fiction

Where All Light Tends to Go, by David Joy

~ stephen ~ Leave a comment

alllight

America’s greatest writers have always been Southerners. William Faulkner, Harper Lee, Truman Capote, Flannery O’Connor, Tennessee Williams – sure, there are greats from other regions of the country, but for every incredible Yankee author you can point to, I could probably rattle off the names of three equally accomplished writers from the south.

There could be any number of explanations for this phenomenon, but I think the simplest and most obvious one is that great literature is often built out of trauma, and the South has had more than its share of those. And so have the characters in David Joy’s Where All Light Tends to Go, and so will they again, and again and again over the course of the novel’s 260 pages.  Continue reading →

Flex, by Ferrett Steinmetz

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flex

In Ferrett Steinmetz’s Flex, people’s obsessions can wear down the laws of the universe, enabling them to do magic associated with their obsession. Can’t stop playing video games? You may find yourself able to summon those characters into your world, or generate health packs around you when you injure yourself. People whose obsession is art can create living paintings, pyromaniacs can do magic with fire, and cat ladies … well, that one’s never actually explained.

It might be a bit of a disappointment, then – at least at first – to learn that the protagonist of this novel is obsessed with paperwork. He just loves doing paperwork so much that he one day wakes up to find he has magical powers related to filling out forms. I know, it sounds kind of lame. But there’s a lot more excitement in this novel than the main character’s particular talent might suggest.  Continue reading →

The City & The City, by China Miéville

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citycity

I had been meaning to read a Miéville novel for a long time. I picked up The City & The City on the strength of a really compelling staff recommendation at a bookstore in Astoria. Despite my eagerness to give the author a shot, I was a little wary: The hook of this novel seemed a little far-fetched to me, and I was worried that I would find the whole thing too meta, too would-be-literary for my taste. I needn’t have worried. Despite the fascinating originality of its setting, The City & The City is, at its core, a simple and straightforward murder mystery.

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