Adrianne Harun

This is a book I should have loved more than I did. The character are spot on, from Leo, and his half-Indian friends neither fitting in one world or another, to Hana Swan and Keven Seven, not quite villains, but harbingers evil.

The town this book is set in a remote Canadian town in British Columbia, surviving off of Lumber and Mining, but thriving on neither. The high schoolers are stuck between worlds, needing to work just to survive, but with no opportunities. Add in missing women, women who walk home at night after work, but never arrive.

I found the writing competent, but at times disjointed. The three pieces of missing women, the downfall of the local crime boss, and than what happens at the hotel, are connected, but its a bit disjointed, not always clear on what is happening. Hana Swan and Keven Seven are never really explained, nor is their role in all this.

I think the elements are important, but in this story, they are too jumbled.

One thing, there is a sentence about how the res kids drink any alcohol they can find, but they do it because nothing better will happen. This is a thought that is eye-opening to those who have a future to look forward to.… (más)

The NY Times Book Review concluded "This novel is a mesmerizing incantation, harrowing and hypnotic." I have to disagree. While I think Harun's descriptive prose is excellent, even poetic at times, I did not connect with the characters and had trouble remembering all of them. Based on British Columbia's infamous Highway of Tears, where natives disappear without a trace, the book's strength is its depiction of local life; however, much of it seems senseless to me, somewhat like McCarthy's Blood Meridian or Cash's A Land More Kind Than Home. 2.5 stars.… (más)

A Man Came Out a Door in the Mountain is a story about a group of young people in a poverty stricken mountain town in British Columbia, near a real-life infamous strip of highway where a number of Native women have disappeared while hitch hiking. The story centers on Leo and his group of friends who are trying to get by in a place that’s rife with corruption, violence, broken homes and broken people. The town is under the influence of evil and benevolent forces in the form of the trickster Kevin Seven, who mesmerizes Leo’s friend Ursi with his card tricks, the beguiling Hanna Swan, who lures away the unwary, a corrupt local kingpin, and Leo’s benevolent but dying Uncle Lud, a wiseman and keeper of stories and traditions. Another strong influence on Leo is Leila Chen, his online physics teacher and amateur philosopher, who goes well above her job description and seems to have an uncanny connection with Leo. The story is beautifully written and interspersed with mythology and poetry. The characters are very realistic, full of flaws but good at heart, and the author does a great job laying out those ties of family and community that they turn to in crisis and that ultimately bring salvation. The book moves along at good pace with a subtle sense of foreboding and I was finished before I knew it. This is a book that requires focus and concentration. I found I had a hard time following it if there were distractions like TV or radio playing, and I feel like I did miss some connections in the story line, but it’s certainly not a book I would mind picking up and reading through again. Put in the effort and you will be rewarded.… (más)