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    Lost Canyon
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    Lost Canyon
    Ebook383 pages6 hours

    Lost Canyon

    By Nina Revoyr

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    One of the San Francisco Chronicle's 100 Recommended Books of 2015

    "Los Angeles is home to many great storytellers, but Nina Revoyr is one of its finest scribes....[Lost Canyon] pulses with both beauty and terror, and the struggles of these characters, their physical and mental reckonings, are enough to make readers sweat without getting off the couch."
    --Los Angeles Times

    "Revoyr [is] an edgy and spellbinding writer with an uncanny gift for aligning human struggles with nature's glory and perils....With ravishing descriptions of the magnificent landscape, unrelenting suspense, incisive psychology, and shrewd perspectives on matters of race and gender, Revoyr has created a gripping tale of unintended adventure and profound transformation."
    --Booklist, Starred review

    "A suspenseful adventure story that explores how people react to danger, uncertainty, fear, and life-or-death choices....This is an exciting, page-turning adventure story that reveals how good people can do things totally contrary to their own moral code, and the conclusion will both surprise and satisfy."
    --Publishers Weekly

    "Revoyr travels LA's patchwork neighborhoods--delineating gangs and money, color and prejudice--and nicely sketches 'the grand, untamed Sierra.' Like Deliverance, a tense...morality tale formed in the crucible of physical duress."
    --Kirkus Reviews

    "With a nod to James Dickey's Deliverance...A direct, bangin' read for those interested in how people deal with physical and moral challenges."
    --Library Journal

    "An exciting blend of literary fiction and thrilling suspense--a harrowing trip into physical danger and a clever meditation on race relations and bravery."
    --Shelf Awareness

    A Book Riot Quick Pick/Book of the Week for the week of August 28, 2015

    "What a pleasure it is seeing characters that live and breathe in the same textured universe that we do....Linked to complicated national issues, imbued with layered representations of Angelenos, [Revoyr] has brought us an intellectually adroit, emotionally nerve-wracking, page-turning thriller."
    --Los Angeles Review of Books

    "Even at its deadliest, Revoyr makes the high altitude seem mesmerizing....Revoyr has created characters we care for, issues we need to think about, and vistas that linger, making reading her book almost as much of a rush as scaling the sheer, icy rock of the Sierra Nevada."
    --San Francisco Chronicle

    Four people on a backpacking trip in the Sierra Nevada find more adventure than they ever imagined. Each of them is drawn to the mountains for reasons as diverse as their own lives. Gwen Foster, a counselor for at-risk youth, is struggling with burnout from the demands of her job and with the loss of one of her teens. Real estate agent Oscar Barajas is adjusting to the fall of the housing market and being a single parent. Todd Harris, an attorney, is stuck in a lucrative but unfulfilling career--and in a failing marriage. They are all brought together by their trainer, Tracy Cole, a former athlete with a taste for risky pursuits.

    When the hikers start up a pristine mountain trail that hasn't been traveled in years, all they have to guide them is a hand-drawn map of a remote, mysterious place called Lost Canyon. At first, the route past high alpine lakes and under towering, snowcapped peaks offers all the freedom and exhilaration they'd hoped for. But when they stumble onto someone who doesn't want to be found, the group finds itself faced with a series of dangerous conflicts, moral dilemmas, confrontations with nature, and an all-out struggle for survival.

    Moving effortlessly between city and wilderness, Lost Canyon explores the ways that race, class, and culture shape experience and perception. It examines the
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAkashic Books
    Release dateAug 3, 2015
    ISBN9781617753626
    Author

    Nina Revoyr

    Nina Revoyr is the author of four previous novels, including The Age of Dreaming, which was nominated for the LA Times Book Prize; Southland, a Los Angeles Times best seller and "Best Book" of 2003; and Wingshooters, which won an Indie Booksellers' Choice Award and was selected by O, The Oprah Magazine as one of "10 Titles to Pick Up Now." Revoyr lives and works in Los Angeles. Lost Canyon is her latest novel.

