Delivered in hauntingly vivid prose, Sarah Stonich’s Vacationland is woven from elegantly intertwined stories that offer snapshots of character’s lives.
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Each story can stand alone, but together, each story is a brushstroke is the larger painting of the the North woodland resort, Naledi Lodge. As the stories come from a variety of perspectives across many years, it is the overarching setting that compels the larger work.
Central to the story of Naledi is the resort’s owner at present day, Meg, and the owner before her — the immigrant grandfather that raised her and built and maintained the resort for decades. Through the eyes of resort visitors, biological family and chosen family, and local residents, the reader checks in periodically with Meg from childhood through mid-adulthood.
Meg’s life work and calling is in visual art and Stonich’s language mirrors in that both deliver stunning imagery and pull in the observer, evoking emotion. Stories range from quiet recollections and reflections to stream-of-consciousness-esque accounts of life-altering events. The story, in particular, of Meg’s parents’ plane crash rings out as unique in a collection that mostly hums with more typical ups and downs of human life in the upper Midwest. Readers looking for action may find themselves bored, but readers looking to sit back and journey to a Northern Minnesota resort and peek in on the people that also find themselves there will enjoy delving in to Vacationland.
Kelsey Goes to Class 