Ariel's Crossing

by Bradford Morrow

Learning the true identity of her birth father, a Vietnam veteran who disappeared into Laos before she was born, Ariel Rankin, pregnant by a man who wants nothing to do with parenthood, heads west in search of her father and journeys through New Mexico, Los Alamos, and the badlands of White Sands. 25,000 first printing.

Genres: Novels

389 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2002

About the author

Bradford Morrow has lived for the past thirty years in New York City and rural upstate New York, though he grew up in Colorado and lived and worked in a variety of places in between. While in his mid-teens, he traveled through rural Honduras as a member of the Amigos de las Americas program, serving as a medical volunteer in the summer of 1967. The following year he was awarded an American Field Service scholarship to finish his last year of high school as a foreign exchange student at a Liceo Scientifico in Cuneo, Italy. In 1973, he took time off from studying at the University of Colorado to live in Paris for a year. After doing graduate work on a Danforth Fellowship at Yale University, he moved to Santa Barbara, California, to work as a rare book dealer. In 1981 he relocated to New York City to the literary journal Conjunctions, which he founded with the poet Kenneth Rexroth, and to write novels. He and his two cats divide their time between NYC and upstate New York.

Visit his website at www.bradfordmorrow.com.

Reviews

[Alumine Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second novel of a trilogy, I read it as a stand alone and it held up.

The Ariel of the title is a young woman in New York who, as an adult, discovers the identity of her biological father. He is Kip Calder, a Vietnam vet who disappeared before her birth, leaving her mum to marry their mutual best friend, who posed as Ariel's father.

Turmoil, questions, identity crisis and a road trip ensues. Meanwhile Calder has returned to a small New Mexico town where he was born. He is dying and wants to make peace with his past and is trying to find his daughter. He works for a local family which is full of great characters and historical figures. The story is well told, well developed and gorgeously written.
Mainly character driven, with a bit of magical realism thrown in, well worth reading.

This is a book which reminded me a lot of Cormack McCarthy's writing. If you enjoy McCarthy, you will enjoy this one.

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't drag myself through this book. I tried. But it seemed too predictable, and I made the mistake of reading about the storyline. It tried to bring my self back to it a number of times, but with so many other books on my summer reading pile, my hand kept picking up something else.
At first I enjoyed the detailed descriptions, with carefully chosen words. I always enjoy the challenge of trying to figure out who the main characters are going to be, what they are up to, and what challenges they will encounter. I also enjoyed the Nambe Pueblo setting.

[Alan]

This is a sequel to Trinity Fields. Morrow writes about New Mexico. Part of the focus of this book is White Sands Missile Range and the land disputes that arose out of confiscation of ranches that occured at the time of the first A-bomb tests. His writing is beautiful. I think the books are well worth while and will have a broad range of appeal.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this at a thrift store and whaddya know, it turned out to be pretty good! Ariel finds out her dad isn't her dad and goes to New Mexico to meet her real father. A little of everything, including magical realism which I wasn't expecting.