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Cry Father
In the tradition of Cormac McCarthy and Larry Brown comes a haunting story about men, their fathers, their sons, and the legacy of violence.
For Patterson Wells, disaster is the norm. Working alongside dangerous, desperate, itinerant men as a tree clearer in disaster zones, he’s still dealing with the loss of his young son. Writing letters to the boy offers some solace. The bottle gives more.
Upon a return trip to Colorado, Patterson stops to go fishing with an old acquaintance, only to find him in a meth-induced delirium and keeping a woman tied up in the bathtub. In the ensuing chain of events, which will test not only his future but his past, Patterson tries to do the right thing. Still, in the lives of those he knows, violence and justice have made of each other strange, intoxicating bedfellows.
Hailed as "the next great American writer" (Frank Bill, author of Crimes in Southern Indiana), Benjamin Whitmer has crafted a literary triumph that is by turns harrowing, darkly comic, and wise.
For Patterson Wells, disaster is the norm. Working alongside dangerous, desperate, itinerant men as a tree clearer in disaster zones, he’s still dealing with the loss of his young son. Writing letters to the boy offers some solace. The bottle gives more.
Upon a return trip to Colorado, Patterson stops to go fishing with an old acquaintance, only to find him in a meth-induced delirium and keeping a woman tied up in the bathtub. In the ensuing chain of events, which will test not only his future but his past, Patterson tries to do the right thing. Still, in the lives of those he knows, violence and justice have made of each other strange, intoxicating bedfellows.
Hailed as "the next great American writer" (Frank Bill, author of Crimes in Southern Indiana), Benjamin Whitmer has crafted a literary triumph that is by turns harrowing, darkly comic, and wise.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published September 16, 2014
30 people are currently reading
1434 people want to read
About the author
Benjamin Whitmer
19 books169 followersBenjamin Whitmer was born in 1972 and raised on back-to-the-land communes and counterculture enclaves ranging from Southern Ohio to Upstate New York. One of his earliest and happiest memories is of standing by the side of a country road with his mother, hitchhiking to parts unknown. Since then, he has been a factory grunt, a vacuum salesman, a convalescent, a high-school dropout, a semi-truck loader, an activist, a kitchen-table gunsmith, a squatter, a college professor, a dishwasher, a technical writer, and a petty thief. He has also published fiction and non-fiction in a number of magazines, anthologies, and essay collections.
Pike
is his first novel.
He lives with his two children in Colorado, where he spends most of his free time trolling local histories and haunting the bookshops, blues bars, and firing ranges of ungentrified Denver. Right now, he’s probably sitting with a book in hand, staring out his window and dreaming of a tar paper shack somewhere in the Rockies, about fifty miles removed from his nearest neighbor.
He lives with his two children in Colorado, where he spends most of his free time trolling local histories and haunting the bookshops, blues bars, and firing ranges of ungentrified Denver. Right now, he’s probably sitting with a book in hand, staring out his window and dreaming of a tar paper shack somewhere in the Rockies, about fifty miles removed from his nearest neighbor.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 126 reviews
October 13, 2018
this is a really great literary foil to We Are Called to Rise. it is a different take on the same theme - that one act can have unexpected consequences and set off a chain reaction of events. but there's none of the nicey-nice of w.a.c.t.r. here. in this book, when that act happens, you are fucked, brother.
here, you can rescue a naked woman tied up in a tweaker's bathtub in the first scene and still somehow end up being the bad guy by the end of the book. or one of the bad guys, anyway.
this is the very grittiest of grit lit
Junior drools blood into the creek. The middle of the creek where he's standing. He tries to spit, but he drools instead. Shards of tooth slip out over his swollen lip with the blood. The middle of a creek. He's got the feeling he's coming awake out of a very hard sleep. The tendons in his left arm sing a strained and painful note, and there's a hard chord of nausea that cuts through him when he breathes.
It's raining, he thinks very clearly. He can hear the raindrops pattering around him in the creek water. But he can also see the stars and moon spinning over him, tilt-a-whirling. And there are the lights of Denver, orange through the cottonwoods and creek willows. He touches his head and realizes it's not rain at all he's hearing. It's blood, pouring from his head down into the black water.
he does a wonderful job with atmosphere:
The Bar Bar is the one bar in Denver that opens at six o'clock in the morning, which is just about the time Patterson pulls up. It's a stucco box, right on the edge of downtown where the abandoned warehouses and gearhead mechanics take over. It's never had any name that anyone knows of, but there's a neon sign out front that says Bar, which is where people get Bar Bar from. From noon to close it's populated by homeless cart pushers and bitter Indians, but at six o'clock in the morning you're liable to see anybody. A high-end stripper killing the smell of baby oil and perfume with gin, a television lawyer blowing his last line of cocaine in the men's room, an overtime cop pounding bourbon before heading home to his impending divorce. Anybody.