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    Reviews for Lost Canyon

    4/5

    42 ratings16 reviews

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    • 3/5
      The first three quarters of this book was rough to read. The characters weren't nuanced and the way they were described and built up was so heavy-handed it seemed like satire.I guess the saving grace was the last quarter of the book. Revoyr seemed to dial it back a little and let the characters grow through actions rather than incredibly stereotypical internal monologues. If the rest of the book dealt with character development like the last quarter, with a little more finesse, I think it could have been much better.
    • 4/5
      This novel is a gripping adventure story mainly set in the high Sierras but with a dramatic addition of contemporary life to add to the tension. It is an interesting mix of complicated race relations, individuals rising to meet the challenges both on the trail and back home in L.A., and no simple answers to complex problems of lives lived in poverty and with a lack of choices. And yes there is a mystery at the end that is never explained.The story does get off to a slow start but it gives us a background to help us understand each of the character's lives before they start their mountain journey.
    • 4/5
      Nature has many faces. It can be peaceful and restorative. It can be forbidding and formidable. Or it can be anything in between these two extremes. In our mostly urban suburban society, we don't often find ourselves in untouched nature. We have to make the effort to leave our cities and towns and find the wilderness for ourselves. But being out in nature does not always go as planned, and it is not always as untouched and safe as we think, as the characters in Nina Revoyr's novel Lost Canyon discovered.Intense LA fitness instructor Tracy plans to lead a challenging backpacking trip in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Three of her most dedicated students choose to join her on the trek. Each of them has a different reason for wanting this short retreat into the wild where they anticipate pushing themselves and perhaps finding answers to some of the questions in their lives. Gwen is an African American woman who works with under-served kids in Watts. She is haunted by the recent death of one of her students, a likable young man who was incredibly promising. Of the three of Tracy's students, she is probably the least fit and she worries that the whole trip might be beyond her physically. Oscar is a single father, Latino real estate agent who rode the real estate wave to major success but didn't get out before the wave came crashing down. Now he's likely to lose his shirt. He helped to gentrify the area in which he lives, only now questioning the wisdom and community-wide impact of doing that. Todd is a successful lawyer, the privileged white male of the bunch. His wife comes from money and he struggles to find happiness in the lifestyle she demands, feeling alienated not only from her but from his own children as well. Tracy will push all three of these very different people to the edge physically but they will all be pushed to the edge mentally as well.When the quartet first meet, they form snap first impressions, based on their own superficial and preconceived ideas of race and class, their discomfort with each others' differences very evident. Each person in this disparate group is uncertain about venturing into the wilderness for a weekend with people so unlike each of them. But each also decides that it is for the short term and on a well traveled trail so they tuck away their misgivings and head off together. An encounter at a small store just before the park only serves to highlight the differences amongst the group, with some catching the uncomfortable racist undertones of the conversation and others missing it entirely. Once inside the park they are dismayed to discover that the route Tracy had planned for them is closed because of fires. A bit daunted, they eventually agree to an un-maintained, un-patrolled, and remote route that is only found on an old handwritten map of the park. They are perhaps seduced by Tracy's reckless overconfidence and a blind faith that she will not lead them into danger and so they head out.The first part of the book introduces each of the characters, establishing their unique and differing back stories. The character exposition is slow but necessary in forming full pictures of each person and what led them to this life-altering trip. The narration alternates its focus on Gwen, Oscar, and Todd, leaving only Tracy to remain an enigma. Starting as a tale of people looking for something inside themselves in nature, the story quickly changes course. The tension escalates; suspense, a rising sense of uneasiness, and, finally, terror pervade the tale as the characters stumble into a frightening situation where they are not wanted. It is when the novel becomes a desperate tale of survival that each of the characters becomes fully realized and well rounded. As they find the reserves of strength within themselves, they also acknowledge fortitude in their fellows. Revoyr's decision to place her characters in the wilderness where they are forced to rely on each other and work together to escape an adventure that is suddenly life or death is a surprisingly successful way in which to address issues of racism and classism in unusual visceral and immediate ways. The ending is a bit abrupt and the symbolism of the unsolved mystery remained unclear to me but overall, this is a thrilling read which offers a hopeful pocket of humanity that survives and triumphs over both arduous and challenging natural conditions and the worst that human beings can throw at each other.
    • 5/5
      Really enjoyed this book. I can see it almost being a real story since I do live in Visalia and I can see stuff like this happening in the Sequoia's. Would like to read more by this author.
    • 3/5
