“Brandon R. Schrand tells a triumphant tale of . . . moving away from the dark shadow of a deceased ex-con father to become a loving dad.” –Washington Post (review of “Comparative History,” from The Book of Dads).
“Schrand’s deeply textured memoir of life in a small Idaho town boasts a rich palette of glittering iridescent hues, somber earth tones, and delicate, evocative washes. . . . Schrand’s memoir sings, stirring the senses as much as the soul.”—Whitney Scott, Booklist (starred review).
“This memoir is a classic coming-of-age story in which the author casts himself as an antihero in the tradition of Holden Caulfield. Schrand’s stories of life at the family owned Enders Hotel in Soda Springs, ID, resonate with the wide-eyed enthusiasm of youth and yet are balanced with the sober vision of hindsight. . . He introduces readers to a ragtag and at times sorry cast of characters searching for purpose and dignity. This common narrative thread ties strongly to his search for “manhood” and his missing father. Schrand’s specificity and eye for detail transport readers to the desolate environs of the Enders Hotel. This book will appeal to anyone who has ever felt out of place or out of step with the world.” –School Library Journal.
The Enders Hotel is a “remarkable memoir” whose “poetic prose tells an important story.” –American Traveler.
The Enders Hotel is “[a]n evocative account of a man coming to terms with his youth.”–Kirkus Reviews.
“Schrand . . . won the River Teeth Prize for good reason. [He] writes with elegant detachment. . . [and] has a compassionate understanding of the way we try to renew ourselves through the place we call home.”– Notre Dame Review.
“Schrand. . . proves himself a top-notch yarn spinner with this richly described, poignant memoir.” –Jenny Shank, NewWest.com.
“[The Enders Hotel] is a book about longing for absent men. The book opens with a gorgeous but brief chapter called ‘Restless Men,’ which links the details of an accidental shooting at the hotel’s bar during his mother’s shift to Schrand’s absent biological father (who served time in the same prison the shooter gets sentenced to). The absence of this father, whom Schrand has never met, haunts the rest of the story intermittently, mostly in the form of his longing for some glimpse of that father… The restless, disappearing me and the crumbling hotel become points of memory in a past that is stalked and recreated in this book.”—Jocelyn Bartkevicius, Fourth Genre.
“Longing is the central theme of Brandon Schrand’s extraordinary debut memoir, The Enders Hotel–the longing of a boy to be a man, the longing of the man to connect with the boy he once was, and the longing of a son for a father he never knew. . . Schrand’s lyrical prose and poetic sensibility engender beauty amid a landscape that has been gutted. . . It is debatable as to who has the stronger hold of the reader in this memoir–the language, the ragged band of ‘enders’ passing through the pages, or the narrator himself, a boy who desperately wants to ‘take his spot in the world of men’. . .We have so few coming-of-age memoirs that detail the inner life of boys, especially western boys.” –Western American Literature.
“Schrand’s personal story reflects larger cultural truths: The transitory lives of his grandfather and stepfather mirror those of the down-on-their luck drifters who gravitate to the hotel. . . Schrand’s memoir breaks new ground. . . [and] makes Soda Springs and towns like it finally matter.” –High Country News.
“A satisfying read.”–Roundup Magazine.
Schrand “has written a book that underscores the promises and pitfalls of Western boomtown life.–Tucson Citizen.
“Schrand has never met his father, and his mother and stepfather are alcoholics on an unsteady quest to keep body and soul together. So it’s no surprise that the young Schrand would find his first sense of home under the perpetually leaky roof of the old Enders Hotel in Soda Springs, Idaho. . . As Schrand loses the only home he has known, he begins to fall into the trap scripted for such kids: small delinquencies that grow into larger acts of cruelty and rage. If he’s to be saved, he must save himself. His success is a triumph of determination.”–Barnes & Noble Review.
Colorado Review Volume 33 Number 3
-
Fall/Winter 2006
Triannual
“Confessions of a Telemarketer.” Reviewed by newpages.com
Brandon Schrand’s essay about his experience as a telemarketer for six years is unparalleled. “Confessions of a Telemarketer” takes us into the world of outbound call centers, and gives us the feel and vocabulary of a place we often only imagine as we answer our telephones. Like any good nonfiction, though, the telemarketing world is only part of the story. Schrand is much more interested in exploring the kind of person he becomes while he works the phones, one who sees “contacts as contacts and never people” and “time zones as sale zones rather than places rife with communities and neighborhoods.” His essay is riveting because we can see ourselves in his decisions, and we understand the damage that can be done when people are reduced to numbers.
Entire review at NewPages.
