Without that ancient connection to the land,” he thinks, “who was Doug Lafleur, anyhow? No one. Nothing… A nowhere man, that’s what he’d become. Like the guy in the Beatles’ song.” Doug feels diminished, powerless. Worthless. “It felt of a piece with the many forms of oppression and discrimination that afflicted him and made him feel small, weak, and childlike, made him think of himself as dumb and ignorant.” His enemies are the bankers and realtors, the summer residents who "treated him like their lackey," and all the politicians (except for President Trump) who "were secretly conspiring together to impoverish and humiliate him and keep him from being the man he was meant to be." He dreams of waking up one day not to gunfire but to the respect and admiration of others, "a man who nods his head in silence like a sage instead of singing folk tunes and playing the banjo like a clever monkey."
The relationship between Doug and his neighbor will become increasingly fraught until it reaches its awful conclusion, and the reader can’t help but feel an emotional connection to Doug as a good, if flawed, man who is battered by forces beyond his control.
In the second, called “Homeschooling,” we meet Kenneth and Barbara (not Ken and Barbie!) Odell, new owners of one of the largest houses in town. The Odells aspire to “a cosmopolitan adult social life for themselves and neighborhood friends for their children, and they also wanted rural privacy.” The house provided all three, as well as proximity to the correctional facility where Kenneth works as an administrator. In time the Odells meet their neighbors, the Webers, a vegan lesbian couple and their four adopted Black children from Texas. The Webers, who homeschool their children, are quite reserved; they’re pleasant enough to the Odells but not warm or neighborly. In time, Kenneth grows distrustful of the two women, wondering whether they were “trying to prove something,” like “that a couple of married lesbians can make a real family. Or that a pair of nice White liberal ladies can rescue a batch of poor Black children abandoned by their crackhead mother.” The two families maintain a cordial if distant relationship… until the children start coming to the Odell’s door at night asking for help.
The final story, called “Kidnapped,” is about an older couple — Franklin and Elizabeth Dent — who have taken in their grandson Stevie after their son, the boy’s father, is killed in Iraq and the boy’s mother becomes involved with drugs. Frank and Elizabeth tend to a trail through the woods where the locals hike, maintaining it as it changes from season to season, over time — as it has since the time Frank’s ancestor Sam Dent owned it. In this, the woods serve as a stand-in for how the modern world feels to the Dents: “That was a forest, not a woods. But the forest was not replaced by itself. It was displaced and replaced by these woods, which was a different and lesser thing.”
The Dents are good people. Conservative about many things (they left their church after the minister officiated at the wedding of a lesbian couple), but good neighbors. They care deeply about their grandson. They thought him a genius when he was young. (Stevie’s kindergarten teacher believed otherwise. She thought Stevie might be “borderline mentally ill,” in some way; his classmates were afraid of him.) Stevie grows up. He stays close to his grandparents after he moves out. And then one night two men in masks break into Frank and Elizabeth’s house and kidnap them. When one of the kidnappers asks if there are any guns in the house, Frank says no. The kidnapper doesn’t buy it: “Don’t fucking lie to me, man. I know you got guns. You’re American. Look at that hat you got on. You’re a goddamn Donald Trump supporter. I’m not stupid. You got guns?” Yes, he does. Lots of them, in fact. When the man asks why there are so many guns, Frank says they’re for hunting. “And in case of a home invasion, I guess.” The man laughs: “What the fuck do you think this is?”
This is the “Age of Trump” as depicted in “American Spirits,” the Trump-land populated by the people Banks shared beers and smokes with. They are caring in many ways, distrustful and judgmental in others. They struggle to make ends meet, are troubled by or unhappy with some of the changes they see in society, they have difficulty mastering the TV remote, they take care of their families, feel sorrow for what they’ve lost, and see loved ones drawn to drugs. Ordinary people living ordinary lives, not a single flag-waving, Capitol assaulting person in sight. At a time when negative partisanship is the order of the day in our politics, and caricature is the default mode for our social interactions, it’s important to be reminded that there are real people on “the other side.” Banks may not have approved at all in what Trump is and what he’s done to the country, but he certainly cared about people and the problems they were wrestling with. His final book is a gift to a country in desperate need of one.
May 3, 2024
Three stories, all set in the small town called Sam Dent in Essex County, northern New York State.
A man regrets the sale of a large plot of land to a man who has become increasingly irritating and unfriendly. The plot (over 300 acres) had been in his family’s hands for generations, and he’s always hunted there. He’d planned to teach his teenage son to hunt deer there, too, but now that’s under threat.
A family move into their new home to discover that their next-door neighbours are two white women and four black children. At first, contact is minimal, but then friendly overtures are forthcoming. But odd events start to cause concerns, and soon, events take a dramatic turn.
Two elderly grandparents are kidnapped from their home by two men. They claim that their grandson has something that they want returned to them. Some bad blood between the grandparents and their grandson’s mother are also in the mix. This could all end badly.
It took me a while to get into each of these stories, but slowly, each grew on me. My favourite is the first story, I just found that I could somehow most identify with the man at the centre of the tale. The writing is strong and highly impactful. There is violence here, these scenes being unvarnished and, to me, quite shocking.
I’ll look out more from this writer – this being my first experience of his work – but I’d urge all readers of this book to approach it with a little caution: there’s definitely a sting in every tale.
My thanks to Bedford Square Publishers for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
A man regrets the sale of a large plot of land to a man who has become increasingly irritating and unfriendly. The plot (over 300 acres) had been in his family’s hands for generations, and he’s always hunted there. He’d planned to teach his teenage son to hunt deer there, too, but now that’s under threat.
A family move into their new home to discover that their next-door neighbours are two white women and four black children. At first, contact is minimal, but then friendly overtures are forthcoming. But odd events start to cause concerns, and soon, events take a dramatic turn.
Two elderly grandparents are kidnapped from their home by two men. They claim that their grandson has something that they want returned to them. Some bad blood between the grandparents and their grandson’s mother are also in the mix. This could all end badly.
It took me a while to get into each of these stories, but slowly, each grew on me. My favourite is the first story, I just found that I could somehow most identify with the man at the centre of the tale. The writing is strong and highly impactful. There is violence here, these scenes being unvarnished and, to me, quite shocking.
I’ll look out more from this writer – this being my first experience of his work – but I’d urge all readers of this book to approach it with a little caution: there’s definitely a sting in every tale.
