Oh, what do I want to say. I was skeptical at first, another american boy's bildungsroman. But there are moments of beauty and insight and realness in the internal monologues; great moments of commentary - oh I hate the phrase social commentary - maybe more a questioning of society and history and capitalism that makes it more relevant than the stories it occasionally calls back to. The Rust Belt deserves many stories exploring its depth, and this is one of them. ( )

Steel plants have closed, and jobs lost in the Monongahela Valley, Pennsylvania, where this novel takes place. Poverty, violence, drugs, boredom, and desperation are prevalent. Former steel plant structures stand abandoned in the overgrowth. Two unlikely friends, Isaac (the smart but awkward kid) and Billy (the football jock) have stayed in their small town after graduation, missing their chance to go to college. Isaac has been taking care of his invalid father after his mother’s suicide. His sister has already escaped to college and marriage. He decides to leave and asks Billy to come with him. They approach an abandoned building, where a man will be killed, and their lives forever altered. It is a story of staying vs. leaving, fear vs. bravery, selfishness vs. altruism.

The writing style took me a bit of time to assimilate. It is quasi-stream-of-consciousness, as if the reader is in the head of six characters, thinking along with them, which proves to be a very effective method of characterization. Each character sees a portion of the greater story from a personal perspective, none having access to the entire picture. In addition to Isaac and Billy, the story is told from the perspectives of Grace (Billy’s mother), Henry (Isaac’s father), Lee (Isaac’s sister), and Harris (the chief of police of their town who has been involved with Grace). The novel is more character-driven than plot-driven, but there is a plot, and the tension is built through this limited perspective of each character, gradually revealing to the reader what has happened. I thought it was a brilliant way to tell this story.

These are flawed but decent people, often making poor decisions and facing the fallout. They are confronted with moral dilemmas and must choose their actions when the stakes are high. This book explores the questions of what lengths a person will go to protect a friend or loved one, and whether a person should save oneself or someone else at the risk of personal safety. It touches on questions of personal dignity, inner strength, and integrity. How much are an individual’s actions are driven by social, mental, or physical fear, and should they be? I questioned a couple of plot points, but in the end, I became so invested in these characters that it didn’t matter. The ending is not tidied up and is left for the reader to imagine but offers hope for the characters of the story and, more importantly, for humankind. This book is the author’s debut and I look forward to reading more of his work. Highly recommended. ( )

This book is rough. It's beautifully written and interesting, but the story is very bleak. The characters are complicated and so real that they could be people you know. The story is familiar and heartbreaking and frustrating and sometimes infuriating. I loved the way the author unfolded each character's story slowly, revealing new details about their lives in such a skilled way that you were constantly changing your mind about each person. The characters are flawed but honest, at least with themselves, even if it's too late to change things when they finally tell the truth. Sometimes they don't even understand their own feelings. The book was hard to read at times, but it was worth the effort. I really enjoyed it even as I despaired. ( )

I did enjoy the writing here and the first half, probably, was not necessarily a who or why dunnit but circumstances leading to it being done. Overall I found it kinda depressing. ( )

The Philipp Meyer guy? Dude's a writer's writer.

This is actually a very simple little book, but the emotional depths Meyer plumbs make this the great book that it is. I'm not going to go on and on about it, so I'll just say, pick this up, and then fall into its pages. Excellent novel. ( )