Idaho

A Novel

By: Emily Ruskovich

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Los Angeles Times best seller

A stunning debut novel about love and forgiveness, about the violence of memory and the equal violence of its loss - from O. Henry Prize-winning author Emily Ruskovich.

Winner of the Pacific Northwest Book Award

Winner of the Dublin Literary Award

Named One of the Best Books of The Year by Buzzfeed

Ann and Wade have carved out a life for themselves from a rugged landscape in Northern Idaho, where they are bound together by more than love. With her husband's memory fading, Ann attempts to piece together the truth of what happened to Wade's first wife, Jenny, and to their daughters. In a story written in exquisite prose and told from multiple perspectives - including Ann, Wade, and Jenny, now in prison - we gradually learn of the mysterious and shocking act that fractured Wade and Jenny's lives, of the love and compassion that brought Ann and Wade together, and of the memories that reverberate through the lives of every character in Idaho.

In a wild emotional and physical landscape, Wade's past becomes the center of Ann's imagination, as Ann becomes determined to understand the family she never knew - and to take responsibility for them, reassembling their lives - and her own.

Finalist for:

• International Dylan Thomas Prize
• Edgar First Novel Award
• Young Lions Fiction Award

“You know you’re in masterly hands here. [Emily] Ruskovich’s language is itself a consolation, as she subtly posits the troubling thought that only decency can save us.... Ruskovich’s novel will remind many readers of the great Idaho novel, Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping.... [A] wrenching and beautiful book.” (The New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice)

“Sensuous, exquisitely crafted.” (The Wall Street Journal)

“The first thing you should know about Idaho, the shatteringly original debut by O. Henry Prize winner Emily Ruskovich, is that it upturns everything you think you know about story.... You could read Idaho just for the sheer beauty of the prose, the expert way Ruskovich makes everything strange and yet absolutely familiar.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

“Mesmerizing...[an] eerie story about what the heart is capable of fathoming and what the hand is capable of executing.” (Marie Claire)

“Idaho is a wonderful debut. Ruskovich knows how to build a page-turner from the opening paragraph.” (Ft.Worth Star-Telegram)

©2017 Emily Ruskovich (P)2017 Random House Audio

Exquisitely beautiful writing--but quite sad

I love the writing of Emily Ruskovich--it is poetic, haunting, beautiful. And the narration of Justine Eyre is equally lovely. It fits the story perfectly. However, I find the subject matter of the story unbearably difficult to listen to.

Couldn't get through it

Written so well, the imagery was wonderful. that's where the good part ends. The narrator is tough to take, her voice is grating and she makes some characters sound like they have mental disorders. I was so distracted by her voice I couldn't get through the book. By reading the reviews, I think I would have been disappointed anyway. As far as I got, nothing was making sense. Got three quarters of the way through, couldn't take it anymore.

Amazing Book

This book is so quietly haunting and well-written. Not exactly a page-turner but gripping in the small details of the characters lives and the gradual unfolding of they mystery. Lovely.

Great listen

I was shocked at some of the less than stellar reviews for this book, I really enjoyed it. I loved the writing style used, it was unusual, but very poetic and just beautifully written. Yes it is sad, but the characters were all very compelling and I'm glad that I got this book.

Beautiful prose but...

Beautifully written, but I think I need a literature professor to explain some of it. Wasn't crazy about the voice of the narrator. Maybe would have been better if a less nasal voice had been the narrator.

Not really like a previous reviewer

To get straight to it, yes this book bounces all over the place. There are points in the book where the transition from one character to another in a remembrance of an event occurs and you get lost. I found myself thinking “ wait a second, I thought she talking about something or someone else.” Backing up the story to see where I missed the transition and still not finding the definitive moment from one character to the next. That was the annoying bit.
The author does become poetic in her description of emotion or scenery but the entire book is not “poetic”.
If your from a Idaho as I am, you recognize names of places and can relate to the period being referred to. You do also realize that not everything mentioned is true and factual. The author’s fictional license.
The storyline it’s self is not about just one thing and there are unanswered questions. Events are eluded to and not explained so your left guessing. Yet there are parts that you can assume would be what a person might do if in the situation they found themselves.