My thanks to Bedford Square Publishers for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
January 17, 2024
This book is comprised of three dark short stories/novellas written by the late Russell Banks. He passed away in 2023; a loss to American literature. The stories all take place in Sam Dent, a once bustling, now forgotten, decaying town in upstate New York.
My reaction after reading the first story was “Wow…Just wow.” What a great writer. Banks captures well the struggles of people who feel marginalized, the culture that has made a cult hero out of a con man former entertainer and president of the United States and the hate and vitriol that characterizes our current social/political climate as well as the devastating effects of that vitriol.
While the title American Spirits refers to the brand of cigarettes smoked by some of the characters, it of course is a metaphor for so much more. While reading about the sometimes horrors of everyday life may not be for everyone, I think I may have already found my favorite book of 2024.
Thanks to #netgalley and @aaknopf for the ARC.
My reaction after reading the first story was “Wow…Just wow.” What a great writer. Banks captures well the struggles of people who feel marginalized, the culture that has made a cult hero out of a con man former entertainer and president of the United States and the hate and vitriol that characterizes our current social/political climate as well as the devastating effects of that vitriol.
While the title American Spirits refers to the brand of cigarettes smoked by some of the characters, it of course is a metaphor for so much more. While reading about the sometimes horrors of everyday life may not be for everyone, I think I may have already found my favorite book of 2024.
Thanks to #netgalley and @aaknopf for the ARC.
February 4, 2024
American Spirits is a book of three short stories that are dark, powerful and thought provoking. I'd read a couple of the authors previous novels so I knew this wasn't going to be filled with unicorns and rainbows. All three are tragic and deal with issues of guns, adoption, child abuse, drug addiction and several other social issues that can be taken out of the headlines any day in the U.S,
Sadly the author passed away in 2023.
Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf for an e-arc.
Publication date 3/5/2024
Sadly the author passed away in 2023.
Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf for an e-arc.
Publication date 3/5/2024
January 25, 2025
American Spirits is a collection of three short stories that take place in the fictional New England town of Sam Dent. My thanks go to NetGalley and Alfred A. Knopf for the review copy. This book is for sale now.
I wasn’t sure this book would be up to Banks’s usual standard, as it was published posthumously, more than a year following his death. Sometimes a successful author will have a book that isn’t their best, and they’ll toss it in a drawer in hopes of improving and publishing it later. When they die, their heirs find the book and seeing dollar signs, send it off to a publisher. Still, though, Russell Banks’s sloppy seconds are still going to be vastly better than your average successful author’s best effort, so I decided to take a look. And holy crap, it’s actually one of his finest.
One thing any uninitiated reader must know is the Banks is brutal. If the story seems to be leading up to something pretty bad happening, the unwary might anticipate that the author will pull it out of the water at the last minute in order to send the readers away with smiles on their faces. Banks doesn’t do that. With stories by Banks, the main question is whether all of the important characters are going to die, or only some of them. He is unflinchingly brutal, but oh honey, he does it so well that I wish I could thank him for it!
One of the things that underlies everything Banks writes is his deep knowledge of, and appreciation for, the working class. His own hardscrabble background most likely plays a role, but one way or the other, the struggles of the ordinary man or woman, usually living in rural parts or small towns in New England are depicted with such care, distilling vast amounts of tiny details into the briefest of spaces that I believe the character and I believe the setting. Banks is also, to the best of my knowledge, the first to set a story in a manufactured home or mobile home court.
The first story, “Nowhere Man”, is about a man that sells off part of his land to a newcomer, partially because of a private agreement that the two make, but that isn’t ever codified. The new owner eventually goes back on his word; the original owner is having none of it; and then all hell breaks loose.
The second, “Homeschooling,” is about an average family whose life is changed when newcomers with a somewhat bizarre parenting style move in next door; when the emaciated children sneak over at night to beg for food, they become involved.
The final story, “Kidnapped,” is about a couple of senior citizens that are kidnapped and held until the drugs that their grandson’s addicted mother has filched are returned.
When I read Banks, I tell myself not to get attached to the characters, but he’s smarter than I am, so I can’t help myself.
There is something deeply satisfying in reading an author that has the confidence to buck literary trends. I wish that Banks, who was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, could have lived and written fiction forever, but the legacy he has left us is the next best thing. Highly recommended.
I wasn’t sure this book would be up to Banks’s usual standard, as it was published posthumously, more than a year following his death. Sometimes a successful author will have a book that isn’t their best, and they’ll toss it in a drawer in hopes of improving and publishing it later. When they die, their heirs find the book and seeing dollar signs, send it off to a publisher. Still, though, Russell Banks’s sloppy seconds are still going to be vastly better than your average successful author’s best effort, so I decided to take a look. And holy crap, it’s actually one of his finest.
One thing any uninitiated reader must know is the Banks is brutal. If the story seems to be leading up to something pretty bad happening, the unwary might anticipate that the author will pull it out of the water at the last minute in order to send the readers away with smiles on their faces. Banks doesn’t do that. With stories by Banks, the main question is whether all of the important characters are going to die, or only some of them. He is unflinchingly brutal, but oh honey, he does it so well that I wish I could thank him for it!
One of the things that underlies everything Banks writes is his deep knowledge of, and appreciation for, the working class. His own hardscrabble background most likely plays a role, but one way or the other, the struggles of the ordinary man or woman, usually living in rural parts or small towns in New England are depicted with such care, distilling vast amounts of tiny details into the briefest of spaces that I believe the character and I believe the setting. Banks is also, to the best of my knowledge, the first to set a story in a manufactured home or mobile home court.
The first story, “Nowhere Man”, is about a man that sells off part of his land to a newcomer, partially because of a private agreement that the two make, but that isn’t ever codified. The new owner eventually goes back on his word; the original owner is having none of it; and then all hell breaks loose.
The second, “Homeschooling,” is about an average family whose life is changed when newcomers with a somewhat bizarre parenting style move in next door; when the emaciated children sneak over at night to beg for food, they become involved.
The final story, “Kidnapped,” is about a couple of senior citizens that are kidnapped and held until the drugs that their grandson’s addicted mother has filched are returned.
When I read Banks, I tell myself not to get attached to the characters, but he’s smarter than I am, so I can’t help myself.
