A Cast Away - G. A. Smith - Bog

Meet Al, who despite his therapist's advice after surviving a mass shooting at his school where his best friend is among the dead, decides to run away from his trauma and depression to a small town in Montana where he believes nothing can hurt him again. There, however, Al repeatedly faces death. He is threatened by plants and animals and even his own pickup truck. They all seem to have it in for him. Al comes to learn that life is all about trauma and that survival comes in the form of the small-town cast of characters from whom he learns how to live again. In a series of bumbling interactions in which we see that our hero isn't really emotionally capable of handling almost anything any longer, Al slowly reveals what has happened to him, and how it's threatening his own sanity and the possible loss of his wife, Joanie. At an emotional loss, Al seeks healing through fishing, hoping he's "just one more cast away" from finding peace. Incredibly intense, poignant and filled with humor in dark times, A Cast Away is one of the most emotional, gripping and honest stories of a real-life event you will ever read.