The Big Both Ways, John Straley
The Big Both Ways, John Straley
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

The Big Both Ways

Author: John Straley

Narrator: Barry Press

Unabridged: 11 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/04/2014

Synopsis

John Straley brings his storytelling abilities to a new level in this completely original period crime story.It's 1935, and Slip Wilson, rattled by the gruesome accidental death of a coworker, has quit his job at a logging camp, hoping to make a clean start in Seattle. But along the way he rescues a woman and her young niece from their car in a ditch, and his life takes a hard turn. The woman, Ellie Hobbes, is an anarchist with big dreams—but first, she has to take care of that pesky dead body in the trunk of her car.So begins the action that will take Slip, Ellie, her niece, and her noisy yellow bird on a thrilling adventure up the Inside Passage from Puget Sound to Alaska.

About John Straley

John Straley was born in 1953, the youngest of five children. He received a BA in English and a certificate of completion in horseshoeing. He enjoys jokes and a wide variety of literature and music. He is the Shamus Award–winning author of The Curious Eat Themselves and The Woman Who Married a Bear and was appointed the Writer Laureate of Alaska in 2006. Straley lives with his wife, Jan, a prominent whale biologist, in a bright green house on the beach in Sitka, Alaska, where he works as a criminal defense investigator by day and sleeps, writes, and plays with his band, the Big Fat Babies, whenever he can.

About Barry Press

Barry Press has been an active professional actor, director, and teacher for over thirty-five years. He has performed off Broadway and at numerous regional theaters from Alaska to Florida. He is founder and artistic director of Living Literature, a Rhode Island–based literacy program.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sam on January 21, 2015

The title refers to the Inside Passage up the west coast between Washington and Alaska, a big river that flows both ways. That's the setting for this picaresque tale of an unemployed logger, a female political agitator and a little girl with a pet bird who in 1935 take to an open boat to flee from S......more

Goodreads review by Stacey on March 09, 2016

I loved this, so 4.5 stars. It's historical fiction and a prequel to Cold Storage, which is a hoot. This is not a hoot--it's spare and heartbreaking. In 1935, Slip, Ellie, Ellie's young niece, Annabelle and her pet bird, Buddy, escape bad juju of Ellie's making in Seattle on a dory, and head to Alas......more

Goodreads review by Tori on November 18, 2019

This was pretty wildly different from the John Straley books I've read so far (Cold Storage, Alaska and The Woman who Married a Bear). Aside from being set pretty far back in the past, it was also much more bleak and spare and bitter. The characters felt pretty flat, with much less of the strangenes......more

Goodreads review by Shawn on February 08, 2020

I first heard of this book in an e-mail that has daily e-book deals. I wasn't familiar with the author, but the description was interesting. This is how I find a number of books that I read. Because I prefer physical books to e-books (and because I don't mind saving the money), I looked it up and it......more

Goodreads review by Matt on September 23, 2020

Not at all what I might typically read, and it took me a bit to get into it. But I loved this story and the narrative and of course, the Seattle/PNW/SEAK setting!......more

Quotes

“Moving…and utterly absorbing.” Denver Post

“A thrilling journey…sure-footed and deeply evocative.” Seattle Times

“Gripping…Straley’s beautifully understated narrative, vivid sense of place, and unapologetic, unadorned characters make this a riveting, unpredictable ride.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A rich tale…Straley hits all the right notes here: vividly detailed scenes evoking the clash between emerging trade unions and more radical advocates of revolution, as well as almost Dickensian vignettes of the working conditions in the canneries and on the waterfronts of the Northwest, meld perfectly with a Jack London–like, man-versus-nature story.” Booklist (starred review)

Awards

  • AudioFile Earphones Award
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