There is something deeply satisfying in reading an author that has the confidence to buck literary trends. I wish that Banks, who was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, could have lived and written fiction forever, but the legacy he has left us is the next best thing. Highly recommended.
November 24, 2024
A lot of bad stuff is going on in a rural upstate New York town where everyone is very gung-ho about Trump and the Second Amendment. There are three very loosely related stories.
In “Nowhere Man” a father’s ties to the land that he sold leads to a tragedy for his family. The deer hunting scenes were brutal. “Homeschooling” is about a family that moves next to a reclusive lesbian couple with 4 adopted African American children. This story had to have been based on a true story that actually occurred in California, but that isn’t mentioned in the book. Since I had read about that incident I knew exactly where this sad story was headed. “Kidnapped” barely held my interest. A grandson’s misdeeds lead to the kidnapping of his grandparents.
This is not the right time for me to read about anyone who likes Trump, so that definitely influenced my impression of the book. The stories were also relentlessly bleak. However, I thought that the writing was fine. 3.5 stars
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
In “Nowhere Man” a father’s ties to the land that he sold leads to a tragedy for his family. The deer hunting scenes were brutal. “Homeschooling” is about a family that moves next to a reclusive lesbian couple with 4 adopted African American children. This story had to have been based on a true story that actually occurred in California, but that isn’t mentioned in the book. Since I had read about that incident I knew exactly where this sad story was headed. “Kidnapped” barely held my interest. A grandson’s misdeeds lead to the kidnapping of his grandparents.
This is not the right time for me to read about anyone who likes Trump, so that definitely influenced my impression of the book. The stories were also relentlessly bleak. However, I thought that the writing was fine. 3.5 stars
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
July 31, 2023
American Spirits is actually three interwoven stories based on Bank's fictitious small town "Sam Dent" located in New York State. Banks has features a few stories in the rural almost American-West small town an this is a perfect place to set tragic stories.
In all three, Banks has set the protagonist up to make a choice - in all situations in fact, they have multiple opportunities to NOT choose incorrectly. But much like an out of control car, a runaway shopping cart, a rolling avalanche...the dice had rolled and the choices are made. I was holding my breath as each story neared the end, wanting to look away from the consequences but unable to stop myself from reading.
The stories remind me of the some of the great literature we read in school - the short stories that would stay with you FOREVER. I don't think I will forget these characters or what transpired. Truly wonderful work! If you love a short story, or interconnected theme or maybe you are a Banks fan and just want to see how Sam Dent is faring, American Spirits is for you! #Knopf #Pantheon #Vintage #AmericanSpirits #Ruleofthebone #RussellBanks #Netgalley
In all three, Banks has set the protagonist up to make a choice - in all situations in fact, they have multiple opportunities to NOT choose incorrectly. But much like an out of control car, a runaway shopping cart, a rolling avalanche...the dice had rolled and the choices are made. I was holding my breath as each story neared the end, wanting to look away from the consequences but unable to stop myself from reading.
The stories remind me of the some of the great literature we read in school - the short stories that would stay with you FOREVER. I don't think I will forget these characters or what transpired. Truly wonderful work! If you love a short story, or interconnected theme or maybe you are a Banks fan and just want to see how Sam Dent is faring, American Spirits is for you! #Knopf #Pantheon #Vintage #AmericanSpirits #Ruleofthebone #RussellBanks #Netgalley
October 15, 2024
Russell Banks died in 2023 and these three interconnected short stories were published posthumously. I really enjoyed them, although sometimes I wanted a little more...story?...crafting...length, I'm not sure. They all take place in a fictional New York state small town called Sam Dent. In the first a man sells off his family's land to a shady man who becomes increasingly dangerous. In the second a family move into a house, next door to white lesbians who are raising four black children. At first the new family want to make friends, but things are not all they seem at their neighbours. And in the fourth an elderly couple are kidnapped because their grandson owes money for drug smuggling. All stories were wonderfully bleak, just how I like them.
October 29, 2024
This was a book I wanted to like and couldn’t. I imagine the aim was noble: inhabit the lives of characters other authors wouldn’t give the time of day, and remind us that even these bigoted, Trump-voting sociopaths are rounded human beings as well.
This was a task the late Russell Banks should have been more than equal to. A working-class American writer whose fiction was no stranger to the rust belt or the trailer park, his best work (especially The Sweet Hereafter, memorably filmed by Atom Egoyan) avoids caricatures and snap moral judgements. Furthermore, Banks felt his way into the characters’ heads.
Sadly these three long short stories do the opposite. They feel willed, not intuited; the abrupt tonal shifts (especially in the first story) stall the narrative fatally.
This was a task the late Russell Banks should have been more than equal to. A working-class American writer whose fiction was no stranger to the rust belt or the trailer park, his best work (especially The Sweet Hereafter, memorably filmed by Atom Egoyan) avoids caricatures and snap moral judgements. Furthermore, Banks felt his way into the characters’ heads.
Sadly these three long short stories do the opposite. They feel willed, not intuited; the abrupt tonal shifts (especially in the first story) stall the narrative fatally.
April 12, 2024
3 stories: Nowhere Man, Home Schooling and Kidnapped - All set in 1 town in New York called Sam Dent named after the founding father.
A group of magnificent stories whose insignificant characters get mixed up into shit they shouldn't have gotten involved in in the first place.
This for me brought back Russell Banks to his true form being that his last three books had been terrible and American Spirits saw him return to the 1990's era - where he had written 4 phenomenal novels, of which 2 were made into movies, Affliction and The Sweet Hereafter. The other 2 being Rule Of The Bone and Cloudsplitter ( which should have won the Pulitzer Prize.) It was a Pulitzer finalist in 1998.
Unfortunately Russell Banks passed away from cancer at age 82 on January 8, 2023. American Spirits was published posthumously in 2024.
A group of magnificent stories whose insignificant characters get mixed up into shit they shouldn't have gotten involved in in the first place.
This for me brought back Russell Banks to his true form being that his last three books had been terrible and American Spirits saw him return to the 1990's era - where he had written 4 phenomenal novels, of which 2 were made into movies, Affliction and The Sweet Hereafter. The other 2 being Rule Of The Bone and Cloudsplitter ( which should have won the Pulitzer Prize.) It was a Pulitzer finalist in 1998.
Unfortunately Russell Banks passed away from cancer at age 82 on January 8, 2023. American Spirits was published posthumously in 2024.
