Wolf in White Van
A Novel
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3.9 • 99 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Beautifully written and unexpectedly moving, John Darnielle's audacious and gripping debut novel Wolf in White Van is a marvel of storytelling and genuine literary delicacy.
Welcome to Trace Italian, a game of strategy and survival! You may now make your first move.
Isolated by a disfiguring injury since the age of seventeen, Sean Phillips crafts imaginary worlds for strangers to play in. From his small apartment in southern California, he orchestrates fantastic adventures where possibilities, both dark and bright, open in the boundaries between the real and the imagined.
His primary creation, Trace Italian, is an intricate text-role playing game that enables participants far and wide to explore a dystopian America, seeking refuge amidst the ruin. However, when two high school players, Lance and Carrie, extend the game into their reality, the consequences are horrifying, leaving Sean to account for it.
Darnielle’s Wolf in White Van invites us to comprehend the depth and intricacy of Sean's life. Told in reverse, the story draws us back to the moment that fundamentally altered Sean’s life as he knows it.
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In his incantatory debut, Darnielle (of the indie band the Mountain Goats) captures the allure and danger of being in thrall to a mythic vision. Lying in the hospital recovering from a gruesome wound, Sean conceives of a mail-based strategy game in a "fury of assembly," building out an "idle little dream in a small dead space." In the game's scenario, players head across an apocalyptic landscape in search of sanctuary at the Trace Italian, a star-shaped fort on the "wasted Kansas plain." With each successive choice, players find themselves further along a "path than can belong only to them." Darnielle doles out just enough information about the game to give it texture without stripping it of its mystery. The appeal lies in decoding the landscape, scanning for "little details" that reveal a larger pattern and might eventually allow players to figure out the impenetrable safe harbor. When one young couple's attempt to find the Trace Italian in real life leads them to a fatal "terminus" in the desert, Sean revisits his own dark history. He tracks back through the branching series of choices that led to his disfiguring injury, the creation of the game, and the couple's tragic end. Through it all the Trace looms, a monumental symbol for a supple novel.
Customer Reviews
Best death metal band
Last night when I finished this I rated it a 2, tonight it's a 4. I don't know what to tell you. You should probably read this book.
Pointless.
I kept waiting for the story to get better. It had such potential. But it just rambles with no thickness to the plot to grab onto. Don't waste your time. Don't waste your money. It's not worth either.
Great book
This guy has a way with words. I’ll be re-reading this soon.