Why read Goat Mountain?

Book cover of Goat Mountain

Book description

A shocking, suspenseful and daring new novel from one of the greatest American writers at work today, whose previous books include Caribou Island, Dirt and Legend of a Suicide.

In David Vann's searing novel Goat Mountain, an eleven-year-old boy is eager to make his first kill at his family's annual…

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Topics

California

Genres

Literary fiction

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Why read it?

1 author picked Goat Mountain as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Wayne Johnson

Author

A sensation in France and elsewhere in Europe, David Vann is a writer of brutally unsparing narratives. This book, one of his best, surprises, shocks, and horrifies—and sometimes amuses, too—and all at once.

It is a story about a family on what should be nothing more than a hunting trip. Only after a senseless murder, it becomes a meditation on the power of myth. The story is as real as real gets, though it’s far larger than that. It becomes the stuff of revelatory—and prophetic—nightmares. It’s a big dark dream of a book, unforgettable.

From Wayne's list on The best books to explore hidden sides of life, while being entertained, amused, and horrified.