*2.5 stars rounding down.

Having absolutely loved The Tiger's Wife, Obreht's next work was long awaited. I went into this blind, without reading the blurb. Set in 1893, the novel opens with Lurie, a wondering orphan seeking his place in the world. He joins a misfit gang and so begins his life on the run. It alternates with Nora's world inland trying to homestead with her family in the harsh Arizona territory. Where I expected deep and meaningful prose, I instead was gifted with a whole lot of rambling, and a whole lot of nothing going on. I kept waiting and waiting for things to happen. Sure, there were little skiffs here and there as Lurie makes his way across the west. But, Nora's story was utterly boring.

There is a lot of description of the environment. So much so, I almost started to feel like it had something to do with the beast. Oh yeah, this mysterious "beast" that they talk about every now and again. It's marketed as central to the story. But, it almost just didn't fit into the story. Until the end. The lead up, if you can call it that was weak. The ending was mediocre at best. The only moving prose really came at the end with Lurie. Overall, this unfortunately fell flat when I was expecting so much more.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is an unusual and at time challenging read. Set primarily in 1893 Arizona, it's told from the perspectives of Nora, a woman coping with incredible challenges, and Lurie, a criminal who is transporting a camel named Burke for the US Army. Nora's family ran out of water and her husband has gone to look for it, leaving her to care for her children and gramma- all of whom have physical or emotional issues. To cope, she talks to her daughter Evelyn, who is dead. Lurie has a wider range of ghosts to talk with and about- orphaned at 6, he made his way into adulthood with both petty and bigger crimes. Obrecht has written a tale where these characters intersect- and it's believable. It is not a straight line narrative and there are times when it didn't entirely make sense, at least to me. That's ok because the writing is amazing. I was not familiar with the camel corps - so it was a bonus to learn about it as well as about the hardships of living in Arizona during a drought. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is quite different from the Tiger's Wife and it's excellent.

Not nearly as captivating as The Tiger’s Wife.
While the writing is solid, the story itself feels overworked. I’m not a fan of multiple viewpoints or plot lines, and with the complexity of detail and number of characters in each, Inland begins to feel stalled and unnecessarily heavy.

Inland is a very unique tale of the American West, spiced with fantastical elements that bring this book over the edge of traditional westerns and into a category of its own.

Lurie is an outlaw gone straight. He's haunted by ghosts from his past, all of whom want something from him. Lurie ends up on a quest across America to escape his ghosts and fulfill an unexpected relationship. .

Nora is a hardworking, no-nonsense woman trying to eke out a living with her family in the dessicating Arizona Territory. Her husband left days ago to find water in hopes of bringing some relief to his family and their land. Her two oldest sons took off after a serious argument. Only her youngest son remains with Nora, and he is seeing signs of a "great beast" roaming their land.

How Lurie's path intersects Nora's is the fantastical twist that brings this book beyond the realm of everyday fiction and into the spectacular.

An interesting look at western US during the late 1800’s. Camels played a role, there was a lot of violence with a little love sprinkled in. I learned from this but did not really enjoy it. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I went into this book completely cold and after the first few pages braced myself for what I expected to be a slog. Not through any fault of the writing which is flawless, but because it unfolded as a frontier tale of untethered lives fully steeped in the language or an older, first-hand accounting which aside from being outside my general area of interest, I expected to be difficult to wrangle in. However, I quickly became accustomed to the style and driven to discover how the stories of the two main narrators would intersect. I found the writing style to be a sincere vehicle for the protagonists emotions rather than a device. Switching between the stories of Lurie, an orphaned, oft-troubled youth set free in the west and Nora, a pioneer of the New Mexico territory going about her day on her last cup of water, Inland tells the story of longing, how it works inside us and how we inhabit our wants as if they are our home.

Inland by Tea Obreht is a novel set in the Arizona Territory in 1893 and tells the dual narrative of a frontierswoman named Nora and that of an outlaw cameleer named Lurie. I will probably be in the minority on my opinion, but I just did not love this book. The story was a very slow build and was a struggle for me to follow and at times frustrating because of the switching narratives. Obreht did a beautiful job with bringing it all together in the end so I will say this one is worth seeing through.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

This unfortunately was not for me. I requested this because I enjoyed her debut novel but this one was just too slow. It took me longer than usual to get through it and life is too short to continue reading a book you just aren’t enjoying.

I thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. This author was new to me and I was not let down. It was a great story and very well written. The characters were easy to relate to and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend this to everyone!!

