Devin Murphy, ’01, ’02, has published his third book, “Unbend the River,” a collection of short stories about SBU and the region surrounding the university.
The linked stories in “Unbend the River” are set along a forested stretch of land between Lake Erie and the upper Allegheny River in Western New York. The characters, all of whom are tied to a modern knife manufacturing plant, illustrate all the ways love and longing shapeshift over the course of a long life.
A host of elderly hockey players, Franciscan friars, loser heroes, budding conmen, and unintentional historians are all wired to search for meaning. Each flash their creative genius when fighting off idleness, anger and disappointment. They build nightmare hotrods and race school buses; train wild dogs, homing pigeons, and dancing horses; and fight wildfires and grasshopper swarms. They crash headlong into the chaos, confusion, and confluence of their homes, never losing their energy to seek out the essential miracles hidden all around them.
Murphy’s first two books, “The Boat Runner” and “Tiny Americans,” were national bestsellers and sold around the world.
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