The Van — Lee Irby

It gets stolen and shot at. People make love in it and deliver drugs with it. It sits festering in garages and is restored to its former glory. It traverses the country several times and sees its share of tragedy and triumph. Within its 21 windows dwells a chorus of stories spanning four decades. THE VAN follows a 1964 Volkswagen microbus as it travels from the factory in West Germany to various spots around North America. The story is told in vignettes by different narrators, and it's not always obvious how the van figures in. The style of the prose also changes to match the historical epoch--the 1970s commune section is very fragmented and elliptical, while certain 1980s parts reflect a more early Bret Easton Ellis feel. The book careens from California to Texas to Florida and back again, with stops in Mexico, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arkansas. The van is a metaphor of the American soul, iconic and tough and often wounded. The book coheres around the larger themes of postwar American history, but in very subtle ways.