      Deliverance meets the movie Crash in this survival adventure.Well, that summary is perhaps a bit too pithy for what this book is and what it's trying to be. It concerns four Los Angelinos--Gwen, an African-American youth counselor; Oscar, a Hispanic realtor; and Todd, wealthy white lawyer--who go for a four-day hike in the Sierra Nevada mountains, led by Tracy, their thrill-seeking Japanese-American female trainer. I mention race because it is important to this story, and Revoyr spends some time setting up the back stories of the three hikers, jumping into each of their heads. Despite the idyllic natural setting, the tension begins to build before they even start hiking, as they first stop at a strange country store and then are told by the park ranger that their chosen trail has been closed due to a wildfire in the area. Egged on by Tracy, they decide to take the ranger's suggestion and hike a little-known trail outside of the park, for which their only guide is a decades-old, hand-drawn map. After one nice day hiking, they take a wrong turn, and events get terrifying fast. As the suspense picks up, so does the pace, making this a very quick read.Through this straightforward adventure story, Revoyr is trying to take on race relations and turn stereotypes on their head, as she fleshes out her three point-of-view characters and shows how they each rise above expectations and overcome the challenges being thrown at them left and right. She does a great job making these three feel like real people, allowing the reader to wonder what we'd do if we were in their places; however, her villain comes across as somewhat cartoonish in contrast. Of course, the character who most intrigued me was Tracy, whose decisions were pretty much responsible for their predicament, and it was frustrating that we were never allowed to really know her. At the end, she literally disappears, which left me feeling dissatisfied. Overall, though, this is not only an exciting adventure story, but also raises a lot of interesting issues, about how we view one another and ourselves, and how extreme situations can help us get to the truth.
    • 4/5
      Gwen, Oscar and Todd all go to the same gym. One of their favorite trainers, Tracy, is leading a hike in the Sierras, not too far from home and (hopefully) not too challenging. The plan is to hike 30 miles in a week. All four are looking forward to the challenge, but with some fears- bears, being away from family, the physical challenges. Things don't go as planned from the very start and then get downright dangerous. This was a fun read- lots of adventure and tension. I think it would make an entertaining movie, and one that I would go see. One of the reviews on the book mentions the racial differences, but I didn't feel that was a main theme, though it was mentioned several times. Strength over adversity was central to the story and well done.
    • 5/5
      Just when you think it can't get any worse.. it does! Non-stop suspense in this action packed novel. Very interesting characters including Timber the dog. Unexpected twist at the end.. leaves you wondering.
    • 5/5
      I could not put this book down! By introducing us to the four main characters right away, Revoyr gave a wonderful base to her story of a climbing/hiking expedition. She kept adding to their personalities by the interactions and connections they developed as the adventure progressed. I'm so impressed and now I can't wait to read her other novels. The story was so descriptive and tightly put together so that I felt as though I was right there watching everything happening---and yes, scared!! It's a very fast book to read simply because it's almost impossible to put it down and take a break!
    • 4/5
      Outstanding book in so many ways. It is a first rate suspense tale, and an exciting trek in nature for those who love to hike. The novel also contains an analysis of culture, race, and how people respond to pressure, as well as providing engaging and believable characters. On the eve of leaving for an NEH trip for history teachers, I thought I'd just glance at the ARC I received before getting back to required reading. Well, I couldn't put it down, and even canceled my own sunset hike I had planned tonight so I could finish the book. Ms. Re our is a gifted writer and I will definitely pick up her other books as soon as possible. On future hikes, I will also make sure I stick to well-traveled trails!
    • 4/5
      this is the second Nina Revoyr book i have read and i enjoyed it. A millennial deliverance ...
    • 4/5
      Lost Canyon by Nina Revoyr is a survival story about a group of backpackers who find themselves in a world of trouble when they stumble upon a marijuana grow-op in the middle of the Sierras. What starts as a pleasant 4 day retreat from the bustle of Los Angles, becomes a nightmare trip as they are caught up in a battle between a drug cartel and some white supremists.Of the four hikers only one, Tracy, is a seasoned back-country expert and she is the leader of the expedition. She works as a personal trainer and the other three are clients. Two of which, Oscar and Gwen, have very little experience in hiking, Todd, the last of the four, grew up in a rural place and has spent time in the woods and has hunting experience. The story is told from three viewpoints, that of Gwen, Todd and Oscar. These people do not know each other well and have very different backgrounds. First they are turned away from their original planned route due to a forest fire. They decide to go far into the little travelled back-country for a thirty mile round trip but what begins as a trip to push their personal boundaries becomes a dangerous effort to survive.I am the perfect audience for a book like this as I love survival stories. This exciting thriller kept me interested and turning the pages right to the end. Of course, as in all thrillers there was a certain amount of unlikely events that one has to swallow in order for the book to come together, but I was quite willing in this case to do so. The author did a great job in her descriptions of the scenic beauty that is to be found in the Sierra Nevadas but I wasn’t a huge fan of the twist at the end of book.
    • 4/5