Patterson takes a stool next to Junior, who is sitting by a homeless man with a beardful of coagulated blood.
it's not a book for everyone - there's all sorts of casual racism, animal cruelty, hyperdrive violence - i can see why they got frank bill to blurb this. it's tough stuff.
if The Ploughmen: A Novel is the daniel woodrell brand of grit lit where beautiful language and description offsets the horrific violence, Cry Father is more the frank bill version of grit lit, where the horrific violence is rolled around in with a grin and not offset by anything except more violence: ears torn off, dogs killed, fights aplenty...
that's not to say this is without literary merit. it's damn good and there are moments of quiet loveliness, but it is completely unrestrained, and never shies away from unpleasantness.
which for me, makes for a much more honest book than We Are Called to Rise
come to my blog!
here, you can rescue a naked woman tied up in a tweaker's bathtub in the first scene and still somehow end up being the bad guy by the end of the book. or one of the bad guys, anyway.
this is the very grittiest of grit lit
Junior drools blood into the creek. The middle of the creek where he's standing. He tries to spit, but he drools instead. Shards of tooth slip out over his swollen lip with the blood. The middle of a creek. He's got the feeling he's coming awake out of a very hard sleep. The tendons in his left arm sing a strained and painful note, and there's a hard chord of nausea that cuts through him when he breathes.
It's raining, he thinks very clearly. He can hear the raindrops pattering around him in the creek water. But he can also see the stars and moon spinning over him, tilt-a-whirling. And there are the lights of Denver, orange through the cottonwoods and creek willows. He touches his head and realizes it's not rain at all he's hearing. It's blood, pouring from his head down into the black water.
he does a wonderful job with atmosphere:
The Bar Bar is the one bar in Denver that opens at six o'clock in the morning, which is just about the time Patterson pulls up. It's a stucco box, right on the edge of downtown where the abandoned warehouses and gearhead mechanics take over. It's never had any name that anyone knows of, but there's a neon sign out front that says Bar, which is where people get Bar Bar from. From noon to close it's populated by homeless cart pushers and bitter Indians, but at six o'clock in the morning you're liable to see anybody. A high-end stripper killing the smell of baby oil and perfume with gin, a television lawyer blowing his last line of cocaine in the men's room, an overtime cop pounding bourbon before heading home to his impending divorce. Anybody.
Patterson takes a stool next to Junior, who is sitting by a homeless man with a beardful of coagulated blood.
it's not a book for everyone - there's all sorts of casual racism, animal cruelty, hyperdrive violence - i can see why they got frank bill to blurb this. it's tough stuff.
if The Ploughmen: A Novel is the daniel woodrell brand of grit lit where beautiful language and description offsets the horrific violence, Cry Father is more the frank bill version of grit lit, where the horrific violence is rolled around in with a grin and not offset by anything except more violence: ears torn off, dogs killed, fights aplenty...
that's not to say this is without literary merit. it's damn good and there are moments of quiet loveliness, but it is completely unrestrained, and never shies away from unpleasantness.
which for me, makes for a much more honest book than We Are Called to Rise
come to my blog!
September 1, 2014
Patterson Wells is a tree clearer who has never gotten over the death of his son and writes letters to him and lives a life of self destruction. He meets Junior Bascom, a drug runner traveling down a similar path. Will they be one another's salvation or ticket to the grave?
I got this from Netgalley. It took the publisher almost five months to approve my request and the ARC is full of spaces inside words and weird characters at the beginning of some sentences, making some paragraphs hard to read. It was still worth it.
I loved Ben Whitmer's Pike a couple years ago and was foaming at the mouth for his next novel. Cry Father did not disappoint.
Cry Father is a tale of fathers and sons. It's also a tale of brutal violence and drug and alcohol abuse. It reminded me of James Crumley's The Last Good Kiss, only without the mystery element, unless you consider wondering if Patterson and/or Junior are going to OD in it.
There are two threads in this book that periodically intersect. Patterson works as much as he can and drinks and drugs away the time he has left, trying to forget his dead son, all the while trying to avoid his ex-wife, who wants Patterson to take part in a malpractice lawsuit against the doctor who treated her son. Junior runs drugs all over the southwest and has some a young daughter living with his girlfriend. He also hates his father with a cold passion and blames him for all the problems of the world.
There's more drunken misadventures in this book than there is action but the action is brutal when it happens. If I learned one thing from this book, it's don't turn your back on a tweaker. Patterson went through so much alcohol and cocaine in this book that I felt a little nauseous and hungover while reading it. As Patterson's substance abuse gets worse and he hangs out with Junior more, things gradually come completely unglued.
Whitmer's writing is masterful. The letters Patterson writes to his dead son are touching and make the harsh, unblinking depictions of violence and drug abuse that much more powerful. The quality of the writing, coupled with the trainwreck appeal of Patterson and Junior had me reading long into the night to finish it.
That's about all I want to say. Unless you only read shitty books, Cry Father should not be missed. Five out of five stars.
Kids, don't do drugs!
I got this from Netgalley. It took the publisher almost five months to approve my request and the ARC is full of spaces inside words and weird characters at the beginning of some sentences, making some paragraphs hard to read. It was still worth it.
I loved Ben Whitmer's Pike a couple years ago and was foaming at the mouth for his next novel. Cry Father did not disappoint.
Cry Father is a tale of fathers and sons. It's also a tale of brutal violence and drug and alcohol abuse. It reminded me of James Crumley's The Last Good Kiss, only without the mystery element, unless you consider wondering if Patterson and/or Junior are going to OD in it.
There are two threads in this book that periodically intersect. Patterson works as much as he can and drinks and drugs away the time he has left, trying to forget his dead son, all the while trying to avoid his ex-wife, who wants Patterson to take part in a malpractice lawsuit against the doctor who treated her son. Junior runs drugs all over the southwest and has some a young daughter living with his girlfriend. He also hates his father with a cold passion and blames him for all the problems of the world.
