"The novel alternates between Chuy's coming-of-age in the 1900s and Veronica's in the 1920s with humor and warmth. The tone is charming even as the book tackles challenging themes around family, grief, home, and heartache. The two timelines, the protagonists of different genders, and Johnstun's attention to the details of Utah's unique landscape and milieu make the novel feel greater than the sum of its parts. An intergenerational story that interrogates and celebrates the American dream."
—KIRKUS REVIEWS
"Cast Away is the kind of story whose characters, flawed and believable, stay with the reader long after closing the last page of the book. The book shows the positive effects immigrants bring to los Estados Unidos. It’s a story about dreamers."
—LATINO BOOK REVIEW
“Cast Away explores our ideals of a better life, be they on the far side of a TV screen or a border, and the people and places sacrificed to get there. Weaving together gems of western history, of Mexican family life, and of love across generations, Kase Johnstun has written a delectable, humorous, heartwarming read not to be missed.”
—HEATHER MATEUS SAPPENFIELD, The River Between Hearts
"Kase Johnstun's work carries much to be admired, but this, perhaps, is the most enduring aspect of its beauty: his love—absolute, complete, and unflinching—for the characters he writes, even as they endure hardship and horror on their way to something greater. He never withholds that love, and it imbues the individual characters' journeys and the larger mosaic of not just their lives but also the lives of those to whom they are connected. Another fine novel from an author whose imagination and unflagging empathy bring about stories that stick to the ribs like the best meals."
—CRAIG LANCASTER, 600 Hours of Edward
“Kase Johnstun has written a story that entertains, touches, and endears. More than anything, his lyrical style of writing and his attention to the smallest details transport the reader into both the flow and the feel, heart warming and challenging alike, of what it’s like to grow up in the LatinX community. Cast Away is a terrific read.”
—TANYA PARKER MILLS, The Book Bungalow
“Cast Away is a confluence of two stories that travel through generations, across borders and cultural divides, and to the core of what it means to be family. Kase Johnstun navigates the complicated intersection of a broken immigration system and the ever-shifting American dream with a sharp wit and deep historical awareness that makes Cast Away impossible to put down. It’s the kind of story that takes you to places and events you may have heard of before and reveals them in a totally new light. Each chapter reads like a synonym for bravery. Cast Away is a continual feast for the senses and exploration of the heart.”
—PATRICK RAMSAY, Happy Magpie Book & Quill
2024-03-23
In the early 1920s, Veronica Chavez, the daughter of a fisherman, falls in love with an American poet visiting her seaside village in Mexico.
She becomes pregnant with his child, and together they leave Mexico for his home in Seattle. It’s not just Jason’s shabby apartment that shatters Veronica’s naïve romantic fantasies of life with an American man. Her lover proves abusive and unfaithful. Though isolated in a country where she doesn’t speak the language, Veronica finds the courage to flee again. It’s a heady time to be in the United States, especially the Western part of the country. Immigration policies are in flux, and while opportunities abound, so do perils. The same is true of the 1990s, when teenage Chuy arrives in Salt Lake City to live with his great-aunt Veronica, now in her 80s. Chuy, his mother, his older brother, and his father—who had been living in the U.S. for years to finance their family’s migration—do their best to build a life in Utah, but it’s not easy. They live in a predominantly white Mormon community and under the watchful eye of law enforcement. One pastime that helps them cope with life’s stresses is watching a reality TV competition called Cast Away. Chuy believes that if he trains hard enough, gets on the show, and wins the $1 million prize, he can secure his family’s future. The novel alternates between Chuy’s coming-of-age in the 1990s and Veronica’s in the 1920s with humor and warmth. The tone is charming even as the book tackles challenging themes around family, grief, home, and heartache. The two timelines, the protagonists of different genders, and Johnstun’s attention to the details of Utah’s unique landscape and milieu make the novel feel greater than the sum of its parts.
An intergenerational story that interrogates and celebrates the American dream.
