Starlight by Richard Wagamese

Paperback, read October 2018

This book was beautiful. It was a completely standard, bordering on problematic story about an abused woman and a rural man of nature, but the writing is gorgeous, genuine, and somewhat subverts the story. As I read, I found myself thinking of Hemingway and Thoreau, of bro-lit writers today (you know who I mean, my hyper masculine nemesis), and how they should learn from this: this reverence for the subject, rather than competition or dominance or authority, this unity and modest and appreciation. I also loved and respected how the editors approached the unfinished manuscript and ending. It was my first time reading Wagamese, and what a way to meet.