August 24, 2024
Short and captivating. Haunting tales of small town America and the complicated, tough lives its citizens lead. I would definitely read more of this author, who is able to utterly captivate you a few pages into each story.
March 26, 2024
This book must have been found after the author passed away. It seems cobbled together with three thin stories that read more like bad newspaper stories you see daily these days. Not worth the time.
May 12, 2024
Fantastic collection of three short stories from the American master, Russell Banks.
All three stories are set in Sam Dent, a small rural town in upstate New York, and all three trace tragic stories of residents of this small, forgotten town. Banks natural talent for capturing the contradictory and often uninformed thoughts and instincts of these characters shines through brilliantly, and his ability to showcase this town as a tragic setting waiting to happen really sticks with the reader.
I’ve loved all of Bank’s works that I’ve read, and this one counts among my personal favorites.
All three stories are set in Sam Dent, a small rural town in upstate New York, and all three trace tragic stories of residents of this small, forgotten town. Banks natural talent for capturing the contradictory and often uninformed thoughts and instincts of these characters shines through brilliantly, and his ability to showcase this town as a tragic setting waiting to happen really sticks with the reader.
I’ve loved all of Bank’s works that I’ve read, and this one counts among my personal favorites.
February 11, 2024
Wow....I have loved Russell Banks books for many years, they are rarely sweetness & light & this is no exception. Personally this book takes place in a fictional northern NY town, but the surrounding areas are real & very well known to me, so that was interesting.
These are short stories which are loosely connected to each other in this small town. And there's reference to Trump & MAGA hats, which may be a turn off to some, one way or the other. But the underlying theme for me was this connection to Trump, he wasn't perfect but yet he was there for them, he was not perfect like many of these characters & that was what they loved about him.
This is in no way a Trump or MAGA book, but it does come up in each story, briefly.
I have to think this is his final book as he did die last year, unless there's book written & yet unpublished.
Thank you Net Galley & Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor Publishing for an advance copy, to share by personal review on this book .
These are short stories which are loosely connected to each other in this small town. And there's reference to Trump & MAGA hats, which may be a turn off to some, one way or the other. But the underlying theme for me was this connection to Trump, he wasn't perfect but yet he was there for them, he was not perfect like many of these characters & that was what they loved about him.
This is in no way a Trump or MAGA book, but it does come up in each story, briefly.
I have to think this is his final book as he did die last year, unless there's book written & yet unpublished.
Thank you Net Galley & Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor Publishing for an advance copy, to share by personal review on this book .
March 25, 2024
Farewell to a master. These three novellas, his final writings, are brutal. Banks was an expert writer on the problems, insecurities, self-defeating patterns of working class Northerners, typically, as they attempted to navigate the poverty and confusion of their lives, offering the dignity of an empathetic portrayal to his often unfortunate subjects. In the age of Trump his characters now seize onto MAGA as offering deliverance, or at least understanding, but it is just another self-defeating choice. This is made clear metaphorically in two of the three stories when central characters pointedly put on their red MAGA caps, as if they were some magical talisman, just before events of life altering violence.
It was his particular, thwarting use of Doug's father's and grandfather's land that made Zingerman Doug's enemy.
It felt of a piece with the many forms of oppression and discrimination that afflicted him and made him feel small, weak, and childlike, made him think of himself as dumb and ignorant. Somehow, Doug felt, Yuri Zingerman and his New Jersey-based security company and firing range were in cahoots with the bankers who had talked him into borrowing $50,000 at 6 percent interest over thirty years in order to have a home of his own, and the realtors who had urged him and his sisters to sell off their father's land to someone who would turn around and ban him and his sisters' husbands from hunting on the land, and the summer residents who paid him the minimum wage to do their bidding and treated him like their lackey, and the local and state politicians who sided with an out-of-state businessman against an ordinary local citizen, and the state and federal politicians who, except for President Trump, kept trying to take away his right to own firearms, all of whom he believed were secretly conspiring together to impoverish and humiliate him and keep him from being the man he was meant to be.
"Yeah, you're right. I am pissed," he said, as if he were naming his religion or his race. "It's why I like Trump. Which you don't seem to get. Trump, he's pissed, too. All those other guys, Obama and the Clintons and the Bushies, they just want us to get along in order to go along. Trump, though, he's freakin' pissed."
She put his plate in front of him and walked toward the basement door. "It's not about them, Obama and the Clintons and them. And it's not about Trump. He's not pissed, Doug. He's just acting like he's pissed. It's about you."
March 29, 2024
I read this book in less that 24 hours because I couldn’t put it down. Such masterful storytelling I need to put more of Russell Banks books on my TBR list.
December 17, 2024
Currently Reading
Pre-Read:
This book is a trio of connected short stories, which is one of my favorite forms. I expect more out of such collections than stories with shared themes. I like compelling connection that increases suspense and tension. I hope I find all the things I love about connected story collections in Russell Banks's American Spirits! *edit
Final Review
Review summary and recommendations
I like a collection of connected stories, but I crave a significant connection that acts as a sort of pseudo-plot. The stories all share a setting and something else a little subtler. It really works for this series of political stories. Though I do not agree with the politics expressed herein, I appreciate Banks's capable writing and character development.
I recommend this book to readers of thrillers and mysteries, fans of small town politics trope, and conservative political idealists.
But the Canadian sky seemed different from the American sky that hovered above his and Bessie's new log home... It was as if he was looking out from a different planet than friendly old planet Earth. (5:21:21)
Reading Notes
Three (or more) things I loved:
1. The reader, Danny Campbell, does good work here. His voice is smooth and smoky.
2. The character development here is interesting, and the changes often contribute in some direct way to the plot. It's really wonder writing. It's not character-driven, as my experience of such books is that plot development gives way to character development. Here, they develop in tandem.
3. The distinctive descriptive writing creates stories filled with beautiful moments.
4. Banks executes the connected short stories fairly well. They all take place in the same small town in New York state. But beyond that, the stories all refer back and forth to each other.
Three (or less) things I didn't love:
This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.
1. The story, "Homeschooling," displays a misunderstanding of family services and its functions. At the same time, it could be that these views belong solely to the mmc, and not the narrator or author. This blending of distance makes an impact on the read.
2. "Homeschooling" has perspective issues, especially at the end, where a first-person plural POV comes out of nowhere, when most of the story had been third-person.
