Coyote

by Colin Winnette, Sarah Gurcel (Translator)

Quelque part au cœur de l’Amérique, dans une bicoque isolée au fond des bois. Des parents couchent leur fillette de trois ans, comme tous les soirs. Le lendemain matin, ils trouvent un lit vide. La petite a disparu sans laisser de traces. La mère raconte les jours qui ont suivi : les plateaux télé sur lesquels ils se rendent, avec son mari, pour crier leur désespoir, l’enquête des policiers, puis le silence, l’oubli. Mais la mère dit-elle toute la vérité ?
Maniant la plume comme un Poe des temps modernes, Colin Winnette nous laisse entrevoir les divagations d’un esprit détraqué, d’autant plus angoissantes que cette mère est aveugle à sa propre folie. Coyote est un conte sur la noirceur et la folie des hommes, un roman profondément marquant, difficile à lâcher et encore plus à oublier.

Un conte noir et cruel, made in America.

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Novella, Adult, Literary Fiction, Mystery, Short Stories

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 14, 2014

About the author

Colin Winnette is an American novelist, short story writer, and poet. He is the author of several works of fiction: Revelation (Mutable Sound 2011), Animal Collection (Spork Press 2012), Fondly (Atticus Books 2013), Coyote (Les Figues Press 2015), and Haints Stay (Two Dollar Radio 2015). His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Playboy, Lucky Peach, The American Reader, The Believer, Gulf Coast Magazine, and 9th Letter. He was the winner of Les Figues Press's 2013 NOS Book Contest, for his novel Coyote.

Reviews

[Dannii Elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such an exquisitely penned short piece that centred around the plot of a missing child and used nuances of language to further unsettle the reader. I could not give this a full five-star rating as I guessed at the ending early on but it was still a chilling tale, nonetheless, that provided both a disturbing insight to one family's life and the disturbing effects of grief on the individual.

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 2 out of 5]

A novella pre-loaded with epic emotional trauma, purely by dint of its topic (missing child) and focus (parents of missing child), this book has little work to do in wringing as much pathos and empathy for its protagonists as possible, although is not averse to cranking the trauma knob with occasional overblown scenes of hysteria (half-mad mother setting fire to her house, assaulting security guard). Told in flat and often awkward prose, this novella seems more concerned with mining as much emotional trauma from the scenario as possible, and as a consequence, feels like an exercise in audience manipulation like so much fiction in this mode.

[Andy Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have really appreciated Colin Winnette’s other two books, especially Haint’s Stay which for me was one of the stand out books of 2016. They are both very different to each other, as is this. Coyote is a short novella, which takes little more than an hour to read. The subject matter many authors have covered before, that of the disappearance of an infant child, but Winnette stamps his own mark, both with his writing style and his approach. The story is narrated by the mother whose relationship with the father is difficult to pin down. It’s difficult to predict the way it is heading, for a while I thought it was a study on the affect of the disappearance on the family of the child, similar to Reservoir 13 but Winnete diverts away.
It was good, if not brief, entertainment.
My only quibble is with how the book is sold. It’s 96 pages and at least a quarter of these are chapters of fewer than 6 sentences, yet it’s priced similarly to ebooks and paperbacks of 3 and 4 times the size.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A horrifying page turner, boy howdy did it fill me with concern. Really well done I thoroughly enjoyed it

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting, elusive, mind fuckery loaded with lines I wish I'd written. Can't wait to read it again.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and punchy. Like Gone Girl written by Raymond Carver.

[Lizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book from the library on Thursday when our power was out and ate the whole thing that day. this is like, a REALLY intense book. Each "chapter"/segment was roughly slightly less than a page long, which was necessary because I had to take a breather in between most chapters. I thought this book was gonna be sort of magical realism about vanishing people but it was actually about this married couple whose young daughter goes missing one night. So obviously it is super emotionally heavy as the mom narrator is missing her daughter and not knowing where she is or if she's alright. But what this book talks way more about with really really painful writing is domestic violence between the narrator and her husband.

