Painted Forest

Council for Wisconsin Writers, Norbert Blei/August Derleth Nonfiction Book Award winnerIn this often-surprising book of essays, Krista Eastman explores the myths we make about who we are and where we re from. The Painted Forest uncovers strange and little-known home places not only the picturesque hills and valleys of the author s childhood in rural Wisconsin, but also tourist towns, the under-imagined and overly caricatured Midwest, and a far-flung station in Antarctica where the filmmaker Werner Herzog makes an unexpected appearance.The Painted Forest upends easy narratives of place, embracing tentativeness and erasing boundaries. But it is Eastman s willingness to play to follow her curiosity down every odd path, to exude a skeptical wonder that gives this book depth and distinction. An unlikely array of people, places, and texts meet for close conversation, and tension is diffused with art, imagination, and a strong sense of there being some other way forward. Eastman offers a smart and contemporary take on how we wander and how we belong.