There's more drunken misadventures in this book than there is action but the action is brutal when it happens. If I learned one thing from this book, it's don't turn your back on a tweaker. Patterson went through so much alcohol and cocaine in this book that I felt a little nauseous and hungover while reading it. As Patterson's substance abuse gets worse and he hangs out with Junior more, things gradually come completely unglued.
Whitmer's writing is masterful. The letters Patterson writes to his dead son are touching and make the harsh, unblinking depictions of violence and drug abuse that much more powerful. The quality of the writing, coupled with the trainwreck appeal of Patterson and Junior had me reading long into the night to finish it.
That's about all I want to say. Unless you only read shitty books, Cry Father should not be missed. Five out of five stars.
Kids, don't do drugs!
September 22, 2014
I won a copy of this from a Goodreads giveaway.
I really want Benjamin Whitmer to become a wildly popular writer, but not because he deserves to be recognized for his talent, which he does. Instead I’ve got more selfish reasons. I met Mr. Whitmer a few years back at Bouchercon in St. Louis and bought a copy of his book Pike that he was nice enough to sign for me. Pike was a very good novel that far too few people have read. If Mr. Whitmer turns into The Next Big Thing, then I’d have a signed first edition copy of something that I can sell on E-Bay.
So if you people would think of somebody besides yourselves for once, you could help me out (And I guess it’d be good for Benjamin Whitmer, too.) and go get yourself a copy of Cry Father. In addition to doing a good deed, you’d be getting a damn good book in the process. It’s win-win for all us!
Need another reason to read it? How about this terrific opening line:
Patterson Wells walks through the front door to find Chase working on a heap of crystal meth the size of his shrunken head.
Still not convinced? OK, maybe telling you a little about the book will win you over. Patterson Wells working life involves trying to clean up disaster zones by clearing trees after devastating storms. His personal life is a disaster zone that he most certainly does not want to clean up that is based around his grief at the loss of his young son. When not working Patterson retreats to a cabin on a remote mesa of the San Luis Valley in Colorado where he can drink and write letters to his dead child.
One of Patterson’s few friends out on the mesa is Henry who is sometimes visited by his son Junior who prefers to give Henry regular ass kickings rather than Father’s Day cards. Junior runs drugs for some people in Denver, and his idea of a good time is starting a bar fight. Patterson takes it on himself to try to stop Junior from beating on Henry, but the two men end up in an unlikely quasi-friendship based around their mutual love of self-destruction, liquor and cocaine.
Whitmer does a superior job of putting the reader inside the heads of Patterson and Junior so that both men are understandable and relatable. Patterson is the father who feels like he failed his child and Junior is a son who feels like his father failed him. However, their behavior may be less about than the things they’ve suffered and more about the way they’re wired. Both men have opportunities to change their lives for the better but prefer to hold onto grief and grudges even as they acknowledge the futility of them.
Another aspect that makes this book work is the atmosphere of it. From lonely hermit cabins to polluted housing developments to dive bars with blood on their floors, Whitmer paints a backdrop of blue collar settings that are filled with tweakers, bikers, strippers and other assorted upstanding citizens.
Because the story involves drug dealers and a bit of gun play, the easy classification would be to call it a crime story, but like writers such as Daniel Woodrell and Donald Ray Pollock, Whitmer is proving himself to be someone who can have several deep layers in his depictions of the places and and characters of rural America.
Also posted at Kemper's Book Blog.
I really want Benjamin Whitmer to become a wildly popular writer, but not because he deserves to be recognized for his talent, which he does. Instead I’ve got more selfish reasons. I met Mr. Whitmer a few years back at Bouchercon in St. Louis and bought a copy of his book Pike that he was nice enough to sign for me. Pike was a very good novel that far too few people have read. If Mr. Whitmer turns into The Next Big Thing, then I’d have a signed first edition copy of something that I can sell on E-Bay.
So if you people would think of somebody besides yourselves for once, you could help me out (And I guess it’d be good for Benjamin Whitmer, too.) and go get yourself a copy of Cry Father. In addition to doing a good deed, you’d be getting a damn good book in the process. It’s win-win for all us!
Need another reason to read it? How about this terrific opening line:
Patterson Wells walks through the front door to find Chase working on a heap of crystal meth the size of his shrunken head.
Still not convinced? OK, maybe telling you a little about the book will win you over. Patterson Wells working life involves trying to clean up disaster zones by clearing trees after devastating storms. His personal life is a disaster zone that he most certainly does not want to clean up that is based around his grief at the loss of his young son. When not working Patterson retreats to a cabin on a remote mesa of the San Luis Valley in Colorado where he can drink and write letters to his dead child.
One of Patterson’s few friends out on the mesa is Henry who is sometimes visited by his son Junior who prefers to give Henry regular ass kickings rather than Father’s Day cards. Junior runs drugs for some people in Denver, and his idea of a good time is starting a bar fight. Patterson takes it on himself to try to stop Junior from beating on Henry, but the two men end up in an unlikely quasi-friendship based around their mutual love of self-destruction, liquor and cocaine.
