Gritty’s the right word to describe Alex Taylor’s most recent book, The Name of the Nearest River (Sarabande Books, $15.95). The edges here sometimes chafe, as in the moments when the language runs to extremes (on the more poetic end, sometimes spiralling too wildly out of control, and, at other times, seeming almost brutish in its minimalism). But these stories hurtle along and take you with them. It’s a quick read, and a compelling one.“The Coal Thief” and “Equator Joe’s Famous Nuclear Meltdown Chili” paint stark portraits of poverty-stricken children, and other stories—despite their varying plots, depicting violence and passion, the reader always senses that what’s at stake is life and death—are as desolate and grim as any Cormac McCarthy novel. Still, there’s a humming hope here. For every windy, snowy landscape, and for every drunken punch, there’s a truck on a river on a summer night.
Ideal reading for a sultry evening in a hammock or a night alone by the fire.
Buy it here: Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Borders • IndieBound • Sarabande Books
