Returning to Earth: A Novel - Hardcover

Harrison, Jim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802118380 ISBN 13: 9780802118387

Publisher: Grove Press, 2006

Synopsis

Hailed by The New York Times Book Review as a master who makes the ordinary extraordinary, the unnamable unforgettable,” beloved author Jim Harrison returns with a masterpiece a tender, profound, and magnificent novel about life, death, and finding redemption in unlikely places. Slowly dying of Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Donald, a middle-aged Chippewa-Finnish man, begins dictating family stories he has never shared with anyone, hoping to preserve history for his children. The dignity of Donald’s death and his legacy encourages his loved ones to find a way to redeem and let go of the past, whether through his daughter’s emersion in Chippewa religious ideas or his mourning wife’s attempt to escape the malevolent influence of her own father.  A deeply moving book about origins and endings, and how to live with honor for the dead, Returning to Earth is one of the finest novels of Harrison’s long, storied career, and will confirm his standing as one of the most important American writers now working.

About this title

About the Author:

Jim Harrison (1937-2016) was the author of over thirty-five books of poetry, nonfiction, and fiction, including Legends of the Fall, The Road Home, The English Major, and The Farmer's Daughter. His writing appeared in the New Yorker, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Playboy, and the New York Times. He earned a National Endowment for the Arts grant, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Spirit of the West Award from the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association. His work has been recognized worldwide and published in twenty-two languages.

From AudioFile:

Donald Burkett is 45 and dying. The Chippewa-Finnish man, first introduced in TRUE NORTH, determines to chronicle his family's history before he dies of Lou Gehrig's disease. The exceptional cast, including Traci Svendsgaard, Ray Porter, Tom Weiner, and Paul Michael Garcia, present his story, sometimes harshly, sometimes tenderly, but always unsentimentally and truthfully. Beginning in 1871, with the ancestors who came to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and moving between past and present, Donald describes lives lived against a background of nature, a world filled with violence, love, the unknown, and the possible. In this beautiful, spiritual book, the narrators offer impressive performances, bringing a welcome clarity to each human moment. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0802118380
• ISBN 13: 9780802118387
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272