This book has several twists and turns written about in such a blasé tone it made me jump up or dig my fingers into my scalp or stuff -- total WTF just happened moments. I had no idea where it was going, but Brynne called it without even starting the book. I got swept up in the writing, so I wasn't really thinking ahead. So I was exactly where Colin Winnette wanted me to be at any given time which is good. Not the most world-shattering ending, but it still.... hurt.

Even tho this book was a roller coaster to read, I don't want to give it 5 stars. This book is really emotional, but it's this woman who is in a horrible state as she wonders about her daughter who is just gone, her failing marriage and the emotional and physical aspects that come with that.... The writing is impressive, but you would have to have fairly bad writing or flow to write a book about a similar situation without making it super intense. Also, the ending wasn't as NEVER BEFORE SEEN!!! as I wanted it to be, although I guess that was kinda the point. The act that led to/CAUSED the ending and resolution was kinda like... wait hang on, why did you do that all of a sudden? to which the answer seems to be, so that the ending can happen. Which is not good enough for me! Why such a suddenly weak turning point when everything else has been so strong and unusual and intense and specific to the character...?

This book is one of those books that's just kinda goofy and can't really be rated on the same scale as normal books. So I gave it a three, even tho it was a knock out. It was a little too much of an emotional knockout for me to go around recommending it. But also, its successful execution of a unique format and style bumps it up -- I don't want to ignore that that's a really difficult thing to accomplish. I think I would recommend this to someone who has a day when they want to get slurped into as many emotional, intense, forget-about-everything-going-on-in-my-life-for-a-bit books. Then you should throw this one on your stack. But it's just not a book for casual page turning, reading a few pages on the train or on the couch. It's more of a put yourself aside for twoish hours and don't think or do anything until you resurface.

[Madeline W · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely a fascinating book to start 2023 with, and I have some pretty mixed feelings about it. The story is about a man and woman who have a missing daughter, and the rest of the narration details precisely how the characters get to the point of separation and locating said daughter, in one way or another.

The thing is, Winnette tries to tell this story with an unreliable narrator, which is something that can be very successful in the right context. However, in the case of Coyote, it meant that characters were weakly developed - even the daughter that they spoke about nonstop. Yes, there were entire pages dedicated to what she was like, but not even the repetition of "what was she like" could replace the lack of concrete action and memory regarding her specifically. It's moments like these when I understand why my writing teachers have always gotten on me about abstraction. The narrator's gender itself was unclear for much of the story.

It is definitely part of the horror genre, but I am unsure if I truly felt the grasp of "horror" by the end of the text. In other words, the intrigue levels certainly fluctuated from beginning to end, and there were a ton of unanswered questions that didn't make sense even within the scope of an unreliable universe. That being said, the writing is absolutely spectacular.

I saw some comparisons overall to Faulkner in other reviews and thought the same through the experience. Take from that comment what you will.

[Ian Belknap · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tell you what - this guy has fully got the goods. This is spare as can be, but is also full to the brim. He leaves enough space for you to fill in some of the horrors and anguishes and what (perverse, sad) triumph can be wrung from this yarn.

Have yet to read his other stuff - in what is a rapidly growing body of work - but am keenly eager to do so, and can say that if the rest is anywhere near as good as this one, then man, I will likely find myself curled like a fanboy fiddlehead on his porch, mutely awaiting his next.

[Kevin Catalano · Rating 5 out of 5]

A 70-page literary suspense novel as fulfilling as anything three times the length. And the title—I love books where the title’s significance doesn’t reveal itself until the end.

[Alyse · Rating 3 out of 5]

All the grief.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big Faulkner "As I Lay Dying" vibes here. Dark, unsettling, seething with misery and rage--it's a heck of a lot in such a short format.

[Brenda Koehler · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this book because it received glowing reviews as a suspense novel but I don’t agree with those opinions. The book lacks an indispensable ingredient—a character that draws the reader’s interest, whether that interest be positive or negative.