      Four city dwellers of different ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds decide to take a weekend hike through the Sierra Nevada mountains. They’re led by their fitness trainer, who is ill-prepared and makes some bad decisions along the way. After taking a little used trail and coming across a marijuana field, the hikers run into some unsavory characters, who want to take their lives, and the story revolves around the four of them trying to get out of the canyon without being shot to death.Although it starts out rather slow, giving background information on each hiker, the suspense eventually builds and kept my attention. The author did a good job of describing the scenery, both the beauty of the mountains and the dangers that lurk within.Although some portions were hard to believe, and I wasn’t fond of the ending, all in all I’m glad I experienced the work of this author.
    • 5/5
      Reviewed for LibraryThing Early ReviewersAt first, I was really unsure about this novel. My first reaction was that I was in for a 300 or so page lecture on victimhood and Political Correctness. I must congratulate the author because I think my misconception was her intention.LOST CANYON addresses the weakness of Political Correctness subtly and potently without resort to the term itself or its myriad manifestations. In fact, it appears to be about racism, and in a sense it is, but in a nuanced and profoundly intelligent way. More, it is about the prevalence of racial stereotyping by one and all and all that we miss out on because of it. It is the story of four people whose limitations in perspective are overcome and transcended during the course of a week in the wilderness.Gwen, an African American social worker; Oscar, a Latino real estate agent; and Todd, a white attorney are brought together under the leadership of their personal trainer, a Japanese American named Tracy. We are introduced to each of them individually and learn their backstories independent of the others. This is important because although, as it is in real life, the first impression we receive is their race or ethnic background, we also learn who they are beyond the surface and begin to care about them. As they meet each other and begin their wilderness adventure together, we are privy to their inner thoughts and perceptions of each other. Because we have already met each of them, we know how wrong they are about each other. It is a journey for us, the reader, to take with them as they learn to appreciate each other’s strengths and weaknesses, come to look to each other for help and finally to become united in their common experience.Revoyr is a skillful and talented writer. It was a pleasure to read her. The beauty, atmosphere, wonder and power of the setting in the Sierra Nevada is beautifully evoked. Her characters are lovingly and compassionately fleshed out. And the plot swings you up and will not let you down until the very, very end.
    • 3/5
      A group of 4 diverse residents of LA head out on a backpacking trip in the Sierra Nevada. Their leader, Tracy, is each of their personal trainer, the others are just meeting. With varying amounts of outdoor experience--Tracy has a lot, for Todd it has been a long time, Oscar and Gwen have little to no experience. A forest fire derails their plans, and they take a tip and hand-drawn map from a ranger and go somewhere different. And happen upon a grow operation in the national forest. And soon they are in the middle of rival drug growers.———I think this is every California hiker/backpacker's nightmare (probably other states too), though I would think legalization has made it less of a worry. I am out of that loop these days. The story is pretty straightforward, with the 4 main characters alternating as narrator. When they first meet there is a lot of judging, but as the trip goes sideways and they learn each others' strengths, they gain respect for each other and for themselves. This is a thriller with a side of trust and friendship.I have to commend Revoyr for her geographic accuracy. It is always a pleasure to read novels without huge errors. She keeps the locations in the mountains generic enough to possibly be real, but the cardinal directions are accurate, the snow, the lake colors, the multiple ranges, the granite, et al. Her locations in LA are much more specific and on point. There is just one loose end that she leaves--on purpose--but UGH I hate that lol (no spoilers from me though!). Otherwise it pretty much went as I expected. 3.5 stars.Narration was good, by Karen Chilton.
    • 4/5
      This superbly executed high-stakes adventure novel follows four urbanites from Los Angeles for a weekend backpacking trip through the Sierra Nevada Mountains intended to be contemplative on how to reboot their lives and quickly challenges their physical and moral stamina as self-realizations and doubts abound. As the author takes us into the souls of the diverse group of team members, their motives, and their part of Los Angeles we learn how this affects the first impressions they have of each other as the only one who knows everyone is the trail leader Tracy and then only at a superficial level. When the intended well-used and monitored trail is closed due to fires, Tracy convinces the others that unused unmonitored trail will provide an enhanced experience of the wilderness without the hoards of people. The narrators are Gwen, an African-American woman who works with at-risk youths in Watts, a novice hiker who is grieving the death of a promising student, Oscar, a Hispanic and single father, who went from riches to rags as the real estate market changed, and Todd, a lawyer who married old money and feels stifled by all the pretense that comes with it. It is interesting to have the story narrated from their different perspectives, how they come together as a team and how they each react to the challenges presented to them. What starts out admiring the majesty of the landscape and the views, quickly turns dark and scary with one misstep and encounters with conniving and demented characters, has the team fighting for their survival. The reader is left breathless by the author’s poetic language of the magnificence of the landscape and tension created where even the simplest of decisions by the team might mean life or death. I quickly turned pages as I felt like I was outrunning the bad guys, the horrific challenges mother nature presented, and so wanted to know who was going to win the battle. This is an excellent book club choice as it explores issues of race and gender, wilderness and civilization, and where does this all fit in when your newly formed team needs to put aside individuality for survival.