3. Well, the narrator in the final story, "Kidnapping," stigmatizes mental illness. That's a huge detractor for me. But it also fits with the rest of the book.
4. But the Canadian sky seemed different from the American sky that hovered above his and Bessie's new log home... It was as if he was looking out from a different planet than friendly old planet Earth. (5:21:21) This is a very political book, and it's conservative (which I am not), but the politics are built into the stories so that their impact is seamless with the rest of the story. It also attempts to gather in opposing viewpoints, which is why I found the story initially accessible.
5. The final third of the last story is told in summary. It's so dry, and also cynical as f-ck, which combine into a miserable, featureless read. It was such a weird way to end a story and book which up to then had been forceful and jarring.
Rating: 🎅🤶🧑🎄.5 /5 kidnapped grandparents
Recommend? for certain readers, sure
Finished: Dec 16 '24
Format: digital, NetGalley; audiobook, Libby
Read this book if you like:
🐘 conservative politics
⁉️ mystery thrillers
📃 parables
🪢 narrative twists
Thank you to the author Russell Banks, publishers Knopf, and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of AMERICAN SPIRITS. I found an accessible copy (audiobook) on Libby. Read by Danny Campbell. All views are mine.
---------------
A few words about the stories:
1. "Nowhere Man" - A really smart exploration of gun politics in a small forested town in US. This feels like a parable, it's well-done. Heartbreaking ending!
2. "Homeschooling" - A clever, creepy story about the politics of neighbors and how our neighbors impact our politics, and how little we ever really know about them. This is based on a true story, I'm pretty sure. I remember the story details.
3. "Kidnapped" - A bleak piece about grandparents who get kidnapped for something involving their grandson.
Pre-Read:
This book is a trio of connected short stories, which is one of my favorite forms. I expect more out of such collections than stories with shared themes. I like compelling connection that increases suspense and tension. I hope I find all the things I love about connected story collections in Russell Banks's American Spirits! *edit
Final Review
Review summary and recommendations
I like a collection of connected stories, but I crave a significant connection that acts as a sort of pseudo-plot. The stories all share a setting and something else a little subtler. It really works for this series of political stories. Though I do not agree with the politics expressed herein, I appreciate Banks's capable writing and character development.
I recommend this book to readers of thrillers and mysteries, fans of small town politics trope, and conservative political idealists.
But the Canadian sky seemed different from the American sky that hovered above his and Bessie's new log home... It was as if he was looking out from a different planet than friendly old planet Earth. (5:21:21)
Reading Notes
Three (or more) things I loved:
1. The reader, Danny Campbell, does good work here. His voice is smooth and smoky.
2. The character development here is interesting, and the changes often contribute in some direct way to the plot. It's really wonder writing. It's not character-driven, as my experience of such books is that plot development gives way to character development. Here, they develop in tandem.
3. The distinctive descriptive writing creates stories filled with beautiful moments.
4. Banks executes the connected short stories fairly well. They all take place in the same small town in New York state. But beyond that, the stories all refer back and forth to each other.
Three (or less) things I didn't love:
This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.
1. The story, "Homeschooling," displays a misunderstanding of family services and its functions. At the same time, it could be that these views belong solely to the mmc, and not the narrator or author. This blending of distance makes an impact on the read.
2. "Homeschooling" has perspective issues, especially at the end, where a first-person plural POV comes out of nowhere, when most of the story had been third-person.
3. Well, the narrator in the final story, "Kidnapping," stigmatizes mental illness. That's a huge detractor for me. But it also fits with the rest of the book.
4. But the Canadian sky seemed different from the American sky that hovered above his and Bessie's new log home... It was as if he was looking out from a different planet than friendly old planet Earth. (5:21:21) This is a very political book, and it's conservative (which I am not), but the politics are built into the stories so that their impact is seamless with the rest of the story. It also attempts to gather in opposing viewpoints, which is why I found the story initially accessible.
5. The final third of the last story is told in summary. It's so dry, and also cynical as f-ck, which combine into a miserable, featureless read. It was such a weird way to end a story and book which up to then had been forceful and jarring.
Rating: 🎅🤶🧑🎄.5 /5 kidnapped grandparents
Recommend? for certain readers, sure
Finished: Dec 16 '24
Format: digital, NetGalley; audiobook, Libby
Read this book if you like:
🐘 conservative politics
⁉️ mystery thrillers
📃 parables
🪢 narrative twists
Thank you to the author Russell Banks, publishers Knopf, and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of AMERICAN SPIRITS. I found an accessible copy (audiobook) on Libby. Read by Danny Campbell. All views are mine.
---------------
A few words about the stories:
1. "Nowhere Man" - A really smart exploration of gun politics in a small forested town in US. This feels like a parable, it's well-done. Heartbreaking ending!
2. "Homeschooling" - A clever, creepy story about the politics of neighbors and how our neighbors impact our politics, and how little we ever really know about them. This is based on a true story, I'm pretty sure. I remember the story details.
3. "Kidnapped" - A bleak piece about grandparents who get kidnapped for something involving their grandson.
March 17, 2024
Thank you Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, Knopf for allowing me to read and review American Spirits on NetGalley.
Published: 03/05/24
Stars: 3.5
Three short stories/novellas? I don't know the distinguishing criteria. The synopsis is spot on: These are dark.
Banks did tell three stories. They were short; however, he wrote effectively. I separated them over as many days so I could enjoy each one. I had a rollercoaster of emotions during the last two. I choked up and teared up during both. The first story didn't have the same effect on me.
I would pick up more of his work.
I would gift this in the fall -- cool weather -- a fire with a glass of your favorite drink.
Published: 03/05/24
Stars: 3.5
Three short stories/novellas? I don't know the distinguishing criteria. The synopsis is spot on: These are dark.
Banks did tell three stories. They were short; however, he wrote effectively. I separated them over as many days so I could enjoy each one. I had a rollercoaster of emotions during the last two. I choked up and teared up during both. The first story didn't have the same effect on me.
I would pick up more of his work.
I would gift this in the fall -- cool weather -- a fire with a glass of your favorite drink.
March 28, 2024
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
My Selling Pitch:
Do you want to read the most mundane everyday horror stories about Trump supporters in small-town America?
Pre-reading:
Don’t know nothing about this book but I like the cover.