Whitmer does a superior job of putting the reader inside the heads of Patterson and Junior so that both men are understandable and relatable. Patterson is the father who feels like he failed his child and Junior is a son who feels like his father failed him. However, their behavior may be less about than the things they’ve suffered and more about the way they’re wired. Both men have opportunities to change their lives for the better but prefer to hold onto grief and grudges even as they acknowledge the futility of them.
Another aspect that makes this book work is the atmosphere of it. From lonely hermit cabins to polluted housing developments to dive bars with blood on their floors, Whitmer paints a backdrop of blue collar settings that are filled with tweakers, bikers, strippers and other assorted upstanding citizens.
Because the story involves drug dealers and a bit of gun play, the easy classification would be to call it a crime story, but like writers such as Daniel Woodrell and Donald Ray Pollock, Whitmer is proving himself to be someone who can have several deep layers in his depictions of the places and and characters of rural America.
Also posted at Kemper's Book Blog.
April 28, 2017
I really enjoyed Benjamin Whitmer's Pike, and I like his new book even better. It's a tough, gritty examination of the relationship between fathers and sons: violent, profane, and beautifully written.
The characters are all compelling, principal among them Patterson Wells. Wells leads a tough existence by any standard, working as a member of a crew that goes in and cleans out fallen trees in the wake of hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters. It's a brutal job, consisting of long hours in the company of other rough men, hard on the body and even harder on the soul.
As if life hadn't handed him a plate that was full enough to begin with, Wells is devastated by the death of his young son. He blames himself for not spending enough time with the boy and writes him long letters as a way of coping with the loss and attempting to make up for the time they should have spent together while they could. Wells is estranged from his wife who insists that they have to try to move on in the wake of the tragedy. Wells is simply incapable of doing so.
In the off season, Wells retreats to a small cabin out in a remote area of Colorado. There he drinks heavily and broods on what his life has become. While there, he develops a relationship with a guy named Junior, the son of Wells' nearest neighbor. Junior and his father have issues of their own, and Junior supports himself by running drugs. Wells and Junior are a potent combination and as they team up, all hell breaks loose.
To say any more would be to reveal too much. Suffice it to say that this is an excellent book that should appeal to large number of readers who like their stories on the (very) dark side. Benjamin Whitmer is definitely an author to watch for.
The characters are all compelling, principal among them Patterson Wells. Wells leads a tough existence by any standard, working as a member of a crew that goes in and cleans out fallen trees in the wake of hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters. It's a brutal job, consisting of long hours in the company of other rough men, hard on the body and even harder on the soul.
As if life hadn't handed him a plate that was full enough to begin with, Wells is devastated by the death of his young son. He blames himself for not spending enough time with the boy and writes him long letters as a way of coping with the loss and attempting to make up for the time they should have spent together while they could. Wells is estranged from his wife who insists that they have to try to move on in the wake of the tragedy. Wells is simply incapable of doing so.
In the off season, Wells retreats to a small cabin out in a remote area of Colorado. There he drinks heavily and broods on what his life has become. While there, he develops a relationship with a guy named Junior, the son of Wells' nearest neighbor. Junior and his father have issues of their own, and Junior supports himself by running drugs. Wells and Junior are a potent combination and as they team up, all hell breaks loose.
To say any more would be to reveal too much. Suffice it to say that this is an excellent book that should appeal to large number of readers who like their stories on the (very) dark side. Benjamin Whitmer is definitely an author to watch for.
September 11, 2014
This type of book is quickly becoming one of my favorite "genres" to read. Dark, gritty fiction that will either make you think twice about your fellow man or stick your head in that oven. I have an electric oven so that rules that out for me. So I'm just gonna keep on reading em.
This book starts with Patterson going over to a friend's house to go fishing. When he goes to the bathroom he realizes that his good buddy Chase has his wife "hog-tied" in the bathroom. Well, she did piss him off. Patterson steps up and unties and frees said wife...and our story begins.
This book touches on fathers and sons. You have Henry-off the grid type fellow who is estranged from his son Junior. Junior is a tweaker of the degree to which I have no clue how this fucker even speaks or manages to get out of bed. He does that much cocaine and drinking.
Then you have Patterson. He lost his son to death at a early age and releases some of that grief by writing letters to his son.
Once Patterson meets up with Junior I liked him less than I thought I would. Something about that poor guy though kept me turning the pages. My copy of this book was majorly jacked up. Spaces between words and weird symbols for the "th" words. I kept reading it though because it was just that good.
Sometimes I think Henry and Brother Joe have it exactly backward. The question isn't how to live off the grid, it's how to remain tied to it. Most of what you think is your life can be ruptured in an instant. If you don't believe me, ask any prison inmate. Maybe the real question isn't how to make the world forget you, maybe it's how to make it recognize you. Even your parenthood, your right to your own children, can be stripped from you at the whim of a bureaucrat.
Drugs don't pay.
I received an ARC copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book starts with Patterson going over to a friend's house to go fishing. When he goes to the bathroom he realizes that his good buddy Chase has his wife "hog-tied" in the bathroom. Well, she did piss him off. Patterson steps up and unties and frees said wife...and our story begins.
This book touches on fathers and sons. You have Henry-off the grid type fellow who is estranged from his son Junior. Junior is a tweaker of the degree to which I have no clue how this fucker even speaks or manages to get out of bed. He does that much cocaine and drinking.
Then you have Patterson. He lost his son to death at a early age and releases some of that grief by writing letters to his son.
