Vacationland

A deluge of exposition drowns the many admirable moments in Stonich’s novel-in-stories. Each piece is connected by Naledi Lodge, a ruined fishing resort in the north of Minnesota, and the diverse characters who’ve stayed there. The book’s best moments occur when Stonich lets her descriptive prose capture the natural beauty of the landscape; but the bulk of the narrative is psychological, following characters as they contemplate the past, lamenting their struggles with love and mortality. Although Stonich is capable of writing convincingly in a wide range of voices—from the war-haunted Sarajevo refugee who tries to assimilate into the church and fishing culture, to aging sisters who make a difficult and terrible decision together—each story too quickly turns to exposition for momentum, pouring out unnecessary information and sapping the narrative force. When Stonich allows her characters a rare scene, her crackling dialogue and smart turns of phrase create more life than a dozen pages of exposition. Stonich’s new book (after These Granite Islands) has great moments, but they’re difficult to find. (May)