An exploration of living off the grid in Colorado’s San Luis Valley.
Growing up in Colorado, Conover, who won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, was fascinated by “flats dwellers” in the San Luis Valley, and he wanted to learn what would drive people to live in such remote areas. In 2017, he began volunteering for La Puente, which provides services to rural residents through its outreach initiative. What he discovered were residents from various walks of life. Many of them were attracted to the valley by the offer of cheap land as well as the ability to grow marijuana legally. Most, however, were merely seeking a different lifestyle than mainstream America offered. Some were virulently anti-government and pro-gun; some tried life in the city and hated it. Others were hoping to escape their pasts, while others, disillusioned by “turmoil in the outside world,” believed they “needed to prepare for total anarchy.” As Conover shows in his sharp, balanced profiles, some were unprepared for the region’s harsh environment. While remote regions offer residents solitude, isolation can also lead to loneliness, and the winters in the region, which is “beautiful, wild, and mysterious,” can be brutal. Furthermore, most residents are impoverished and have limited job options. The area, writes the author, combines “the soaring beauty of the Mountain West and resonances of the pioneers with the hard-bitten realities of life on a shoestring.” Over the course of several years, Conover split his time between his home in New York and Colorado. With each trip, he learned more about the region’s history and its people, and he eventually purchased his own plot of land. With empathy, compassion, and skillful storytelling, Conover engagingly shares the dreams and realities of those he met and befriended, offering a window into a community that few readers will ever experience.
A captivating portrait of a community on the fringes.
Publication: Kirkus Reviews