Thick of it:
The liberals are the ones he’s blaming for not shutting down his neighbor’s guns? H’okay.
And title drop.
Oh, this better not be a pro-Trump book. I'll leave.
I feel like this counts as a Sam. (It most definitely does.)
Well, who’s the narrator? (We never find out, but also it doesn’t matter. It’s just a stylistic choice to make it read like you’re being told a story in a dive bar.)
I love when people are described by their cars like it means absolutely anything to me. (This isn’t a criticism. I’m just pointing out that I’m a certified idiot.)
You can’t tell me he almost has a unibrow, and then tell me he’s conventionally attractive.
Mmm sounding a little gay there, bestie.
I feel like the kid is gonna try to shoot someone and they’re gonna shoot the little kid
Oh look, I was right. How boring.
1/5 just dumb
I don’t think this collection is gonna be for me. It seems like it’s just why would these good Americans vote for Trump? But they’re like not good. They’re just racist to begin with. You know it’s kinda like fuck around and find out.
They irritate him because they’re self-sufficient without a man. It’s not fucking rocket science.
Honestly, fuck these small towns.
I’m so confused who this book is for because I don’t think anyone who’s picking this up has failed to critically think about how Trump supporters come about.
1/5 tries and fails to be morally ambiguous
This one is already better. It has much better irony. Like dur hur, I’m a Trump supporter. I have my guns for a home invasion. And then they’re fucking useless in a home invasion. Poetry.
Oh bestie, true crime 101: if you see their faces, you are not leaving alive.
God, his mom is shit.
Lol, the dogs def die in this book.
Moraine
3/5 a morbid little everyday horror short story. Could use more horror in my opinion, but worth the read.
Post-reading:
Overall, kind of a flop.
I understand why the author is credited for writing everyday horror. I don’t think it’s enough horror to truly be considered horror. I think it’s just mediocre bummers.
I’m confused who this book is for. I don’t think Trump supporters are rushing out to pick this up. But then, if it’s meant for liberals who read, I don’t think they're in need of books to humanize Trump voters. I think most of that audience is already deeply aware of how and why people become embroiled in pervert nationalism. It just kind of reads like ignorant and racist people think they’re goddamn American heroes. They're just doing their best! And it’s like they’re actively harming other people, fuck ‘em. Read a book. I struggle to have empathy for that.
The first short story’s plot was painfully obvious from the get-go. I’ve read it a couple times before and this is a much less successful iteration with almost nothing to add to the conversation.
The second story teetered on interesting, but there wasn't enough ironic interaction or dialogue to really give you that moral ambiguity that it’s clearly aiming for.
The third story is easily the strongest. It feels like familiar true crime. It’s not enough to be a full story for me. I’m not sure what you would add to it to make me care while still keeping it realistic. Maybe some point-of-view chapters with the detectives and local cops, maybe a prison guard, maybe a reporter? It has good thematic elements and social commentary on the justice system and it’s excellent political irony. There’s just not enough oomph to make a real impact.
But even that story and then the collection as a whole, all feels a bit like fucking duh. These people are poor and dumb and face the consequences of their own actions, and the situations that they’re stuck in. Peak fuck around and find out. Except there’s very little fucking and mostly just spinning your wheels in small-town America. It’d be more tragic if they weren’t such assholes.
I think it’s a skippable collection, but if you’re really into the genre, the third story is worth reading.
Who should read this:
Political commentary fans
Black Mirror pedophile episode fans
Do I want to reread this:
No
Similar books:
* The Merry Spinster by Daniel M. Lavery-purposely difficult to interpret, dark fairytale retellings
* The Men Can’t Be Saved by Ben Purkert-white men create their own problems
* Anxious People by Fredrik Backman-people are more than your first impressions of them, everyone’s struggling with something, book promotes empathy
* Bear Town by Fredrik Backman-small town politics, social commentary, book promotes empathy
* You Have a Friend in 10A by Maggie Shipstead-everyday horror, feminist, short story collection
* There Is No Death in Finding Nemo by Jeffrey M. Feingold-morbid short story collection
* People Who Talk to Stuffed Animals Are Nice by Ao Omae-short stories about mental illness, gender commentary
* Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica-dark short story collection
* Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny-angry sad girl short stories
* Day by Michael Cunningham-family drama, covid commentary
* How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu-interconnected standalone short stories, sci-fi spin, covid commentary
My Selling Pitch:
Do you want to read the most mundane everyday horror stories about Trump supporters in small-town America?
Pre-reading:
Don’t know nothing about this book but I like the cover.
Thick of it:
The liberals are the ones he’s blaming for not shutting down his neighbor’s guns? H’okay.
And title drop.
Oh, this better not be a pro-Trump book. I'll leave.
I feel like this counts as a Sam. (It most definitely does.)
Well, who’s the narrator? (We never find out, but also it doesn’t matter. It’s just a stylistic choice to make it read like you’re being told a story in a dive bar.)
I love when people are described by their cars like it means absolutely anything to me. (This isn’t a criticism. I’m just pointing out that I’m a certified idiot.)
You can’t tell me he almost has a unibrow, and then tell me he’s conventionally attractive.
Mmm sounding a little gay there, bestie.
I feel like the kid is gonna try to shoot someone and they’re gonna shoot the little kid
Oh look, I was right. How boring.
1/5 just dumb
I don’t think this collection is gonna be for me. It seems like it’s just why would these good Americans vote for Trump? But they’re like not good. They’re just racist to begin with. You know it’s kinda like fuck around and find out.
They irritate him because they’re self-sufficient without a man. It’s not fucking rocket science.
Honestly, fuck these small towns.
I’m so confused who this book is for because I don’t think anyone who’s picking this up has failed to critically think about how Trump supporters come about.
1/5 tries and fails to be morally ambiguous
This one is already better. It has much better irony. Like dur hur, I’m a Trump supporter. I have my guns for a home invasion. And then they’re fucking useless in a home invasion. Poetry.
Oh bestie, true crime 101: if you see their faces, you are not leaving alive.
God, his mom is shit.
Lol, the dogs def die in this book.
Moraine
3/5 a morbid little everyday horror short story. Could use more horror in my opinion, but worth the read.
Post-reading:
Overall, kind of a flop.
I understand why the author is credited for writing everyday horror. I don’t think it’s enough horror to truly be considered horror. I think it’s just mediocre bummers.