Once Patterson meets up with Junior I liked him less than I thought I would. Something about that poor guy though kept me turning the pages. My copy of this book was majorly jacked up. Spaces between words and weird symbols for the "th" words. I kept reading it though because it was just that good.
Sometimes I think Henry and Brother Joe have it exactly backward. The question isn't how to live off the grid, it's how to remain tied to it. Most of what you think is your life can be ruptured in an instant. If you don't believe me, ask any prison inmate. Maybe the real question isn't how to make the world forget you, maybe it's how to make it recognize you. Even your parenthood, your right to your own children, can be stripped from you at the whim of a bureaucrat.
Drugs don't pay.
I received an ARC copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
April 2, 2016
Compared to other books that are placed in the "crime" section, not much action really happens in Cry Father. But it's miles away from being uneventful or boring. Thanks to Whitmer's uncanny sense of characterization and his vivid and forceful prose, this book is a standout and is more engaging than many of the popular crime novels these days. It probably shouldn't even be considered "crime." It's a portrait of two damaged men: Patterson Wells, a tree clearer in disaster zones that are just as torn apart as he is, who tries to cope with the loss of his young son by writing letters to him, and Junior, the younger son of Patterson's neighbor, a destructive drug dealer that blames his father for all that's wrong in the world.
The thing about grieving is how much you need to just sit still and stare, how little you need to try to figure things out. That's what's always made him like pills. It makes it easier to sit still and stare at things without trying to make sense of them.Just like with his first novel, Pike , Whitmer's writing is exciting to read. He really knows how to set a scene and illustrate a character in efficient, unique ways so that the reader has no question where we are in the story or who we're reading about. Check out this little excerpt:
A fat man sits at the bar next to a blond, cherub-faced lady with cheeks as pink as a drugstore rose, and off in one corner a tall cowboy sleeps at one of the low bar tables underneath a whorehouse nude. It's windowless, everywhere trimmed in red vinyl, the kind of place where old jackpot rodeo riders drink away the ones they couldn't ride and the ones that walked away.The book addresses themes of loss, bearing the pain, and the duties of fatherhood. It's about the mistakes we make and owning up to them. If you want some harsh words, hard violence and drug use, you can find some of that in this book, but that's not really the focus. The focus is on how these things are used as crutches and as consolation for our characters, and what happens when you strip all of that away and they have to focus on their problems head on. Great book.
That's what he thought back then, that children were some kind of little machines that ran on the guilt adults pumped into them. Now he knows better. Now he knows it's exactly the other way around.
January 22, 2022
This is what gorgeous writing brings you to.
Gallantry and a deep loss from being a bad father to your child… or children.
Which is why I never wanted any kids. Oh, early on I did. I wanted a girl child. Build up a fort around her to protect her from potential suitors.
I was too wild. Too prone to badness to raise a child. And then it turned out my first wife couldn’t have children.
Twenty years later I was just too old.
This book is about bad daddies. Guys prone to sudden outbursts of senseless violence and afterwards an intense brooding.
This is a page-turner of a novel. Violent, comical, tragic. It’s about being an itinerant tree trimmer, disaster zone laborer, a broken-down crippled rodeo cowboy, and a driver for a drug cartel… a hyped up mule going for broke.
Lots of gun play. Lots of bar fights. Page upon page of mourning.
5+ stars.
Gallantry and a deep loss from being a bad father to your child… or children.
Which is why I never wanted any kids. Oh, early on I did. I wanted a girl child. Build up a fort around her to protect her from potential suitors.
I was too wild. Too prone to badness to raise a child. And then it turned out my first wife couldn’t have children.
Twenty years later I was just too old.
This book is about bad daddies. Guys prone to sudden outbursts of senseless violence and afterwards an intense brooding.
This is a page-turner of a novel. Violent, comical, tragic. It’s about being an itinerant tree trimmer, disaster zone laborer, a broken-down crippled rodeo cowboy, and a driver for a drug cartel… a hyped up mule going for broke.
Lots of gun play. Lots of bar fights. Page upon page of mourning.
5+ stars.
April 15, 2024
Equal parts misty-eyed sentimentality and swivel-eyed savagery. I would have preferred much less of the former. As Junior, the best character, says: "Whyn't you pretend you already done told me all about it and I'll pretend I’m real sympathetic."
The violent parts make me want to read more Whitmer, but although he writes in English, his other novels are only published in French. I speculate that his pre-2016 perspective on flyover country triggered the culture warriors at the NY publishing houses.
The violent parts make me want to read more Whitmer, but although he writes in English, his other novels are only published in French. I speculate that his pre-2016 perspective on flyover country triggered the culture warriors at the NY publishing houses.
May 14, 2015
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
“It’s been a hell of a summer for your drinking.”
“It’s been a hell of a summer,” he says, without looking at Patterson.
Patterson Wells is a tree trimmer in disaster zones and is returning home from a job when he stops off to see his friend Chase. He finds Chase “working on a heap of crystal meth the size of his shrunken head.” He also finds a woman hogtied in the bathtub. He sets her free and leaves Chase to work on his heap of meth but this single incident sets in motion a string of violent events that will leave a horrible and indelible mark on his life.
‘I still feel like I’m telling you stories, like it’s the only thing between you being here and not being here. That’s something I have to hold on to, you being here. If I don’t tell you these stories, I got nothing. if I stop, you’re gone.’
