In the Company of Animals by Luke Finsaas

Fiction
52 pages
8.5" x 5.5" single signature with hand sewn binding
Published April 2015

Luke Finsaas displays a strong yet versatile voice with this daring debut. In the Cormac McCarthyesque “Gospel Boys”, a young man on the Minnesota frontier tries to foster his starving conscience while he and his orphaned brothers drown themselves in shed blood and horse liquor. Set in modern day St. Paul, “Char-Char’s Dark Days Without Her Brother” also centers on parentless siblings, and though the plot is similarly brutal and gin-soaked, there’s a refreshing contrast in tone, comic and nearly hopeful. Taken together, the pair offer not just a vital look at the diverse work of an exciting young writer, but an unsettling yet affirming cohesion, as readers get a multifaceted look at the short-comings and persistent necessity of family.