Whiskey burns pleasantly as it goes down, but has a lasting,
powerful effect.
Brothers Andre and Smoker were raised in a cauldron of their parents'
failed marriage and appetite for destruction, and find themselves in the
same straits as adults--navigating not only their own marriages, but
also their parents' frequent collision with the law and one another. The
family lives in Electric City, Washington, just a few miles south of the
Colville Indian Reservation. Fiercely loyal and just plain fierce,
they're bound by a series of darkly comedic and hauntingly violent
events: domestic trouble; religious fanaticism; benders punctuated with
pauses to dry out that never stick.
When a religious zealot takes off with Smoker's daughter, there's no
question that his brother--who continues doggedly to try and put his
life in order--will join him in an attempt to return her. Maybe the
venture will break them both beyond repair or maybe it will redeem them.
Or perhaps both.
Whiskey is the story of two brothers, their parents, and three wrecked
marriages, a searching book about family life at its most
distressed--about kinship, failure, enough liquor to get through it all,
and ultimately a dark and hard-earned grace. With the gruff humor of
Cormac McCarthy and a dash of the madcap irony of Charles Portis, and a
strong, authentic literary voice all his own, Bruce Holbert traverses
the harsh landscape of America's northwestern border and finds a family
unlike any you've met before.