I completed Inland by Téa Obreht and this was an interesting read, I didn’t love it or hate it. I enjoyed the magical realism and the two persons POV, but the pace was crazy slow and at about 200 pages in it picked up a bit. I am working on a better review so lookout for that on goodreads. I’m not sure I would recommend this one.

This is my first Téa Obreht read and based on the goodreads reviews her first novel The Tiger’s Wife is highly praised. Definitely going to check that out. Thank you @randomhouse and netgalley for gifting me this copy.

I never realized camels were part of the history of the southwest U.S. during the late 1800s! That's why I love historical fiction: to learn a bit while I read novels. The author is a master craftsman when it comes to word usage and sentence structure...almost lyrical at times. The novel is organized around two characters whose paths won't cross until late in the story but both are interesting and well-developed. A remarkable sense of place envelops the reader.

Thanks to Net Galley and Random House for the ARC to read and review.

First of all...thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book to read and review....but I had a difficult time with this book. I love most historical fiction but this wasn't what I was expecting.

This is not what I expected when I requested this book. I was expecting more of a historical fiction. Inland has two distinct stories. While that is not a problem, it was a challenge for me to keep interest as the stories were too disjointed. I struggled to stay engaged. While I have not read Obreht's first book, this book makes me not want to seek it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

I read The Tiger’s Wife several years ago but it has always stuck out in my mind as one of the most magical books I have ever read. There is a mythical realism that runs throughout the story in a way that informs the reader about the past, but also about the characters and their future. Inland had that same mythical quality and managed to make the Southwest in a truly majestic landscape. Images of the past (ghosts) visit these characters and help them come to terms with who they are and where they are headed. I loved the elements of storytelling and myth that ran throughout this book, and the way the Arizona landscape came to life. Past and present collide in this book to create a beautiful tapestry of love, loss, and family. It was pretty remarkable and it will stay with me for a long time, just like The Tiger’s Wife.

When I requested this book, I was hoping it was going to be a historical fiction chronicling early pioneer life and/or exploration in Arizona. I was very disappointed that it was not. It was confusing at times but I found the second half of the book was slightly better than the first half. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I will give it 2.5 stars.

This was a different kind of read for me, not something I normally pick up. I will say that the writing was good but the story overall was difficult for me to get through. I didn’t enjoy the story or the characters, it was slower and I couldn’t stay focused on what I was reading .

A cross between historical fiction and magical realism, "Inland" spreads out like the Arizona desert the novel is set it, encompassing both decades and a single day. Told in both the perspectives of Lurie, a man literally haunted by the needs of ghosts, and Nora, a homesteading mother trying to keep her family alive in the middle of a drought - this novel explores the subtle ways that our lives intersect with the most surprising characters and finding a meaningful life under adverse conditions.

A special thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

***Spoilers***


Full disclosure, I have never read this author's well-reviewed first novel. This book has two separate story lines, that sort of strangely connect at the very end. The writing is lyrical, but the plot drags and the characters are not well-fleshed out. I struggled to complete the book, as I had little interest throughout the novel. The story lines are odd; one about a murderous immigrant that moves all over the United States and territories via camel and the second about a woman in the middle of nowhere Arizona territory trying to survive and get water, missing her husband (who may or may not be dead) and having an emotional affair with one of the few men in the desolate area. Also, both story lines feature ghosts (which really didn't help the plot). In the end, the main camel ends up running over the top of the woman, her love interest and her niece, injuring all three, with the dead character from the other story line tied (and decomposing) on it's back, and then just stops.

The writing of this book is both its defining quality and the thing that had me struggling. There is nothing wrong with this book - the setting is amazing, the story is unique, and prose is epic. I should have realized it wouldn't quite connect with me because I am a reader that gets bored waaaay too quickly. So many books that most everyone else loves, I struggle with because it doesn't have enough action or fast-paced plot lines to keep me hooked. I seriously wish I could find a way to really revel in the details and the way the author paints such an amazing picture of the setting, but I think I am just too used to reading thrillers or fast-paced historical fiction/romance novels that when a book has a slower pace, I really struggle.

This one is beautiful. It's an amazing story. It's definitely a book that most fans of historical fiction will adore. It just wasn't quite for me.

I was really excited for this book! I thought it would be really fascinating, given the description. However, I really had a difficult time to get through this one. It was difficult to connect with the characters and I really had a hard time with the writing.