Ariel Courage

Armed with a terminal diagnosis, a grudge, and a rental car, Hester sets out to fulfill her lifelong dream of killing her father in this brilliantly subversive and bleakly funny debut novel. When Hester is diagnosed with terminal cancer on her fortieth birthday, she knows immediately what she must do: abandon her possessions and drive to California to kill her estranged father. With no friends or family tying her to the life she’s built in New York City, she quits her wildly lucrative job in corporate law and starts driving west. She hasn’t made it far when she runs into John, an environmental activist in need of a ride to different superfund sites across the United States. From five-star Midwestern hotels to cultish Southwestern compounds, the two slowly make their way across the country. But will the revelations they experience along the way dissuade Hester from her goal? Ragingly singular and surprisingly moving, Bad Nature is a story of stunning detours and twists until its final destination. Part road-trip novel, part revenge tale, part lament for our ongoing ecological crisis, it’s ultimately a deft examination of the indulgence of holding grudges, moral ambivalence, and the eternal possibility of redemption.

A Novel

Bad Nature

Shoob 🧸

He nodded. “We're turning away from God 'cause it's easier to deny his existence than admit we're failing as his stewards." 

I nearly stroked out trying not to roll my eyes. 

He kept going. "We don't want to avert disaster. We know it's coming and know we deserve it. In seminary school once, this kid was like, ‘Man, when is shit really gonna hit the fan?’ Like with climate change. He was wondering when it would rob him of his plans, his future. His comfort. As opposed to just reading about poorer people getting robbed of it on the news. He talked about it like it couldn't be stopped or helped. Like it was predestined." 

“That's, um," I said, grasping for words. I think we're turning away from him because he doesn't exist, but." 

"God's just a word pointing to the indescribable." 

“You've lost me there. I am a very literal-minded person."

Bad Nature quotes

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