I’m confused who this book is for. I don’t think Trump supporters are rushing out to pick this up. But then, if it’s meant for liberals who read, I don’t think they're in need of books to humanize Trump voters. I think most of that audience is already deeply aware of how and why people become embroiled in pervert nationalism. It just kind of reads like ignorant and racist people think they’re goddamn American heroes. They're just doing their best! And it’s like they’re actively harming other people, fuck ‘em. Read a book. I struggle to have empathy for that.
The first short story’s plot was painfully obvious from the get-go. I’ve read it a couple times before and this is a much less successful iteration with almost nothing to add to the conversation.
The second story teetered on interesting, but there wasn't enough ironic interaction or dialogue to really give you that moral ambiguity that it’s clearly aiming for.
The third story is easily the strongest. It feels like familiar true crime. It’s not enough to be a full story for me. I’m not sure what you would add to it to make me care while still keeping it realistic. Maybe some point-of-view chapters with the detectives and local cops, maybe a prison guard, maybe a reporter? It has good thematic elements and social commentary on the justice system and it’s excellent political irony. There’s just not enough oomph to make a real impact.
But even that story and then the collection as a whole, all feels a bit like fucking duh. These people are poor and dumb and face the consequences of their own actions, and the situations that they’re stuck in. Peak fuck around and find out. Except there’s very little fucking and mostly just spinning your wheels in small-town America. It’d be more tragic if they weren’t such assholes.
I think it’s a skippable collection, but if you’re really into the genre, the third story is worth reading.
Who should read this:
Political commentary fans
Black Mirror pedophile episode fans
Do I want to reread this:
No
Similar books:
* The Merry Spinster by Daniel M. Lavery-purposely difficult to interpret, dark fairytale retellings
* The Men Can’t Be Saved by Ben Purkert-white men create their own problems
* Anxious People by Fredrik Backman-people are more than your first impressions of them, everyone’s struggling with something, book promotes empathy
* Bear Town by Fredrik Backman-small town politics, social commentary, book promotes empathy
* You Have a Friend in 10A by Maggie Shipstead-everyday horror, feminist, short story collection
* There Is No Death in Finding Nemo by Jeffrey M. Feingold-morbid short story collection
* People Who Talk to Stuffed Animals Are Nice by Ao Omae-short stories about mental illness, gender commentary
* Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica-dark short story collection
* Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny-angry sad girl short stories
* Day by Michael Cunningham-family drama, covid commentary
* How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu-interconnected standalone short stories, sci-fi spin, covid commentary
April 10, 2024
This was great. Three short stories that are bleak but engrossing and stimulating touching on several themes that are modern to today's headlines. The second one is based on a true story, which I had read about previously (We Were Once A Family by Roxanna Asgarian explores the full situation), the first one was my favorite, and third unfolds like gripping thriller.
August 2, 2024
Each of the three stories slowly grew on me. This was a sad, depressing story collection that highlights small town problems with heavily American themes. I can't pick which was my favorite, as they were all well done and heavy hitting. This is a short story collection that I will think about for a while.
Read
August 18, 2025Three short novellas about contemporary small town America, each taking place in rural upstate New York. I finished this a few weeks ago and I'm still pondering it. The stories are shocking and sad in the reality they portray. The characters are all fully formed and believable.
The choice of the title for this collection is telling. What did the author think that these stories have to tell us about the spirit of current-day America? He uses a metaphor in the last story of an old forrest dying away, but the new growth is not fully formed, not strong enough to withstand the pressures of nature.
The choice of the title for this collection is telling. What did the author think that these stories have to tell us about the spirit of current-day America? He uses a metaphor in the last story of an old forrest dying away, but the new growth is not fully formed, not strong enough to withstand the pressures of nature.
October 16, 2024
A superb collection of short stories.
January 29, 2025
These three interlocking stories, set in a small upstate New York town with a long history, will not be easily forgotten. Curiously, five of six main characters are well meaning, somewhat naive, Trump voters whose lives inevitably drift into tragic circumstances. The tales offer no overt political viewpoint. They imply a bit of truth about evil embedded in everyday life. Mr. Banks does not paint an optimistic picture. He reaches deeply into human behavior and reveals shocking results.
September 2, 2024
3 interconnected stories. Found on a book list for 2024, interesting characters, dark stories.
April 30, 2025
*4.5 stars. Poignant and penetrating. What a powerful voice, steady with unassuming simplicity. And what a skewer of modern America while still offering some small glimmers of hope.
March 28, 2024
Lately, I've been more likely to pick up an author's debut work. It's not often that I read an author's final work first, which is what I did with Russell Banks's American Spirits, published posthumously this year.
American Spirits is not a joyous read, but it is a good one. For anyone who's ever lived in small town America, towns where church bells still ring, where there are more cows than people, and where politics run as red as the cheaply made ball caps that point to America's best days as being behind us, the three stories included this collection could well be overheard in conversation at the local pub.
Nowhere Man
My two cents, this was the best of the lot. It's a story that makes you swear in disbelief, one where you think you know where it's going, and then it injects you in the arm with a potent punch.
Doug is long-term resident of Sam Dent, New York. In fact, his family has owned hundreds of acres there for over a hundred years. When he and his siblings sell most of their plot to a business owner from downstate, that long lineage gives way to tough times. Doug can longer hunt the land, nor teach his oldest son the same, as what was once his birthright is now a paramilitary training center frequented by so-called patriots, those who see Doug's cherry red ball cap, but who find his complaints about their noisy private firing range as somehow less than country-loving.
Doug, who votes Republican because they seem as pissed off as he is, feels lost and forgotten, even more so when the militant patrons begin chastising him on social media and threatening his wife and young children with sexual violence. The story comes to a holy-shit climax when Doug has finally had enough, drives past their no trespassing signs, and confronts his new neighbor.
Homeschooling
When Ken and Barbara move to Sam Dent, they ignored the homeowners joust that they mustn't mind "living next door to a pair of married lesbians and a bunch of colored kids."
Their neighbors, Claire and Judith, wear matching long dresses, keep their hair in tight Germanic braids, and homeschool their four adopted African American children. Their home is Spartan, with no rugs or curtains, little furniture, and a lone cot in the attic where the kids are sent for not following house rules.
Claire and Judith are the subject of many whispered questions around town. Are they devoutly religious? Is their family just some grand liberal experiment?
