The death of one of his players IRL and the severe injury of another supposedly draws him into the public eye (his game is deemed responsible and he is brought to court), allegedly compelling a disfigured man to confront himself, his inner world, and his fateful decision to end his life.But the conceit doesn't quite work. The tale he weaves to cope with pain and boredom in the hospital serves as a prototype for a mail-in role-playing game, which eventually affords him a small income, and which connects him (somewhat tenuously) to the outside world.

It is a story told in reverse that involves recreating the story that the main character, Sean, concocts while recovering from his failed suicide attempt. I recognize in both his storytelling capacity & his imagination, but neither manages to capture me.The conceit of the novel is interesting enough. Read moreĪlthough acquainted with Darnielle through the Mountain Goats, I can't say I'm a fan of either his music or this first novel. In the process, he is pulled back through time, tunneling toward the moment of his own self-inflicted departure from the world in which most people live.īrilliantly constructed, Wolf in White Van unfolds in reverse until we arrive at both the beginning and the climax: the event that has shaped so much of Sean's life. But when they take their play into the real world, disaster strikes, and Sean is called to account for it. Lance and Carrie are high school students from Florida, explorers of the Trace. As the creator of Trace Italian-a text-based, role-playing game played through the mail-Sean guides players from around the world through his intricately imagined terrain, which they navigate and explore, turn by turn, seeking sanctuary in a ravaged, savage future America.

From his small apartment in southern California, he orchestrates fantastic adventures where possibilities, both dark and bright, open in the boundaries between the real and the imagined. Isolated by a disfiguring injury since the age of seventeen, Sean Phillips crafts imaginary worlds for strangers to play in. Welcome to Trace Italian, a game of strategy and survival! You may now make your first move. Winner of the 2015 Alex Award for adult books with special appeal for young adultsīeautifully written and unexpectedly moving, John Darnielle's audacious and gripping debut novel Wolf in White Van is a marvel of storytelling brio and genuine literary delicacy. Long-listed for the 2014 National Book Award in fiction

Wolf in white van by john darnielle