Advance Praise for The Show Outside
You’d think the topics of death, brain damage, amputation, phantom limb pain, PTSD, and addiction should, by all rights, add up to a grim and dark story. But in Rick Borsten’s compelling new novel his characters—particularly those with intellectual disabilities—are so authentic and engaging, their dialogue so wickedly funny, that light keeps bursting through cracks in the darkness. The possibilities—however slim—of wonder, love, and restoration never quite feel out of reach, so you’re soon cheering for the potential contained in every human heart.
Gregg Kleiner, author of Where River Turns to Sky, Oregon Book Award Finalist
The Show Outside is a lovely novel, hilarious and moving, sexy and scary. The language is at times incandescent, and the characters—particularly those with developmental disabilities—lovable yet authentic, their idiosyncrasies and speech pure charm and delight.
John Addiego, author of Islands of Divine Music and Tears of the Mountain
I fell instantly in love with the people that inhabit Rick Borsten’s latest book, The Show Outside. Will Aikman is haunted by the accident that killed his parents and now struggles to care for his sister Zooey—disabled in the same car wreck—as well as for two developmentally disabled (and very funny) adults, Roland and Thora. When Will tries to add a third client and a part-time helper, the intriguing Daphne, their lives are further upended. If there’s a medicine that can heal Will and hold their extended family together, it might just be ‘the show outside.’ A moving and elegantly crafted novel.
Charles Goodrich, author of A Scripture of Crows and Going to Seed, and editor of Forest Under Story: Creative Inquiry In an Old-Growth Forest