First published 2022
Sam Cunningham lies dying at 115 as America learns who won the 2016 election. God appears for an unexpected conversation about Sam's remarkable century of life. They begin with his Louisiana childhood under a brutal father whose cruelty drove Sam to enlist underage as an Army sniper in World War I. The violence his father taught him keeps Sam alive in French trenches but leaves him unable to process war's emotional damage. He returns to build a newspaper career in 1920s Chicago, covering the major events that shape twentieth century America. Sam marries and fathers a son whose life takes a completely different path from his own. As Sam examines his relationships with his abusive father, fellow soldiers, wife, newspaper editor, and especially his son, he discovers truths about himself that escaped him for over a century. Butler weaves personal history with American history as Sam confronts what his hardened survival instincts cost him in love and connection.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, american, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-drama, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Chicago, Louisiana
Period: 1920s, 2016
304 pages · Paperback · Grove Press
Content warnings: abuse, violence, war