Letting Loose the Hounds : Stories

Literature & Fiction

Udall, Brady

Short Stories & Anthologies

JONATHAN CAPE.

If I could tell you only one thing about my life it would be this: when I was seven years old the mailman ran over my head. As formative events go, nothing else comes close. With these words Edgar Mint, half-Apache and mostly orphaned, makes his unshakable claim on our attention. In the course of Brady Udall’s high-spirited, inexhaustibly inventive novel, Edgar survives not just this bizarre accident, but a hellish boarding school for Native American orphans, a well-meaning but wildly dysfunctional Mormon foster-family, and the loss of most of the illusions that are supposed to make life bearable. What persists is Edgar’s innate goodness, his belief in the redeeming power of language, and his determination to find and forgive the man who almost killed him. The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint is a miracle of storytelling, bursting with heartache and hilarity and inhabited by characters as outsized as the landscape of the American West.

The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint: A Novel

Contemporary

Vintage

With the inventive acuity of John Irving, this riveting picaresque novel chronicles the hopes and heartbreaks of Edgar Presley Mint. Half Apache and mostly orphaned, Edgar's trials begin on an Arizona reservation at the age of seven, when the mailman's jeep accidentally runs over his head. Shunted from the hospital to a school for delinquents to a Mormon foster family, comedy, pain, and trouble accompany Edgar through a string of larger-than-life experiences. Through it all, readers will root for this irresistible innocent who never truly loses heart, and whose quest for the mailman leads him to an unexpected home.

The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint

United States

W.W.Norton

Ten quirky, bighearted tales from the contemporary West by an inspired storyteller at the beginning of his career. Think Rick Bass. Think Pam Houston. Think Walter Kirn. Set in the small towns of Utah and Arizona, most of these stories deal with letting loose―or wanting to―in all its forms. For the family hero in "Buckeye the Elder," this means reverting to a more raucous past. In the title story, under a galaxy-filled sky, there is the eerie thrill of possible revenge. Ansie, in "The Opposite of Loneliness," risks joining a distinctly eccentric family unit despite five failed marriages (her "Purple Hearts"). The young men of "Vernon," home to 800 souls, dream of leaving but settle for the macho euphoria that comes from making loud noises and destroying things. And in "Junk Court," a handyman, not so handy with love, finds himself considering some breakout decisions. These are sad/sweet stories, moving from the familiar to surprising destinations. But even when disaster looms, Brady Udall's fine comic sense keeps bubbling up, sustaining his men and women in their sometimes extravagant efforts to connect and cope. Plunged in the moment, these stories have velocity; they spray gravel as they take off.

Letting Loose the Hounds

From a luminous storyteller, a highly anticipated new novel about the American family writ large. Golden Richards, husband to four wives, father to twenty-eight children, is having the mother of all midlife crises. His construction business is failing, his family has grown into an overpopulated mini-dukedom beset with insurrection and rivalry, and he is done in with grief: due to the accidental death of a daughter and the stillbirth of a son, he has come to doubt the capacity of his own heart. Brady Udall, one of our finest American fiction writers, tells a tragicomic story of a deeply faithful man who, crippled by grief and the demands of work and family, becomes entangled in an affair that threatens to destroy his family’s future. Like John Irving and Richard Yates, Udall creates characters that engage us to the fullest as they grapple with the nature of need, love, and belonging. Beautifully written, keenly observed, and ultimately redemptive, The Lonely Polygamist is an unforgettable story of an American family―with its inevitable dysfunctionality, heartbreak, and comedy―pushed to its outer limits.

The Lonely Polygamist: A Novel

W.W.Norton&Company

“Funny, unpredictable, and abounding with strange beauty . . . a fierce new voice of the American West.”―Outside Exploding with an unsettling exuberance, Brady Udall’s stories traverse a geography of lost love, fragmented lives, and satisfying revenge. From the night a six-foot-three Apache Indian holding a goat steps into a moonlit Arizona backyard in "Midnight Raid" to the pivotal moment when a man, delirious from a dental extraction, gets rescued by a stranger in the title story, Udall injects his stories and characters with equal parts darkness and humor. These are sad and sweet stories, moving from the familiar to surprising destinations. But even when disaster looms, Udall's fine comic sense sustains his men and women in their sometimes extravagant efforts to connect and cope. Plunged in the moment, these stories have velocity; they spray gravel as they take off.

Letting Loose the Hounds: Stories

A New York Times bestseller: "Udall masterfully portrays the hapless foibles and tragic yearnings of our fellow humans." ―San Francisco Chronicle
Golden Richards, husband to four wives, father to twenty-eight children, is having the mother of all midlife crises. His construction business is failing, his family has grown into an overpopulated mini-dukedom beset with insurrection and rivalry, and he is done in with grief: due to the accidental death of a daughter and the stillbirth of a son, he has come to doubt the capacity of his own heart. Brady Udall, one of our finest American fiction writers, tells a tragicomic story of a deeply faithful man who, crippled by grief and the demands of work and family, becomes entangled in an affair that threatens to destroy his family’s future. Like John Irving and Richard Yates, Udall creates characters that engage us to the fullest as they grapple with the nature of need, love, and belonging.
Beautifully written, keenly observed, and ultimately redemptive, The Lonely Polygamist is an unforgettable story of an American family―with its inevitable dysfunctionality, heartbreak, and comedy―pushed to its outer limits.

Literary

"An ingenious tale [that] takes its heart from Dickens and its soul from America’s great outlaw West." ―Elle
Half Apache and mostly orphaned, Edgar Presley Mint’s trials begin on an Arizona reservation at the age of seven, when the mailman’s jeep accidentally runs over his head. As he is shunted from the hospital to a school for delinquents to a Mormon foster family, comedy, pain, and trouble accompany Edgar through a string of larger-than-life experiences. Through it all, readers will root for this irresistible innocent who never truly loses heart and whose quest for the mailman leads him to an unexpected home.

Humor & Satire

“Profound and stirring . . . brilliantly executed.”―Wall Street Journal “Rambling and generous . . . it reads at times like a John Irving novel touched up by Roy Blount Jr. . . . Sweet, sad, and refreshing.”―New York Times Book Review “[Edgar’s] soul is as spotless as John Wayne’s .45, and so is Udall’s sharp and rangy prose. His similes sting, his sentences go bang, and his chapters roll like the wagon wheels across the harsh Mormon desert of right and wrong.”―GQ “Extraordinary. . . . There are pages that are just fall-down funny. . . . It’s like nothing else you’ve ever read.”―Newsweek “Vibrant, big-hearted. . . . A poignant, picaresque odyssey.”―Chicago Tribune “A marvelous first novel. . . . An adept mix of humor and pathos.”―Los Angeles Times “An ingenious tale [that] takes its heart from Dickens and its soul from America’s great outlaw West.”―Elle

The Miracle Life Of Edgar Mint

Demco Media

A collection of short stories celebrates the art of letting loose and includes the tale, "Midnight Raid," in which an Apache steps into a moonlit Arizona backyard, and the title story, in which a delirious man is rescued by a stranger. Reprint.

Washington Square Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Udall, Brady. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Udall, Brady

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Udall, Brady. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Letting Loose the Hounds : Stories

The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint: A Novel

The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint

Letting Loose the Hounds

The Lonely Polygamist: A Novel

Letting Loose the Hounds: Stories

The Lonely Polygamist: A Novel

The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint: A Novel

The Miracle Life Of Edgar Mint

Letting Loose the Hounds