Vacationland

By: Sarah Stonich

Narrated by: Amanda Ronconi

On a lake in northernmost Minnesota, you might find Naledi Lodge - only two cabins still standing, its pathways now trodden mostly by memories. And there you might meet Meg, or the ghost of the girl she was, growing up under her grandfather’s care in a world apart and a lifetime ago. Now an artist, Meg paints images "reflected across the mirrors of memory and water", much as the linked stories of Vacationland cast shimmering spells across distance and time.

Those whose paths have crossed at Naledi inhabit Vacationland: a man from nearby Hatchet Inlet who knew Meg back when, a Sarajevo refugee sponsored by two parishes who can’t afford "their own refugee", aged sisters traveling to fulfill a fateful pact once made at the resort, a philandering ad man, a lonely Ojibwe stonemason, and a haiku-spouting girl rescued from a bog.

Sarah Stonich, whose work has been described as "unexpected and moving" by the Chicago Tribune and "a well-paced feast" by the Los Angeles Times, weaves these tales of love and loss, heartbreak and redemption into a rich novel of interconnected and disjointed lives. Vacationland is a moving portrait of a place - at once timeless and of the moment, composed of conflicting dreams and shared experience - and of the woman bound to it by legacy, and sometimes longing, but not necessarily by choice.

©2013 Sarah Stonich (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

A very good read!

Amazingly inventive characters and a pleasing tapestry of narratives woven of threads that wind in and out, and up and down, and back and around and through, stitching together the charmingly drawn lives of that unique place and time.

Delightful perspectives

This book is a compilation of seemingly
unrelated vignettes, all threaded together by their relation to the people who populate a resort in Northern Minnesota. The stories are stirring, funny and heart touching. The writing is fresh, honest and relatable. I highly recommend Vacationland.

I loved this book.

There were folks in my book club who hated this novel but I was just he opposite. Amanda Ronconi's narration and Sarah Stonich's writing were a perfect match made in northern Minnesota. I have gone back to listen to this once a year I first bought it. I wish others appreciated the beauty and humor of this novel.

What a Waste

A collection of fifteen short; unfinished stories that are somewhat linked together. I could have written a better story. This was ridiculous. I wouldn't have finished this book other than the fact it was picked by our book club. What a waste of a good credit.

slow, boring....

zzzzz.... could never engage. I love Amanda Ronconi, but even she couldn't help this book!