The main character of this book offers nothing in that regard save the tidbits that she looks good naked and has a lot of sex with her husband. The lack of physical description of this main character leaves a gaping void that the reader has to struggle to fill, while the unrewarding and graceless prose, functioning as her first-person voice, depicts someone detached, lackluster, and incurious. There are no qualities or attributes to inspire either sympathy or revulsion, leaving the reader to simply not care about her. The two other characters exhibit an equal lack of depth and complexity. That shifts the task of holding attention onto the story alone, but the plot turns are implausible, and the overall premise is bleak and nihilistic with no redeeming value to be discerned.

I don’t have this book to refer to during this review because upon finishing it I threw it into the trash and it is now probably in a landfill. I gravitate toward dark stories, e.g. The Collector by John Fowles, but in that story the reader was rooting for the victim, who was very sympathetic, and the sex scenes between the two main characters inspired great suspense, a quality that never appears in Coyote. I came away from Coyote feeling that everything is ugly, a perspective I did not care to sustain, hence my dramatic reaction to it. I am sorry I can not be more positive.

[Micah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book: Some random guy does George Saunders-lite. Formally atypical poor-people-behaving-badly fiction, pointless, but oddly moving. Emotional terrorism, basically, masquerading as empathy for the edification of comfortable voyeurs. A tad more sensational than your average Whatever Review short piece, but all the more readable for it: author fits in a dead baby, a Jerry Springer expy, gratuitous sex fantasies, violence, violent sex fantasies, the works.

No wonder it won some sort of contest.

A big part of what killed this thing for me is that a lot of the last half of this thing was just unnecessary filler. Or at least didn't really make much sense beyond maybe some literary muscle flexing. Which is another way of saying this thing was a novella that needed editing into a short story.

Most of the detective bits could have gone.

The fence fucking.

I dunno. It's been a while since I read this thing.

A lot of the repetitive bits with the husband.

The insanity bits at the end.

That last passage. Especially that last passage. Just ran the book into the ground, passed GO, didn't collect two-hundred bucks.

Nice try Winnette. Go ahead, tell me what you really wanted me to feel.

Better next time?

I don't think I'll be there to see it.

God.

At least Saunders has the sense to edit himself into sterility...

[Christopherseelie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something sinister circles this story of a couple's anguish in the aftermath of their daughter's disappearance. Oblique fragments of confession build to a reveal that topples expectations. The tone and the narrator's hysterics are at odds, like a predator's focus before bloodlust, leaving much to the reader to decide what has truly happened. Daytime TV shows, vivid memories, and the howl of coyotes in the woods lend their piece to the puzzle.

[Sam Bortle Adelman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never know how to rate Colin Winnette’s work because I always finish them wondering what the hell just happened. 5 stars, again, because I need people to experience what a wild ride this book is.

Coyote is the story of the splintering of a family after the disappearance of their daughter. It is fragmented and dark and confusing and painful. But Winnette manages to settle his writing somewhere between prose and poetry, making it impossible to stop reading.

[Eblison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal, intense, and it left my heart feeling like I'd been through some shit. Just what I like in a book. I love Colin's writing style in Coyote. It touched something in me that keeps feeling the pain.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely enjoyed this short read and it was unexpectedly surprising. The content is similar to Donald Ray Pollock's Knockemstiff but focusing on a the aftermath of a couple's missing daughter spoken from the wife's point of view.

[John Waterfall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sparse, brutal portrayal of grief. The whole thing has teeth, unreliable pointy teeth.

[Xian Xian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dang. Thought I wasn't gonna like this and ended up loving it. The prose is awesome.

[Téa Jones-Yelvington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shockingly, distinctively well written by a language wizard at the peak of his powers who also happens to be a wonderful human, at least in my limited interactions w/ him

& yet I found this utterly tiresome

Wake me up when heterosexuality stops obsessing over its predictable violence and grief and calling it the universal human experience

I already know where the bodies are buried, & for me the narrative never answered the question why re: its existence

For me, to successfully render loss is no longer enough, however much so many fiction writers may fetishize its feeling

So too am I very weary of dead lost or damaged animal metaphor / images

Tho brimming with strangeness around its edges, this seems like an oddly conventional work of a litfic to be winning a prize at an avant gardist press started by two queer women (albeit one who has drawn ire for her racist / misogynist conceptualist provocations), but then I also thought Aimee bender was an oddly conventional choice as contest judge