    • 4/5
      The Lost Canyon is an interesting book on several levels with a strangely dissatisfying ending. There is much fodder for discussion for book clubs; plenty of interest for those who have spent time in the natural world to ponder on; issues of race and class; and a meditation on living in the modern world – both the urban one and the natural one. The book starts with a fitness instructor who organizes a four day hiking expedition in the Sierra Nevada Mountains for a few of her clients. Inexplicably, right at the beginning of the novel, two participants immediately drop out. I thought it was strange to even introduce these characters and then remove them – better to have edited the idea out in the first place because it did not add to the story in any way.The four main characters – a white male, a Japanese American female, an African American female and a Hispanic male, head off for a four day hiking trip. There is some back story provided about each. There are some stereotypes inserted into each of these people: the white male has experience in the outdoors, the Hispanic and African American characters are urban only with little or no outdoors experience and some fears around the journey and the Japanese American is the fitness instructor who acts with a mysterious mix of being a survivalist and also talks about disappearing into the wilderness. It would have been interesting to see some of the stereotypes turned on their heads.At any rate, the first part of the story is almost a Waldenesque meditation on each person’s connection with the natural world. A very calm, peaceful setting is established and the reader falls into the rhythm of the hike as they traverse the wilderness. There is definitely a sense of peace that reminded me of Walden pond and Thoreau as I read.About halfway through the book, the whole thing is turned on its head as the hikers are taken at gunpoint – first by Mexican cartel members protecting their pot farm and then by white supremacists, who kill the Mexican guard and then take the hikers hostage as they protect their own pot farm and use the hikers as slave labor to destroy the cartel farm. A series of action packed events occur that are potentially life changing for each of the hikers. There would be too many spoilers at this point so I will save all those twists and turns for the readers. But as I indicated at the beginning, the conclusion is strangely dissatisfying. For me, part of that is because I have been on some intense hiking and backpacking adventures with people I didn’t know and it creates bonds that I feel are much stronger than the ones in the book appear to be at the end. I think the idea is there but the feeling doesn’t come through in the story. The other issue for me was that there were new story ideas introduced at the end that were really stories on their own and the threads of a whole new series of ideas. It didn’t make sense.I was never comfortable with the fitness instructors/hike leader’s character. In fact, from the earliest descriptions right through to the end, I felt that she was almost mentally unstable and I would never have set out on that hike with her at all. A hike leader should encourage and inspire participants and would never push inexperienced hikers like these beyond their capable limits. In fact, it is possible that if the characters had more experience, it could have been an even more challenging story between all of the characters. One could almost call this book Deliverance Lite. That is not to say there are not a lot of important issues that come up for discussion here. One is of course that of race and the stereotypes of what being “outdoorsy” means and race in relation to hiking, camping etc. Another is the divide between the urban/suburban experience and that of the natural world. Set in Los Angeles with the Sierra Nevada mountains only a few hours away, it shows that we as humans in some ways have strayed far from nature but in fact, nature is close to many urban centers and can reclaim quickly. I live in the Pacific Northwest and hike and have the luxury of nature all around me. There have been several murders in the mountains and this book made me ponder criminal enterprise in using the national forests as pot farms. Cartels and organized crime are no doubt ruthless in protecting those interests and it made me wonder how often innocent parties have stumbled onto these enterprises and been seriously injured or murdered in the act of doing so. To that end, this book offers an excellent jumping off point to discuss that issue.It is also offers good discussion points about how we pursue our livings in modern society and the cost to our mental and physical health in so doing. Each of the characters discovers in the course of the trip that there are compromises we make in life in the pursuit of money. One character had given up his connections to the natural world because of the time required for his corporate gig. Another realized that while he strove for a white collar living, he wasn’t living a balanced life and that money will come and go quickly. The discussion point here is about balance in life and that balance includes understanding, incorporating and investing ourselves and our children in the natural world. The questions around conservation and ecology that continue to arise in each generation are important questions.Despite the unevenness of the book, I enjoyed the ideas. I loved the discussion points that were raised and I have to admit, the twists and turns made this book so interesting that I read it in two days. This is a great read for those who want to ponder thoughts about the natural world and for those who are in book clubs or discussion groups because there are a lot of weighty issues to discuss here.