"In his Mississippi River Museum, Keith Pilapil Leismester has created Joe Patterson: a compelling character who struggles with his sense of self and place; struggles with a past that meanders menacingly like an almost still river through his blood; struggles with those stories we all carry inside to protect ourselves from admitting the truth. There's a desperate beauty to Joe's searching story, his almost quiet and tender loss, confusion, and rage. His heart is big, his vision steadily moving towards clarity. Keith Pilapil Leismester composes glimpses into the racism and violence Joe faces, as he begins to care, change, and act to make the most of his 'work-in-progress' life. In this unique and necessary region along the upper Mississippi, Keith Leismester has composed a powerful and beautiful fiction." --Fred Arroyo, author of Sown in Earth: Essays of Memory and Belonging

"In Mississippi River Museum, Keith Pilapil Lesmeister works his slow and assured magic, reeling the reader in like one of the sunnies Joe Patterson tries to catch in the story. Each surprise comes as a flash breaking the surface of the clean, fluid prose. This is an arresting and redemptive tale about a young man and a boy, about generations of hurt being handed down. Lesmeister depicts the upper Midwest like no other author I know, refusing to turn away from its ugliness--or its devastating environmental beauty. On the merit of this story alone, I'd read anything Keith Pilapil Lesmeister writes." --Rachel Swearingen, author of How to Walk on Water and Other Stories

​"Mississippi River Museum is Keith Pilapil Lesmeister's masterclass in patient interiority and how to finesse nuanced storytelling out of ache, river silt, and catfish scales. Don't miss out on one of the finest midwestern writers at work." --Ron Austin, author of Avery Colt is a Snake, a Thief, a Liar