Mink River by Brian Doyle

Doyle invites us into the small fictional Oregon coastal town of Neawanaka.  Like some omniscient observer, we telescope into particular moments, discovering how, even in the smallest of towns, lives can be vastly different.  Or we learn how it might be that everyone - all at the same time - might find themselves brought to their knees. The reader must be willing to suspend reality and enter into the genre of magical realism.   Only then will they understand why a nun might teach a crow to speak or how the mysterious Worried Man while searching for the place where time is saved is often interrupted by his ability to sense the pain in others. The often lyrical style is full of Native American and Irish immigrant mythology. The writing is both humorous and beautiful, the characters intriguing and the setting is so very Pacific Northwest.