Wells has become a man without a purpose, ambling through life, after the death of his son. In order to ease the pain of his absence he writes in a journal, pretending that he’s telling these stories to his son. These stories succeed in also providing Patterson’s back story and the sequence of events that brought him to this point in his life. When the writing doesn’t quite work to put him at ease he reaches for the bottle which happens more often than not. Not being comfortable with his solidarity, he becomes friends with a drug runner by the name of Junior that gets him far more trouble than he could have ever guessed. What proceeds is extreme gratuitous violence all conducted through the haze of massive amounts of drugs and alcohol.
‘The thought that he’ll probably end up facing a murder charge if he is pulled over does occur to him, but there’s no stopping it. Turns out there’s no better medicine for heartache than surviving a murder attempt and stealing a car.’
If you’re able to see past the violence (serious, there’s a shit ton of it, including animal violence for those that like to be warned) and not let it blur your vision, you’ll find there’s a captivating and well-written story of a man without anything to live for buried beneath it all. This is one for all southern gothic/country noir fans; fans of Donald Ray Pollock, Cormac McCarthy and Daniel Woodrell.
I received this book free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
“It’s been a hell of a summer for your drinking.”
“It’s been a hell of a summer,” he says, without looking at Patterson.
Patterson Wells is a tree trimmer in disaster zones and is returning home from a job when he stops off to see his friend Chase. He finds Chase “working on a heap of crystal meth the size of his shrunken head.” He also finds a woman hogtied in the bathtub. He sets her free and leaves Chase to work on his heap of meth but this single incident sets in motion a string of violent events that will leave a horrible and indelible mark on his life.
‘I still feel like I’m telling you stories, like it’s the only thing between you being here and not being here. That’s something I have to hold on to, you being here. If I don’t tell you these stories, I got nothing. if I stop, you’re gone.’
Wells has become a man without a purpose, ambling through life, after the death of his son. In order to ease the pain of his absence he writes in a journal, pretending that he’s telling these stories to his son. These stories succeed in also providing Patterson’s back story and the sequence of events that brought him to this point in his life. When the writing doesn’t quite work to put him at ease he reaches for the bottle which happens more often than not. Not being comfortable with his solidarity, he becomes friends with a drug runner by the name of Junior that gets him far more trouble than he could have ever guessed. What proceeds is extreme gratuitous violence all conducted through the haze of massive amounts of drugs and alcohol.
‘The thought that he’ll probably end up facing a murder charge if he is pulled over does occur to him, but there’s no stopping it. Turns out there’s no better medicine for heartache than surviving a murder attempt and stealing a car.’
If you’re able to see past the violence (serious, there’s a shit ton of it, including animal violence for those that like to be warned) and not let it blur your vision, you’ll find there’s a captivating and well-written story of a man without anything to live for buried beneath it all. This is one for all southern gothic/country noir fans; fans of Donald Ray Pollock, Cormac McCarthy and Daniel Woodrell.
I received this book free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
December 30, 2015
You want great storytelling with a bit of gun play, twisted family histories, and a sense of hope? Then read CRY FATHER. To say anything about the plot would only spoil the experience of reading this incredible novel.
HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION
HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION
June 12, 2017
Benjamin Whitmer may just be the reigning potentate of grit-lit. The viceroy of hillbilly noir.
This is a finely-crafted, blood-soaked, swear-filled, action-packed, horrendous fucking decision of a novel. Meth and beer and bullet wounds, stolen cars and broken teeth, and an old dog named Sancho.
And beneath the whip-smart writing is an investigation on the way fathers affect their sons, and sons affect their fathers.
This is a finely-crafted, blood-soaked, swear-filled, action-packed, horrendous fucking decision of a novel. Meth and beer and bullet wounds, stolen cars and broken teeth, and an old dog named Sancho.
And beneath the whip-smart writing is an investigation on the way fathers affect their sons, and sons affect their fathers.
July 15, 2014
Stark. Powerful. Thoroughly masculine. These are the words I would use to describe CRY FATHER to a fellow reader. It's not a novel you can easily summarize, though. It's syncopated, broken and its mastery of language goes beyond the act of definition. That Benjamin Whitmer guy is GOOD. So GOOD I spent half of the time I was reading CRY FATHER being ridiculously inspired and half of the time intimidated by Whitmer's preternatural talent at drawing the subtlest shades of the human condition.
This might make me sound like The Amazing Sexist, but I'm not sure you can 'get' CRY FATHER as well if you're a woman. Some of the themes and issues discussed in this novel are so 'male', per se, I'd understand if female readers would feel frustrated and locked out. I didn't thought. I was shaken and moved and thrown off my game by the pain of protagonist Patterson Wells. I'd go as far as calling CRY FATHER a triumph. The best thing you can do is drop whatever you're doing and start reading it right now.
This might make me sound like The Amazing Sexist, but I'm not sure you can 'get' CRY FATHER as well if you're a woman. Some of the themes and issues discussed in this novel are so 'male', per se, I'd understand if female readers would feel frustrated and locked out. I didn't thought. I was shaken and moved and thrown off my game by the pain of protagonist Patterson Wells. I'd go as far as calling CRY FATHER a triumph. The best thing you can do is drop whatever you're doing and start reading it right now.
July 12, 2014
“Cry Father” by Benjamin Whitmer, published by Gallery Books.
