A novel split into two strands, one following the decades long adventures of a member of the US Army’s Camel Corps experiment in the Western desert of the 1800s (right?! I had never heard of this), the other a single day in the life of a homesteader in the Arizona Territory in 1893. The two parts finally intersect in the last pages in a fairly random way. It’s an interesting construction, though alas I found the story of cameleers in the Wild West far more interesting than its companion story, a slice of home life and territorial politics, which really didn’t capture my imagination much. ( )

A western of a different type. Obreht writes like the air coursing through the cottonwoods standing tall above an Arizona river. ( )

Prachtig geschreven, beeldend, doorspekt met verhalen geschiedenis van een arme immigrant uit de Balkan en het verdere merkwaardige verloop van zijn leven als Outlaw, achtervolgde met een premie op zijn hoofd. Hij komt terecht bij een Kamelen brigade van het leger. Ook de lange vriendschap met een kameel speelt een grote rol..
De andere geschiedenis is van een gezin, met name Nora, de vrouw,die tegen de klippen, de armoede en de droogte op haar gezin probeert bij elkaar te houden. Mooi maar soms erg verwarrend. ( )

Inland is written very beautifully (putting the literary in literary western) and makes the modern books of today pale in comparison, but it also has an abundance of tangential details that sometimes makes following it confusing. It's a dual narrative, and contains occasional jumps in time as well as magical realist elements that makes this book a bit of work to read. Pleasure reading Inland is not but I would suggest that this book is well worth your effort. Inland in a nutshell is about two characters: Lurie (a Turkish transplant and former outlaw) and Nora who are haunted (literally) as they attempt to stake out their existence in the unforgiven American West. I liked the way in which the protagonist's character in the two stories was handled. With Lurie we see him develop from a childhood of abandonment, working in a pestilence house to a grave robber to a petty thief and stage-coach robber to a life on the run as he is pursued by the law. He eventually teams up with Burke, a camel that is in use by the U.S. Cavalry and together they form an unshakable bond.
Nora, the other character, comes to us already formed as a wife, a mother of three boys, a deceased baby girl, a caregiver for Granma Harriet and for her niece Josie, and a pioneer homesteader. Her husband and elder sons have vanished, and she is left to fend for herself and those she loves. Her story is one of quiet suffering and inner strength.
Add in some mystical realism, the evil eye talisman, talking to the dead, the historical information on the camels used by the U.S. Cavalry, the ghost town of Indianola, Texas, and the physical descriptions and deprivations of the western territories, and you have one very interesting story.
The way the two plots - Lurie's and Nora's collides makes for an incredible conclusion. One that is heartbreaking.
Still, Inland takes some liberties with plotting that made the journey of reading this book a bit of chore. If you're willing to take the adventure, Inland might reward you. This isn't light reading. The subject matter is heavy and sad. It is a story about perseverance in the face of death.
I tend to be a sci-fi and fantasy guy but I'm glad I read this book. I think despite it's flaws in the way it flows - it offers much food for thought.

And Obhret certainly does carve a unique western with her words. ( )

I understand the raves but this wasn't for me. Read 80 pages, saw there were almost 300 pages left and just.could.not. Sentence by sentence is beautiful but it was so slow and I didn't care about any of it. I read the final chapter and called it done.