Via negativa

Format:

Book

Title:

Via negativa

Author:

Hornsby, Daniel author

ISBN:

9780525658474

9780593081006

Publication:

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2020.

Physical Description:

245 pages ; 20 cm

General Note:

"This is a Borzoi book" -- Verso title page.

Summary:

"Father Dan is homeless. Dismissed by the church for eccentricity and insubordination, he's tried to transform his exile into a kind of pilgrimage, to make his Toyota Camry into a mobile monk's cell. But even this master of self-denial - and straight-up denial - knows when he's lying to himself: "I am a retired priest living out of his car. I am a retired priest, kicked out of his rectory and living in his car with a coyote and a bucket he shits in." Ahh, yes: the coyote. Alert to signs and wonders, Dan is swift to stop when he sees a wild coyote get hit by a minivan. The injured animal becomes Dan's unexpected traveling companion as he wends his way west through the heartland of America, nursing the coyote back to health and stopping to take in the occasional roadside attraction (MARTIN'S HOLE TO HELL, WORLD FAMOUS BOTTOMLESS PIT NEXT EXIT!). The farther he travels and the more people he meets, the more he is forced to reckon with a lifetime of regrets: the friendships he let dissolve, his gradual alienation from the church, and his fierce hatred of a particular predatory priest. Father Dan's true quest gradually starts to take shape. But is penance better paid with a journey of redemption . . . or revenge?"--Provided by publisher.

Subject(s):

Priests -- Fiction.

Life change events -- Fiction.

Retribution -- Fiction.

Eccentrics and eccentricities -- Fiction.

Regret -- Fiction.

Wildlife rescue -- Fiction.

Reminiscing in old age -- Fiction.

Genre:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... McMinnville Public Library	Hornsby, D.	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A heartfelt, daring, divinely hilarious debut novel about a priest who embarks on a fateful journey with a pistol in his pocket and an injured coyote in his backseat.

"A beautiful and meditative exploration of shattered faith." --Brit Bennett, author of The Vanishing Half

Father Dan is homeless. Dismissed by his conservative diocese for eccentricity and insubordination, he's made his exile into a kind of pilgrimage, transforming his Toyota Camry into a mobile monk's cell. Like the ascetic religious philosophers he idolizes, he intends to spend his trip in peaceful contemplation. But then he sees a minivan sideswipe a coyote. Unable to suppress his Franciscan impulses, he takes the wild animal in, wrapping its broken leg with an old T-shirt and feeding it Spam with a plastic spoon.

With his unexpected canine companion in the backseat, Dan makes his way west, encountering other offbeat travelers and stopping to take in the occasional roadside novelty (MARTIN'S HOLE TO HELL, WORLD-FAMOUS BOTTOMLESS PIT NEXT EXIT!). But the coyote is far from the only oddity fate has delivered into this churchless priest's care: it has also given him a bone-handled pistol, a box of bullets, and a letter from his estranged friend Paul--a summons of sorts, pulling him forward.

By the time Dan gets to where he's going, he'll be forced to reckon once and for all with the great mistakes of his past, and he will have to decide: is penance better paid with revenge, or with redemption?

"Hornsby's ruminative and God-haunted road trip novel is a hidden gem from this dementedly off-kilter year."
--John Francisconi, Buzzfeed

Author Notes

DANIEL HORNSBY was born in Muncie, Indiana. He holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Michigan, and an MTS from Harvard Divinity School. His stories and essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books , Electric Literature , The Missouri Review , and Joyland . He lives in Memphis, Tennessee.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

A former Catholic priest grapples with his unorthodox clerical career in Hornsby's affecting debut. Father Dan, ousted from his rectory in Indiana for clashing with its conservative leaders, takes his "mobile monk's cell" of a car on the road, packing plenty of Prince CDs and sporting a new beard that is "halfway between a Francis and a Peter." Denver is the destination, home of his old friend Paul, who became a Unitarian minister after marrying a man. Along the way, Dan rescues a coyote after witnessing it being hit by a minivan and, at a bar in Kansas, is asked by the bar's owner to take a pistol off her hands. Dan accepts, and gets the idea to use it on James Bruno, a retired pedophile priest. As he makes stops at kitschy tourist destinations and dithers over releasing the coyote he's named Bede, Dan reflects on how he chafed at pastoral duties, believing he would have "done much better in some remote monastery on a chalky Italian cliff... or some other century." As he drives, he reveals a heartbreaking secret that propels the looming confrontation with Bruno, farther down the road in Montana. Dan's regrets and doubts about his impact as a priest come through amid acerbic humor, and the kinetic prose keeps the melancholic, slow burn kindled throughout. Hornsby has got the goods, and his stirring tale of self-reflection, revenge, and theological insight isn't one to miss. Agent: Chris Clemans, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Aug.)

Booklist Review

After a forced retirement from his Indiana parish, Dan decides to live out of his car and visit old friends. Driving through Illinois, he sees a car hit a coyote. He pulls over to check on it and finds it with a broken leg. He puts the creature in his back seat and, once he sedates it, sets its leg to heal. Together, Dan and the coyote continue on his road trip to Seattle, with many detours along the way. Hornsby's debut novel is a beautifully crafted story of a man reflecting on his life and his moments of inaction. Dan's life as a priest slowly comes to light through conversations with the people he meets on the road. Initially appearing to be a series of vignettes, the novel gradually uncovers Dan's main purpose for his trip as he progresses west. Dealing with the scandals in the Catholic church, lifelong friendship, and regrets, Via Negativa is a striking debut that forces readers to consider what holds us back from action.