Book Review by Ian M. (McFarland, WI)

Coming of Age in Rural America: It's Complicated and Beautiful

Ruthie Fear is a beautiful coming of age story. Loskutoff's descriptive style is vivid, immersing the reader into the bleakness of growing up poor in a beautiful part of Montana. The banality and tension of being raised an only child of a destitute, single, yet loving, father is visceral. The characters are deep and multidimensional; their conflicted emotions twisting the reader in knots -- from empathy to anger. If you ever wanted to read a mashup of "Catcher in the Rye" and "No Country for Old Men," this is it -- with a female heroine. Guns, taxidermy, high school football, good ol' boys, class conflict, sweeping landscapes... This one will stick with you for a long while.

(07/13/20)