by Lydia Millet
First published 2007
T. has built his fortune developing real estate in Los Angeles, but he keeps everyone at arm's length. His mother dotes on him, his fraternity brothers act crude around him, yet he never realizes how alone he is. One night while driving to Las Vegas, his car strikes a coyote on the highway. The collision shakes him deeply and sets off changes he never expected. For the first time, T. begins questioning whether his financial success means anything. He falls in love with a woman, something that had seemed impossible before. Most surprisingly, he starts sneaking into the local zoo after hours, where he sits quietly with endangered animals and finds a peace that money never brought him. The coyote's death becomes the beginning of T.'s awakening to connection and loss.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-transformation, redemption-arc
Setting: Los Angeles
Period: 21st-century
247 pages · Hardcover · Counterpoint