self reliance | Seattle Book Mama

Sunrise is just the sort of bizarre yet brilliant novel I’ve come to expect from author Tea Obreht. My thanks go to NetGalley and Random House for the invitation to read and review. This book is for sale now.

Our protagonist is Nina, a nanny on vacation with her boyfriend, Ben. Ben was the pilot of the plane flying over the Northern Rockies; Nina bailed, and Ben is nowhere in evidence. She’s landed in a river, and is remarkably free of major injuries, but she’s cold, scared, and alone. There’s no search and rescue within hearing or sight, so she knows it’s up to her to reach help.

Friends, it’s gonna take a long time.

The book is divided into 5 sections. The first is described above; the next three feature earlier residents of Sunrise, the ghost town Nina eventually reaches; and the last circles back to Nina. The sections are tied together at the end, but not in the way any other author would do it.

The first section feels tedious at times, limited as it is to Nina’s internal monologue. She walks, she rests, and she spends a good deal of time deciding whether she’s hungry enough to allow herself one of the handful of protein bars she possesses. How many days is this going to take? She has no idea. As Nina trudges, she ruminates, and in doing so, we gain more knowledge of her past and her relationship with Ben. Had this been any other author, I might have abandoned the whole thing; reader, I am very glad that I persevered, because the last ten percent of this book makes it completely worth it!

This is the third of this author’s books that I’ve read. The first was Inland, which remains one of my favorite galleys to date. The second, The Morningside, is not as powerful as the other two, including this one, but it’s still well worth reading. Sunrise, however, is the first one that’s made me stand up and cheer.

Those that have the patience for unconventional plots, and that appreciate a protagonist that’s full of surprises and badass feminist moxie, will have a hard time finding a more satisfying novel. Highly recommended!

“You never know what you are capable of until the day comes wen you have to go places you hadn’t planned on going.”

Laurie Zaleski knows how to make a debut. Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life With 600 Rescue Animals has created a tremendous buzz, and all of it is deserved. My thanks go to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for the review copy. This book will be available to the public Tuesday, February 22, 2022.

Laurie’s early childhood was in many ways an enviable one; her mother stayed home to raise Laurie, her brother, and her sister, and her father made enough money to hire household help and buy a couple of vacation homes, too. There was nothing they lacked for, other than physical safety. Because while her father could be warm, and loving, and generous, and funny, he could also be a monster. His reign of terror was worsened by alcohol consumption. As the beatings became uglier and more frequent, Annie, their mother, chose poverty for the children and herself over the constant terror and danger of living with their dad.

“’I almost became a nun,’ Mom would joke years later. ‘Then I met the devil…’ Annie McNulty and Richard Zaleski fell in love like tripping into an open manhole: one wrong move followed by a long dark plunge.”

There’s one searing episode Zaleski recounts, toward the end of their life with Dad, in which they are all hidden in a bedroom with the door blocked shut, and their father is sneaking up on them, commando crawling up the hallway toward them so they won’t see his shadow approaching, and he has a large knife between his teeth. It sounds like something from a Stephen King novel, doesn’t it?

And so, when Annie’s efforts to build a modest nest egg to finance their flight is uncovered, she has no other option but to leave without the money. She finds a dumpy cabin in the woods, half fallen down and in no way legally rentable, and strikes a bargain with the owner. To say that their standard of living decreases is the understatement of the year, but they make it work.

Once she has made her escape, apart from the creepy forays from an unseen enemy that occur from time to time, Annie can’t turn away anyone else, human or otherwise, that is in a dark and vulnerable place. The woods surrounding their little shack begin sprouting makeshift outbuildings; there’s a little lean-to here, and a sort-of paddock there. And it keeps growing.

Zaleski is a gifted storyteller, and she alternates her narrative from the present to the past, breaking up the nightmarish episodes of her childhood with hilarious stories, most of which are about the critters. Her writing is so nimble that I find myself repeatedly checking to see what else she’s published, because there’s just no way this can be her debut. But then, that’s what they said about Harper Lee, right?

Perhaps the most glorious aspect of this book is seeing how Annie McNulty’s can-do attitude, sterling work ethic, and positivity transformed her life and lit a path for her children. She provided them with an outstanding role model, and in return, they did everything possible for her when cancer forced her to slow down.

This book will inevitably be compared to Educated and The Glass Castle because it is a memoir of someone that has overcome horrifying challenges in childhood and emerged triumphant. But make no mistake, Zaleski’s story is in no way derivative, and likely will be held up as an example for future writers. It makes my feminist heart sing!

Highly recommended.