While their neighboring homes are nearly identical, their families could not be more different, and the contrast invites those on the outside looking in to opine on what is normal and what is right.
Kidnapped
Do grandparents think more highly of their grandchildren than their own children because they're a blank slate, yet unrealized potential, an opportunity to do things over and better than before?
Stevie Dent was raised by his grandparents, Frank and Bessie, after his father was killed in action in Iraq and his mother's drug addiction spirals into abandonment. When Stevie submits his DNA to 23andMe, he discovers his mother lives less than an hour away. Stevie's mom sees Stevie as an easy mark, someone who can help her sell drugs to make the rent. When her business associates find out she hasn't pushed their inventory, they come after her and Stevie, but find Stevie's grandparents to be the ultimate leverage.
Russell Banks, twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, was a talented and descriptive writer. If you're someone who is easily triggered by descriptions of violence or political divisiveness, American Spirits is not for you. If, however, you enjoy rural grit fiction that touches on today's polarized climate, American Spirits goes down like a shot of whiskey in your morning coffee.
3.5 out of 5
American Spirits is not a joyous read, but it is a good one. For anyone who's ever lived in small town America, towns where church bells still ring, where there are more cows than people, and where politics run as red as the cheaply made ball caps that point to America's best days as being behind us, the three stories included this collection could well be overheard in conversation at the local pub.
Nowhere Man
My two cents, this was the best of the lot. It's a story that makes you swear in disbelief, one where you think you know where it's going, and then it injects you in the arm with a potent punch.
Doug is long-term resident of Sam Dent, New York. In fact, his family has owned hundreds of acres there for over a hundred years. When he and his siblings sell most of their plot to a business owner from downstate, that long lineage gives way to tough times. Doug can longer hunt the land, nor teach his oldest son the same, as what was once his birthright is now a paramilitary training center frequented by so-called patriots, those who see Doug's cherry red ball cap, but who find his complaints about their noisy private firing range as somehow less than country-loving.
Doug, who votes Republican because they seem as pissed off as he is, feels lost and forgotten, even more so when the militant patrons begin chastising him on social media and threatening his wife and young children with sexual violence. The story comes to a holy-shit climax when Doug has finally had enough, drives past their no trespassing signs, and confronts his new neighbor.
Homeschooling
When Ken and Barbara move to Sam Dent, they ignored the homeowners joust that they mustn't mind "living next door to a pair of married lesbians and a bunch of colored kids."
Their neighbors, Claire and Judith, wear matching long dresses, keep their hair in tight Germanic braids, and homeschool their four adopted African American children. Their home is Spartan, with no rugs or curtains, little furniture, and a lone cot in the attic where the kids are sent for not following house rules.
Claire and Judith are the subject of many whispered questions around town. Are they devoutly religious? Is their family just some grand liberal experiment?
While their neighboring homes are nearly identical, their families could not be more different, and the contrast invites those on the outside looking in to opine on what is normal and what is right.
Kidnapped
Do grandparents think more highly of their grandchildren than their own children because they're a blank slate, yet unrealized potential, an opportunity to do things over and better than before?
Stevie Dent was raised by his grandparents, Frank and Bessie, after his father was killed in action in Iraq and his mother's drug addiction spirals into abandonment. When Stevie submits his DNA to 23andMe, he discovers his mother lives less than an hour away. Stevie's mom sees Stevie as an easy mark, someone who can help her sell drugs to make the rent. When her business associates find out she hasn't pushed their inventory, they come after her and Stevie, but find Stevie's grandparents to be the ultimate leverage.
Russell Banks, twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, was a talented and descriptive writer. If you're someone who is easily triggered by descriptions of violence or political divisiveness, American Spirits is not for you. If, however, you enjoy rural grit fiction that touches on today's polarized climate, American Spirits goes down like a shot of whiskey in your morning coffee.
3.5 out of 5
March 15, 2024
Book rating: 3.75
Russell Banks is a good storyteller. These are three stories that are located around the same area, a small town in Northern New York state. They are dark, full of troubled people. Banks certainly knows how to quickly draw a character.
There are three stories: Nowhere man, Homeschooling and Kidnapped. My preference is for the middle story, Homeschooling.
Can't say I fully enjoyed these stories. All were bleak and did not come to happy conclusions. The first story, Nowhere man, the main character is unhappy about how he sold off the land that had been in his family for generations and gets into a feud with the man who had purchased it.
Homeschooling concerns itself with a family that just moved into the town, well more about the neighbors, a lesbian married couple who adopted four siblings who are of a different race. The new neighbors are concerned about how the children are being treated.
The last Kidnapped are descendants of the town's founder, Sam Dent. The elderly couple are kidnapped by some Canadian drug lords and their grandson who they raised is their hope for being released. Their grandson Stevie perhaps is autistic, not sure, but he is different and never had any friends while growing up.
Somehow a MAGA hat made its way into each story as well. Not clear why except to point out the political position for some characters, although politics really didn't play into these stories. There is an undertone of poverty, but really everyone is getting by okay with some doing better than others.
Thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book. And to Penguin Random House Audio for an advance audio copy.
Russell Banks is a good storyteller. These are three stories that are located around the same area, a small town in Northern New York state. They are dark, full of troubled people. Banks certainly knows how to quickly draw a character.
There are three stories: Nowhere man, Homeschooling and Kidnapped. My preference is for the middle story, Homeschooling.
Can't say I fully enjoyed these stories. All were bleak and did not come to happy conclusions. The first story, Nowhere man, the main character is unhappy about how he sold off the land that had been in his family for generations and gets into a feud with the man who had purchased it.
Homeschooling concerns itself with a family that just moved into the town, well more about the neighbors, a lesbian married couple who adopted four siblings who are of a different race. The new neighbors are concerned about how the children are being treated.
The last Kidnapped are descendants of the town's founder, Sam Dent. The elderly couple are kidnapped by some Canadian drug lords and their grandson who they raised is their hope for being released. Their grandson Stevie perhaps is autistic, not sure, but he is different and never had any friends while growing up.
Somehow a MAGA hat made its way into each story as well. Not clear why except to point out the political position for some characters, although politics really didn't play into these stories. There is an undertone of poverty, but really everyone is getting by okay with some doing better than others.
Thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book. And to Penguin Random House Audio for an advance audio copy.
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