Written by Michael Handley
Amargo. Arizona. 1893
Alternating between two loosely connected storylines, Téa Obreht’s second novel, Inland, is a slow, meandering trek through the late 19th century Arizona Territory. The novel opens with Lurie, an outlaw-turned-expeditioner making a cross-country trek, ruminating on the sins of his past and haunted by the longings of the ghosts he encounters. Woven in-between Lurie’s recounting of his expedition is the story of Nora, a mother living with her family deep in the heart of the Arizona Territory, where they grapple with the lack of water, a “mystical” beast, and the political trappings of a small frontier town under the grip of a wealthy few.
Despite a premise that promises a slow build to the revelation that connects Lurie and Nora’s respective stories, the work it takes to get to that final intersection does not payoff. Nora’s story is told over the course of one day; meanwhile, Lurie’s story covers a much longer period of time. The languid pace of the novel, combined with the often meandering prose, makes it not only difficult to keep track of what is happening, but also difficult to switch between the two stories. The novel reads more like two separate novels that happen to have a weak connection that is explained at the end.
Nora and Lurie’s stories each have their respective strong suits, giving the trek through the dry frontier glimpses of greatness. Lurie can not only see ghosts, but is inhabited by their longings prior to their death (for one ghost it is the urge to steal, for another, an unquenchable thirst). The blurred line that is created between the dead and the living, and the exploration of that line, is one of the most notable parts of Lurie’s sections. The idea that someone’s ghost can haunt a place because they have some unfulfilled need or task isn’t necessarily new, but the way Obreht deftly explores what it looks like when those unrequited longings take over someone that is living, is both uncomfortable and oddly chilling.
Nora’s sections, despite being spread out over the course of one day, deal with everything from the loss of a child, to conversing with the dead, to a commentary on the media, to coping with missing family members. One of the more prescient sub-narratives deals with the role the media plays in society. Nora and her husband, Emmett, own a printing press that publishes a local newspaper. Nora makes the call to write a rebuttal in the newspaper, under a pseudonym, to make her stand on a local issue she vehemently stands behind, whether Emmett approves of her publishing the letter or not. The slow unfolding of the effects this letter has, and the subsequent commentary on the role of the media and the power it can exhibit, is the strongest part of the novel. It is never lost that the media in question is the newspaper, and Obreht masterfully balances keeping the story in the appropriate period, with maintaining a sub-plot that meaningfully addresses the issue of the role/power of the media that is so present in today’s culture.
The backdrop for these two stories, the Arizona Territory, is a character that stands all on its own. The brutal landscape never lets you forget that it is there, driving or halting the story whenever it sees fit, making the power of its presence known. Obreht is clearly a gifted writer, breathing life into the desolate hellscape that Lurie and Nora both battle with in their own respective way.
By the end of the novel, after making a slow, winding 370-page journey, the anti-climactic resolution is unrewarding. Glimpses of greatness can be found throughout the novel, and there were times when you get lost in the story, but by the end, it is hard not to feel like the story just needed to end. Too often it felt like the novel was trying to do too much, packing in more than the book could hold on its own and stretching the reader thin. There is enough in the book that warrants picking it up, but know going into it that you will need to dedicate the time and work it calls for to get as much as you can out of it.
Inland is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
Have you read Inland? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
The New York Times bestselling author of The Tiger’s Wife returns with a stunning tale of perseverance–an epic journey across an unforgettable landscape of magic and myth.
In the lawless, drought-ridden lands of the Arizona Territory in 1893, two extraordinary lives collide. Nora is an unflinching frontierswoman awaiting the return of the men in her life–her husband, who has gone in search of water for the parched household, and her elder sons, who have vanished after an explosive argument. Nora is biding her time with her youngest son, who is convinced that a mysterious beast is stalking the land around their home.
Lurie is a former outlaw and a man haunted by ghosts. He sees lost souls who want something from him, and he finds reprieve from their longing in an unexpected relationship that inspires a momentous expedition across the West. The way in which Nora’s and Lurie’s stories intertwine is the surprise and suspense of this brilliant novel.
Mythical, lyrical, and sweeping in scope, Inland is grounded in true but little-known history. It showcases all of Téa Obreht’s talents as a writer, as she subverts and reimagines the myths of the American West, making them entirely–and unforgettably–her own.
