godforsaken idaho by shawn vestal
Winner of the 2014 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction
Shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing
Named “Outstanding 2013 Collection” by The Story Prize
Pushcart Prize Winner
"[A] slam-dunk debut." —O Magazine
"Not only is each story brilliantly constructed, but the collection as a whole is an architectural masterpiece…They’re written smartly…there’s utter brilliance…It’s terrific fiction. Vestal seems to be a writer we can trust to wake us up gorgeously to a certain angry reason, a certain subversive truth." —Association for Mormon Letters
"[A] darkly provocative story collection. Throughout these well-crafted stories, Vestal’s prose captures the gritty poignancy of western life." —Seattle Times
"From lustful country boys who plot against the tiny dogs carried around by beautiful out-of-town women (lapdogs, the narrator explains, are "wrong" because they make "us feel defensive about our whole lives") to two Mormons out to bring a sinner back into the fold, Vestal cracks open the dry, dusty ground and lets the weirdness spill out. It's savage and apocalyptic and endlessly funny." —The Stranger
"Vestal's anti-heroes may be rascals and lost causes, but they have a canny insight, humor and wisdom that I found irresistible." —The Oregonian
"I cracked open the collection by Shawn Vestal and found a short story called ‘Winter Elders,’ which grabbed me from the opening line: “They materialized with the first snow.”…This is a tale of missionary work from the perspective of the target. And it is a dark tale. It’s also psychologically astute and elegantly written, like much of Vestal’s book.” —David Haglund, Slate
"[Godforsaken Idaho] lies somewhere between the classically chiseled narratives of Richard Ford’s Rock Springs, the satiristic imagination of George Saunders, and the comic stylings of The Book of Mormon. Vestal’s dark, often very funny, and deeply probing stories have one foot in God-fearing Mormon country and another in godforsaken characters-at-the-end-of-their-rope realism." —Rebecca Bengal, Vogue
"These are smart, ambitious stories that bravely barrel into unwinnable arguments…Thoughtful and cleverly crafted." —Billings Gazette
"Diviner, the closing tale, is as hair-raising a depiction of Mormon founder Joseph Smith as there is." —Charleston Post and Courier
"Brilliant in its world-building." —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"Full of believable and complex characters." —NY1