New York: Grove (2005)

Witty, earthy, and joyful, "The Summer He Didn't Die is a sheer celebration of life and all its magic. In the title novella, "The Summer He Didn't Die," Brown Dog, a hapless Michigan Indian loved by Harrison; s readers, is trying to parent his two stepchildren and take care of his family's health on meager resources--it helps a bit that his charms are irresistible to the new dentist in town. "Republican Wives" is a riotous satire on the sexual neuroses of the right, the mystery of why any person desires another, and the irrational power of love that, when thwarted, can turn so easily into an urge to murder. "Where Are We?" mines Harrison's private religion of the sensuous and sensual as integral to the transcendent joy of living. "The Summer He Didn't Die displays wit as sharp and prose as lush as any Harrison has yet written. "The Boston Globe has said of Harrison's previous novella collection, "Reading Jim Harrison is about as close as one can come in contemporary fiction to experiencing the abundant pleasures of living"--and "The Summer He Didn't die is a resonant, hilarious, and joyful ode to our journey on this earth.