Wingshooters
An abandoned young girl narrates this tale set in 1974 in a small Wisconsin town as it plummets and tumbles into heartbreak. 'You don't belong here,' the townspeople tell the mixed-race schoolgirl and anyone else who is not like them. Revoyr's voice vibrates with the spiritual and physical isolation - without adornment or illusion - that is reminiscent of the writings of Carson McCullers. The pacing is perfect, and Wingshooters captures fully the tragedy of personal rejection resulting from racial tension as it explores both connection and loss and the enduring bonds of family.
An abandoned young girl narrates this tale set in 1974 in a small Wisconsin town as it plummets and tumbles into heartbreak. 'You don't belong here,' the townspeople tell the mixed-race schoolgirl and anyone else who is not like them. Revoyr's voice vibrates with the spiritual and physical isolation - without adornment or illusion - that is reminiscent of the writings of Carson McCullers. The pacing is perfect, and Wingshooters captures fully the tragedy of personal rejection resulting from racial tension as it explores both connection and loss and the enduring bonds of family.
Description
Revoyr’s novel examines the effects of change on a small, isolated town, the strengths and limits of community, and the sometimes conflicting loyalties of family and justice.
—A Booklist Book of the Year 2011
—Winner of the 2011 Midwest Booksellers Choice Award
—Winner of the first annual Indie Booksellers Choice Award
“Revoyr does a remarkable job of conveying [protagonist] Michelle’s lost innocence and fear through this accomplished story of family and the dangers of complacency in the face of questionable justice.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“A searing, anguished novel . . . The narration and pace are expertly calibrated as it explores a topic one wishes still wasn’t so current.” —Los Angeles Times
Michelle LeBeau, the child of a white American father and a Japanese mother, lives with her grandparents in Deerhorn, Wisconsin—a small town that had been entirely white before her arrival. Rejected and bullied, Michelle spends her time reading, avoiding fights, and roaming the countryside with her English springer spaniel, Brett. She idolizes her grandfather, Charlie LeBeau, an expert hunter and former minor league baseball player who is one of the town’s most respected men. Charlie strongly disapproves of his son’s marriage to Michelle’s mother, but dotes on his only grandchild, whom he calls Mikey.
This fragile peace is threatened when the expansion of the local clinic leads to the arrival of the Garretts, a young black couple from Chicago. The Garretts’ presence deeply upsets most of the residents of Deerhorn when Mr. Garrett makes a controversial accusation against one of the town leaders, who is also Charlie LeBeau’s best friend.
In the tradition of To Kill a Mockingbird, A River Runs Through It, and Snow Falling on Cedars, Revoyr’s new novel examines the effects of change on a small, isolated town, the strengths and limits of community, and the sometimes conflicting loyalties of family and justice. Set in the expansive countryside of Central Wisconsin, against the backdrop of Vietnam and the post–civil rights era, Wingshooters explores both connection and loss as well as the complex but enduring bonds of family.
Praise for Wingshooters
Revoyr writes rhapsodically of a young girl’s enthrallment to the natural world and charts, with rising intensity, her resilient narrator’s painful awakening to human failings and senseless violence. In this shattering northern variation on To Kill A Mockingbird, Revoyr drives to the very heart of tragic ignorance, unreason, and savagery.
— Booklist, Starred Review
Hauntingly provocative . . . an excellent choice for book discussion groups as it will force readers to dig deep and look inward.
— Library Journal
Gripping and insightful.
— Kirkus Reviews
Much can be said and commended about the book’s themes of loyalty and love . . . I’ll just say that this author is a big talent. Her book is a little thing of beauty. It’s a story with American historical significance; it’s a novel with emotional heft; it’s a satisfying read in the spirit of what Picasso said about another writer, James Joyce: ‘The incomprehensible that everyone can understand.'
— Brooklyn Rail
Revoyr has written a searing portrait of the all-too-recent past, of a place where change comes slowly and painfully, and of a girl just trying to find her own space in the world.
— Wichita Eagle