Mission to America - Softcover

Kirn, Walter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 140003101X ISBN 13: 9781400031016

Publisher: Anchor, 2006

Synopsis

Mason LaVerle is a young man on a mission–a mission to save his people’s way of life. Mason was raised in a tiny, isolated Montanan sect, the church of the Aboriginal Fulfilled Apostles. But the Apostles face a dwindling membership, so Mason is sent on an outreach operation to bring back converts–specifically brides. As he discovers shopping malls, fast food, and faster women, the forces of faith and the forces of America collide, leading Mason to the brink of missionary madness.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Mason LaVerle is a young man on a mission--a mission to America. He was raised in a remote Montana town in the church of the Aboriginal Risen Apostles, a matriarchal, almost New Age-ish sect that, like the Amish, keeps a wary distance from mainstream life. But the Apostles face a dwindling membership, so Mason is sent on an outreach mission with another young man to bring back converts--and more specifically, brides. And so these two naive believers head off in a van to encounter the contemporary scene in all its bewildering, seductive diversity. They prosyletize at malls, passing out leaflets in parking garages based on the condition of the cars and their bumper stickers. Eventually, they make their way to a gilded Colorado ski town, where, while promoting their un-American message of humble, serene, optimistic fatalism, Mason finds himself courting a young woman who used to pose for Internet porn sites, and his partner becomes the live-in guru of a guilt-ridden billionaire with chronic bowel complaints. Meanwhile, back in Montana, the Apostles are facing schism and extinction as their beloved leader, the Seeress, drifts toward death. The mounting pressures lead Mason to the brink of missionary madness.
Walter Kirn is one of the most acute observers of contemporary American life that we have. In "Mission to America, he harnesses that gift to a satirical yet moving tale of a stranger in a strange land that just happens to be our own.

About the Author:

Walter Kirn is a contributing editor to Time and GQ and a regular reviewer for The New York Times Book Review. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, New York, and Esquire. He is the author of four previous works of fiction: My Hard Bargain: Stories, She Needed Me, Thumbsucker, and Up in the Air. He lives in Livingston, Montana.

About this edition

• Publisher: Anchor
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 140003101X
• ISBN 13: 9781400031016
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288