A Prayer for Travelers
Ratings1
Average rating3
15
Ratings1
Average rating3
Cale Lambert, a bookish loner of mysterious parentage, lives in a dusty town near the California-Nevada border, a place where coyotes scavenge for backyard dogs and long-haul truckers scavenge for pills and girls. Cale was raised by her grandfather in a loving, if codependent, household, but as soon as she's left high school his health begins an agonizing decline. Set adrift for the first time, Cale starts waitressing at the local diner, where she reconnects with Penélope Reyes, a charismatic former classmate running mysterious side-hustles to fund her dreams. Penny exposes Cale to the reality that exists beyond their small town, and the girls become inseparable—until one terrifying act of violence shatters their world. When Penny vanishes without a trace, Cale must set off on a dangerous quest across the desert to find her friend, and discover herself.
An audacious debut, told in deftly interwoven chapters, A Prayer for Travelers explores the complicated legacy of the American West and the trauma of female experience.
Reviews with the most likes.
I fell down the rabbit hole on this one. Not once did I understand Cale or any of her motivations. I just held on for the ride. I love, love, love that the chapters are all out of order. It created a sense of being out of linear time and added to the weirdness (I mean that in a good way) of what Cale was going through.
Long story short it's about someone who has lost the 2 people she is closest to in the world and she has a slight chance of hunting one of them down. So she does.
This read like an indie movie from the 90's (a total compliment). The snake scene- shudder!
I never knew where the story was going or could predict what would happen next. And that made the book feel real and unique. I did pull some mental comparisons to Alice in Wonderland.
I'm still a little foggy on the ending (not the ending, ending) but the phone call to Flaca.
I predict this one will be on the TOB 2020 list.
