This is the story of Samuel Hawley, loving and devoted father, who carries the scars of 12 bullet wounds on his back. When his daughter Loo turns 12, Hawley decides they will swap their itinerant lifestyle for a more settled way of life while Loo attends high school.
Hannah Tinti's novel takes place during the five years they spend in Olympus, Massachusetts, interwoven with the story of Hawley's past and how he came to be covered with bullet wounds.
It reminds me quite a lot of a Cohen brothers' film - darkly funny, with flawed but somehow endearing characters. Both Hawley and Loo have violent tempers that they don't always control, and Hawley has done a lot of damage in his time, but still I loved them both. This is really well balanced storytelling: between Hawley and Loo's stories; the present and past; comedy and tragedy.
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