Etta and Otto and Russell and James

A Novel

By: Emma Hooper

Narrated by: Robert G. Slade

This “poetic, poignant” (US Weekly) debut features last great adventures, unlikely heroes, and a “sweet, disarming story of lasting love” (The New York Times Book Review).

Eighty-three-year-old Etta has never seen the ocean. So early one morning she takes a rifle, some chocolate, and her best boots and begins walking the 3,232 kilometers from rural Saskatchewan, Canada eastward to the sea. As Etta walks further toward the crashing waves, the lines among memory, illusion, and reality blur.

Otto wakes to a note left on the kitchen table. “I will try to remember to come back,” Etta writes to her husband. Otto has seen the ocean, having crossed the Atlantic years ago to fight in a far-away war. He understands. But with Etta gone, the memories come crowding in and Otto struggles to keep them at bay. Meanwhile, their neighbor Russell has spent his whole life trying to keep up with Otto and loving Etta from afar. Russell insists on finding Etta, wherever she’s gone. Leaving his own farm will be the first act of defiance in his life.

Moving from the hot and dry present of a quiet Canadian farm to a dusty, burnt past of hunger, war, and passion, from trying to remember to trying to forget, Etta and Otto and Russell and James is an astounding literary debut “of deep longing, for reinvention and self-discovery, as well as for the past and for love and for the boundless unknown” (San Francisco Chronicle). “In this haunting debut, set in a starkly beautiful landscape, Hooper delineates the stories of Etta and the men she loved (Otto and Russell) as they intertwine through youth and wartime and into old age. It’s a lovely book you’ll want to linger over” (People).

It's not a book for everyone

I loved the narrator and I loved the story too. As the jacket mentions, the characters are in their 80's and that's why I say it's not for everyone. It is not a fast-paced story but it is a very dear one. I know nothing about the farm life described and lived yet could picture all of it and all of the people in it. Some reviews relate it to the Harold Fry book but that comparison never struck me at all. I'm hard pressed to pick a favorite character so I'll name both James and Otto. As soon as I finished, I had questions so I started to listen again but I decided after a few chapters to take a break instead.

Reads like poetry

Lovely story and intriguing characters! I felt a little sad but so good to read. I wanted it to go on for another chapter at least, maybe two!
The characters are so warm and interesting that it would be nice to sit and have a cup of coffee and cinnamon roll with them, ask them questions about their lives. Looking forward to another book by this author!

What is life? Really

I really enjoyed the story. I looked forward to what would happen next. Not sure the story ended like I had hoped.

I wanted it never to end

I loved everything about this book - the story, the writing, the narrator - everything. I rarely listen to an audiobook more than once but this will definitely be an exception

An odd little story

A strange little story. I almost gave up on it several times, but the characters kept pulling me back. My favorite " character " ? James the (maybe) coyote. Loved the voice the narrator used for James. Not a mainstream book, but one for readers who like something a bit different..