From the credits it sounds like she had numerous people involved in her writing of the story. “Helping” her edit and maybe too involved for the author to flourish her own creative license. I don’t know but I can’t say it wasn’t a story that you just lost interest in. I wanted to hear what came next even when I had to retrace at times.

I liked the story but timeline made it difficult to follow

The story is a good one however I found the author went on tangents and introduced characters that did not make sense where they were placed. Eventually things come together but leaving lots of unanswered questions. I’m more than capable to use my own imagination but this book I found honestly frustrating.

complex and rich, lacking resolution

Idaho by Emily Ruskovich is told through the perspectives of multiple characters and bounces back and forth in time. The novel opens in 2004, with Ann Mitchell, the second wife of Wade as the narrator. She has been married for eight years and is sitting in their truck on their extremely remote Idaho property. I live in the mountains of Colorado and the location of this book was very familiar to me; similar and unique. Ann is introspective and trying to piece together the elements of a tragedy that affected her husband Wade, his first wife Jenny and their two children, June and May. Jenny killed their youngest daughter and their oldest daughter ran away. Wade is suffering from early dementia and Jenny is in prison, so nobody ever discusses the events that led to May's death. We enter the minds and memories of Wade and Jenny along the way. We piece together the facts of their lives and we begin to expect that Ann will unbury some dark secrets that will explain the murder. I even thought that perhaps she would locate June. But that is not what this book is.

This book is more complex and less resolved. It is an examination of family, love, loss, tragedy, trauma, pain and forgiveness. Wade's dementia allows for the story to be more complicated and creates a situation where there cannot be any easy answers or explanations. Both and Ann and Jenny are in need of connection, explanation and understanding and both are, essentially, alone.

Ms Ruskovich takes us back to the meeting of Wade and Jenny in 1973 and forward to 2025 when Jenny is released from prison. We experience their lives along with them. These women are connected simply because they share a husband but it feels deeper and more important than that. Ann never mothered June or May but it still feels as though they shared the children. But even more, it feels like they are the only two people who could ever comprehend the story of their lives.

Of course most of the book focuses on the way the events of May's death in 1995 have shaped the lives of all the characters. But Ms Ruskovich also includes creative little details that enrich the story, and multiple minor characters who enter the story for one tiny portion of it and then are gone. In other books that might irritate me but in this one I felt like it added to the tension, the need for empathy and compassion, and the overall mystery of the book. Each of the narrators is inscrutable and a bit bewildering. None of them have the pieces of the story. Wade's memory is gone, Ann has never been told the facts and Jenny isn't talking... or at least not about the events of May's death. And then there is June. Is she even alive? She is still vivid and present. People are still searching for her, but it doesn't seem there is even a hint as to her location.

I listened to the end of this one three times. I kept thinking that I must have lost focus and missed the denouement. But no, it just isn't there. We are left with all the questions. It is not a book to read if you like your stories to be tied up in the end. But if you enjoy a book that explores the depth of family relationships and the emotions that accompany them, this book may fit the bill.

Intriguing & well-written

Where does Idaho rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I enjoyed this book, but I found myself confused at times. I liked that it had so many different layers, yet I finished the novel feeling incomplete. I won't give away any spoilers, but the ending did not provide me with the answers I was looking for. Still, this was an intriguing and well-written novel that is worth reading. I gave it four stars, but I still feel like I need to know more about the main characters. Audiobook review at www.JacksonBaer.com

This book is a trip into frailty and strength

I enjoyed the listening of this book so much that I finished it in three sittings. Sometimes it left me wondering who was the disturbed person and who was the most normal. That is frequently the way it is when people are intertwined around a tragic happening. Everyone is affected, and deals with it in the best way they can. It gets very complicated. The author seems to have a grasp on the complexity of being human.