If you’re a big fan of dark, weird / uncanny, sentence-driven realists like Barry Hannah or Sam Lipsyte circa Venus Drive, this will be way up your alley

It’s 2017–Jesmyn Ward won the National Book Award, & Carmen Maria machado couldve

I have a lot of reading to do

[rndgmoat · Rating 4 out of 5]

As other reviewers have noted, there is a tension here as to whether this is trauma porn or not. I vote not. I thought it was an effective blend of psychological thriller and artistic prose fiction, like a Gillian Flynn novel as reinterpreted for inclusion in one of those literary magazines you've never heard of. Of course, the "arty" nature of the book also means there's a good deal about the plot and the actual mechanics of the story that remains obscure. But really, I dare anyone to try and not read this cover to cover in one setting.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't sleep this weekend and so, ended up devouring this short, dark novella at 2 am on a Sunday.

Coyote is about the raw nerves of a woman whose beloved child has gone missing, the TV shows they go on to find her, and the unraveling of her relationship with her abusive husband. She's violent, too. (If I had this life, I probably would be, too.)

That's all I will say about the plot, but this was both fascinating and chilling and I am glad I gave Colin Winnette a try.

[Jim Ivy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet Jesus, that carpet was ripped out from under my feet and I’m left not knowing for sure if I liked the book or not. But I’m thinking about it a lot. I guess that’s an entirely different way of appreciating a well written book. But, holy hell, I did not see that coming.

[Mila Jaroniec · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisite. The writing moves this tightly crafted, expansive and suspenseful narrative. Usually books don't make me cry but this one did. I'm a fan for life.

[Salty Swift · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young daughter's disappearance prompts a slew of events to move forward in a twisted fashion. A grieving family and a desperate mother who misses her daughter more than life itself. Eerie and ominous writing.

[Wheeler]

Great, except it’s so short, a novella at best.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another weird novella I read while bored and on lunch break at the library. I found some bits uncomfortable (in the way the author intended them to be) and others uncomfortable in an unintended way. I also feel the structure of the book and the way the limited page number was used had a very successful effect. Furthermore I really liked the exploration of media and television in this story. And of course, I'm always interested in bones and what they symbolize; result of having a mother who's an environmentalist and a horror enjoyer all at once, I suppose.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review written for and published by Portland Book Review on February 26th:

Written in a journal-entry style, Coyote, tells the story of a couple’s struggle with their daughter’s disappearance and eventually discovery. The reader is only given the wife’s point of view. Perhaps offering the husband’s perspective as well would make for a more complete story. The couple is not named, perhaps in an attempt to make them an “everyman.” This approach comes across as a little impersonal though.

What was she like? A phrase that is revisited throughout the book is where the wife tries to recall memories of her daughter as well as explain the character of her little girl. The more revealing moments come at the right places. This couple is deeply affected and changed by the disappearance of their daughter.

“Our town is filled with people who want to reach in and take your happiness from you. They want to stamp it out with their shitty heel.”

The wife’s obsession with finding her daughter turns violent toward the end. Whether it’s a result of her abusive relationship with her husband or not knowing if she’ll ever find her daughter is not clear. Those are the major driving forces within this story – emotion and memory.

Coyote explores how memories shape and eventually change this family and what comes from that change. This is an interesting take on what parents of a missing child go through.

[Joy Cagil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evocative, poignant, and moving, this is the dark, twisted, and morbid tale of a married couple with a missing daughter.

When the child turns out to be missing, her parents’ relationship falls apart one day at a time. There isn’t much to the plot that a reader cannot guess from the beginning, but there is a lot to be said about the style of writing and the speaker’s voice so deftly put forth.

This novella’s depth is amazing and its impact on the reader is indelible because of its relaxed prose, the speaker’s special way of naming the other characters, and short sentences and chapters that impress and punch through their limitedness. This novella is the epitome of economy and neatness where words and sentences are concerned.

Due to its shortness, this novella is easy to read. Probably an hour or so will do it for most people but it is a book that will be hard to forget as far as I am concerned.