Category – Fiction/Literature Publication Date – September 16, 2014
Patterson Wells has never gotten over the death of his son. He tries to relieve the pain by writing him letters. He has forsaken his wife and his former life. He now is an itinerant worker doing a dangerous job of clearing trees. However, his real danger is in the life and leads and the people he keeps in contact with. His world has become one of violence, drugs, and alcohol.
Wells, as if his life isn’t difficult as it is, befriends, more or less, Junior. Junior is separated from his wife and little girl and is following the same destructive bath as Wells. Junior makes a lot of money but makes it running drugs from the Texas border into Colorado. Junior’s life is even more violent, drug, and alcohol filled than Wells. They make a great pair but are very wary of each other.
Wells blames the Doctor who cared for his son of malpractice and Junior blames his father for the problems he has incurred in life. This all leads to a story filled with (you got it), violence, drugs, and alcohol. The story does contain side stories involving the wives of Wells and Junior, as well as Junior’s father. It also focuses on Wells and Junior as father figures.
“cry father” is not for everyone but it does provide for some interesting reading but one must be willing to handle, again, a boat load of violence, drugs, and alcohol. The reader must also be aware that strong language is used throughout the book. I found myself questioning the end of the book as many questions I had while reading the book remained unanswered.
Category – Fiction/Literature Publication Date – September 16, 2014
Patterson Wells has never gotten over the death of his son. He tries to relieve the pain by writing him letters. He has forsaken his wife and his former life. He now is an itinerant worker doing a dangerous job of clearing trees. However, his real danger is in the life and leads and the people he keeps in contact with. His world has become one of violence, drugs, and alcohol.
Wells, as if his life isn’t difficult as it is, befriends, more or less, Junior. Junior is separated from his wife and little girl and is following the same destructive bath as Wells. Junior makes a lot of money but makes it running drugs from the Texas border into Colorado. Junior’s life is even more violent, drug, and alcohol filled than Wells. They make a great pair but are very wary of each other.
Wells blames the Doctor who cared for his son of malpractice and Junior blames his father for the problems he has incurred in life. This all leads to a story filled with (you got it), violence, drugs, and alcohol. The story does contain side stories involving the wives of Wells and Junior, as well as Junior’s father. It also focuses on Wells and Junior as father figures.
“cry father” is not for everyone but it does provide for some interesting reading but one must be willing to handle, again, a boat load of violence, drugs, and alcohol. The reader must also be aware that strong language is used throughout the book. I found myself questioning the end of the book as many questions I had while reading the book remained unanswered.
May 28, 2015
I stopped halfway through to think this one over, because it's different. Surface-wise, thematically I mean, there's a lot of the same rough and tough modern day transgressive/noir fare: meth, guns, the desert, quiet men - but I've got it, now. A lot of modern novels take a slick behaviorist approach to their "other side of the tracks" characters and lifestyles, sticking to that Skinner/Watson style, smooth and observational. I'm not disrespecting those books at all when I say that Ben takes hold of those archetypal quiet men, grabs the edge of their skin right at the rib cage and yanks up, saying "And look at all this under *here,*" rubbing the shine off subcultures, showing everyone as just humans being humans no matter what they're playing at. It's honest writing. I don't know what I thought I was getting into, some of the reviews made me think "his past was dark - and mysterious!" but it wasn't. Chop shops, drug runners, cartel, cigarettes, prostitutes, fist fights, yes all this, but more important and interesting are the fact that these "seedy" characters are fully realized *people* and their demons - fully explored and exposed. Whitmer lets himself be vulnerable and follows paths that as a parent and a human made me uncomfortable and shaky and kiss my son on the forehead. I don't do those summary-type reviews or use a lot of excerpts so you can look on the book page or whatever. This was great, I read it in two days. Nuff said.
- Amanda
- Amanda
May 30, 2016
Easily one of the best books I've read this year. Stunningly real like a PTSD nightmare. Whitmer gets so inside these characters, realizes them so fully, I had scary flashbacks to dangerous dudes I knew who must have been much worse than I ever imagined because they carried this kind of darkness along with their guns. Brutal physical violence, sure. Better get prepared also for an emotional bludgeoning. In this novel's world, redemption means keeping your pain in a chokehold, but making sure that it never stops breathing, because when it dies, you die. Just relentlessly powerful writing page after page.
January 14, 2015
Reading Whitmer is both a treat and an exercise in masochism. He leads readers through broken landscapes littered by broken people who are somehow rendered sympathetic (or at least you trust them long enough to turn your back, which might be your undoing) with beautiful and understated prose that is evocative as it is devastating. All of which makes me want to quit writing altogether because I'll never do it as well as he does.
Cry Father is more subtle than his debut, Pike. It's not quite as physically violent, but much more emotionally violent, which I think is the harder of the two to withstand. I refuse to use the word "meditation on fatherhood" because it lends an air of pomposity to the book that it definitely doesn't have, but I have a hard time thinking of a better description. Maybe a better way to say it is that Cry Father is one of the toughest crime novels to write and read because it traffics in crimes of the heart, of the soul, of the psyche. They're crimes that are new impossible to recover from because they're inflicted upon the ones you love, and upon you by the ones you love.
