Wichita

Author(s): Thad Ziolkowski

Location(s): Wichita

Genre(s): Fiction

Era(s): Modern

Location

Content

The novel begins with Lewis’s return to his mother’s home in Wichita, Kan., from New York, where he has just graduated from Columbia. His pompous professor father, Virgil, expects him to attend graduate school, though Lewis is unsure of his next step. His girlfriend has left him, and his divorced, eccentric mother, Abby – who invests in one “multilevel marketing” scheme after another – has “half-­facetiously” suggested he return to “the healing powers of the Great Plains,” where she has begun a storm-chasing business.

Lewis is not the only one returning home. His younger brother, Seth, is supposed to be away at an “art school/spa for the wealthy,” working as a groundskeeper and modeling for drawing classes. But when Lewis and Abby pull into the driveway, Seth is there, “waving his arms in the middle of the street as if flagging down a car on a country road.” On Seth’s collarbone is “a swath of new-tattoo bandage, which glows faintly in the dusk.” His presence is electric. New York Times

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