Leigh Newman is the author of Still Points North, a memoir about growing up in Alaska which was a finalist for the National Book Critic Circle's John Leonard Prize. Her stories have appeared in Harper's, The Paris Review, Tin House, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, One Story, and Electric Literature. In 2020, she was awarded The Paris Review's Terry Southern Prize, a Best American Short Story, a Pushcart Prize, and an American Society of Magazine Editors' Fiction Prize for her work in The Paris Review.
"The collection shares a pool of characters who come and go, but
the stories otherwise stand on their own. The characters are deeply
crafted and filled with complexity. While their reappearances
extend their individual histories, even when contained within a
single story, we see multiple dimensions: good and bad, flaws and
strengths."--The Chicago Review of Books "Mesmerizing."--The Arts
Muse "[Newman's] characters move between stories like pieces in a
sliding puzzle...their backcountry bravado -- shooting wolves from
turboprops, using float planes like taxis, plucking mastodon
fossils from melting glaciers -- is animated by Newman's flair for
description...We are all marching toward our demise, the title of
Newman's collection reminds us. But, as these vivid tales make
clear, it is our 'flinty, fearsome resolve' for survival that gives
us life."--The New York Times Book Review "Newman's electric debut
collection (after the memoir Still Points North) follows
hardscrabble women in Alaska whose rough exteriors conceal myriad
vulnerabilities... throughout, Newman's prose is both distinctive
and efficient...the author's crisp portrayal of the Alaskan
landscape and rugged culture holds the collection--and its magnetic
characters--together. Newman firmly establishes herself as a talent
with these stunning stories." --Publishers Weekly, starred review
"The Alaskan wilderness is unforgiving, and so is life for the
people who live there. In this arresting collection of stories, we
meet people who are fighting not only the snowy tundra, but
addiction, heartbreak, complicated families and the demons so many
of us carry with us, regardless of when or where we live."--Good
Housekeeping, Most Anticipated "The women in this absorbing debut
collection are larger than life, perhaps because this is what the
harsh Alaska landscape demands ... These stories are rich with wit
and wisdom, showing us that love, marriage, and family are always a
bigger and more perilous adventures than backcountry trips ...
Bighearted stories of domestic discord by a writer with a cleareyed
view of Alaska's romance and hardscrabble realism."--Kirkus Reviews
(starred) "From Newman, whose memoir Still Points North was a
finalist for the National Book Critic Circle's John Leonard Prize,
Nobody Gets Out Alive highlights women struggling to get by in
rugged Alaska."--Library Journal, pre-pub alert "I have never been
to Alaska, but it came alive for me from many wonderful angles in
Leigh Newman's irresistible fiction debut. I didn't want Nobody
Gets Out Alive to end -- to have to leave behind its warmth and
soul and glittering writing, its honesty and its laughter in the
dark. The stories in these pages are, as one memorable character in
this book observes of another's tall tales, 'funny and
self-lacerating and so horrifically precise about our love and fury
for each other.' You feel you're in the company of a writer who has
embraced unpredictability and breathes deeply while seeing
far."--Jonathan Lee, author of The Great Mistake "The stories in
Nobody Gets Out Alive are big and lush, full of exuberance, sorrow,
and swagger. The characters roam highways, rivers, backwoods, and
bus routes searching for something immense. Their boundless needs
and vast hopes have nowhere to go except Alaska--a place that
Newman brings wholly to life for us, alongside delight and
devastation."--Chia-Chia Lin, author of The Unpassing "Nobody Gets
Out Alive is a thrilling collection. Leigh Newman's indelible
characters chart the turbulent waters of hope and regret in an
Alaskan landscape that crackles with danger and wonder. These are
gritty and powerful stories, from a wildly gifted writer." --Laura
van den Berg, author of I Hold a Wolf by the Ears "Leigh Newman's
Nobody Gets Out Alive is a fierce, funny, heart-wrenching book.
With wit and precision, Newman lays out the entrails of the
frontier narrative--part fortune-teller, part taxidermist--and
shows us the bravery that masks recklessness and desperation, and
the entwined beauty and devastation of Alaska's landscape and
people."
--Maile Meloy, author of Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It
"Emotionally astute and slyly funny, Nobody Gets Out Alive is a
commanding examination of home, family, intimacy, and
self-reliance. With exacting precision and endless wit, Newman
gracefully leaps into any perspective she pleases--you get the
impression she's not only writing unforgettable, brilliantly
complex characters, she's somehow inventing souls. This is a
stunningly beautiful debut collection by a masterful prose
stylist."--Kimberly King Parson, National Book Award Finalist,
Black Light "Nobody Gets Out Alive is an astonishingly beautiful
collection: wickedly smart, psychologically rich and expertly
crafted. Every one of these stories knocked me sideways. Leigh
Newman is one of the wisest, funniest and most compassionate
writers working today."--Molly Antopol, author of The Unamericans
"Behold a storyteller completely at home in herself. Each story in
Nobody Gets Out Alive flashes a new facet of Leigh Newman's
singular style. This is a stellar collection with wit and wisdom
galore."--Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Battleborn, Gold, Fame,
Citrus, and I love you but I've chosen darkness "Nobody Gets Out
Alive is a stunning debut collection, with the most generous ratio
of wickedly funny details to devastating plot lines. It's a joy to
travel through these characters' overlapping Alaskas, where violent
longings go thrashing under the frozen stillness of the everyday,
and the hard, hot work of navigating the wilderness of family can
give way at any moment to 'a dazzle of ice and blue and
light.'"--Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia!
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