Cry Father is more subtle than his debut, Pike. It's not quite as physically violent, but much more emotionally violent, which I think is the harder of the two to withstand. I refuse to use the word "meditation on fatherhood" because it lends an air of pomposity to the book that it definitely doesn't have, but I have a hard time thinking of a better description. Maybe a better way to say it is that Cry Father is one of the toughest crime novels to write and read because it traffics in crimes of the heart, of the soul, of the psyche. They're crimes that are new impossible to recover from because they're inflicted upon the ones you love, and upon you by the ones you love.
February 3, 2018
Well, here it is. My first official Goodreads review.
I'm not sure what I am missing that everyone else on here is saying is great about this book, but I thought it was a below average read.
I went searching for a true grit lit book and was stoked when I read the first chapter of this book, but after a few more, I quickly became bored of it.
The characters were hardly people you could get excited about or cared about. After every chapter I was left thinking "so what?" I literally could not have cared any less what happened to the main characters.
When the "exciting" events did happen, they seem to come quickly, without much development, and without building up much suspense. Again, when the exciting stuff did happen, i did not really care.
Also, I thought the letters to his son took away from the story rather than adding character depth. I dreaded seeing a letter to his son coming up.
I thought some of the events could be thrilling, but the way in which we were taken to those events dragged on, and was dull, and boring.
I'm not sure what I am missing that everyone else on here is saying is great about this book, but I thought it was a below average read.
I went searching for a true grit lit book and was stoked when I read the first chapter of this book, but after a few more, I quickly became bored of it.
The characters were hardly people you could get excited about or cared about. After every chapter I was left thinking "so what?" I literally could not have cared any less what happened to the main characters.
When the "exciting" events did happen, they seem to come quickly, without much development, and without building up much suspense. Again, when the exciting stuff did happen, i did not really care.
Also, I thought the letters to his son took away from the story rather than adding character depth. I dreaded seeing a letter to his son coming up.
I thought some of the events could be thrilling, but the way in which we were taken to those events dragged on, and was dull, and boring.
October 12, 2014
I received a free copy of this book from goodreads courtesy of Gallery books. This was one hell of a ride. I read this book in 3 seperate settings , but one could easily read this action packed book in 1 setting. Great characters that keep you turning the pages to see what messed up situation will occur next. Patterson, Junior, Henry, Justin and Brother Joe's radio broadcasts. I will definitely be reading Benjamin Whitmer's debut novel Pike and will also look forward to his next piece of work. Loved the '69 Dodge Charger for Junior's preferred ride to go along with the Colorado/New Mexico landscapes.
January 2, 2016
This Whitmer guy is on his way to become one of my favorite authors.
“I think it’s about loss. That when you lose someone or something important there’s a hole that gets left where it used to live inside of you...because it’s only a hole, so they make up stories just as awful and terrifying as it is. They throw all these things down into it, hoping to fill it up.”
“We’re all everything we’ve lost... Nothing ends, nothing heals.”
January 15, 2015
Hard book to review. Strong writing and just to repeat myself solid characters but a little slow I think if my mind was in a different space while I read it I would have rated it higher, will have to reread sometime to see if my view of the novel changes but not in immediate future:)
December 22, 2015
Very impressively written with a spare but powerful style this was a dark, grittily realistic, and violent (though not gratuitously) look at life, choices, and loss.
May 7, 2020
A cast of characters without a trace of moral fiber. I loved it!
October 11, 2014
This novel is a major accomplishment and I hope that it gets the attention and respect it deserves. It's rare one can find this kind of texture blended into fast-moving crime story. If it even is a crime story, I think it's much more. It's been compared to Cormac McCarthy and I can see why. The prose is often straightforward, deceptively simple, and at other times infused with language so delicate and well-chosen it leaves you shook with it's poetic beauty. It's the mark of true talent when you're turning the pages as fast as you can--because the plot has gripped you--but are then stopped dead by a passage you must reread for the sheer beauty of its prose.
The story itself pulls at your heartstrings like one long, sad country song. The good kind, the ones that invigorate you with melancholy and heighten your senses with empathy. The recurring themes of fatherhood, loss, regret, and unhealable wounds leaves an emotional impact that is wholly original and unique. Highly recommended. In fact, I insist you read it.
The story itself pulls at your heartstrings like one long, sad country song. The good kind, the ones that invigorate you with melancholy and heighten your senses with empathy. The recurring themes of fatherhood, loss, regret, and unhealable wounds leaves an emotional impact that is wholly original and unique. Highly recommended. In fact, I insist you read it.
November 26, 2014
This book is everything that is right about modern crime and noir. A deeply involved, heartfelt plot that doesn't come at the expense of character. The people being written about in Cry Father are every bit as rich and layered as you'll find in literary fiction. With one helluva story driving the narrative. Simply put, Benjamin Whitamer is one of the genre's best, and this novel shines as a brilliant example of why. The best book about damaged fathers and their damaged sons since Russell Banks' Affliction.
October 21, 2014
Great and big and bloody.
February 5, 2024
Bon sang mais quelle histoire.. Un roman noir d'une immense qualité, criant de vérités aussi difficiles à accepter soient elles. Ce roman parle de deuil, d'un père totalement perdu, qui va se perdre dans la noirceur, tomber sur des personnes qui le feront encore plus tomber et qui en oublie les personnes qui l'attendent, qui gardent espoir qu'il sorte la tête de l'eau.. C'était incroyable..
On découvre alors le personnage de Patterson, n’étant plus que le fantôme de lui-même après la perte de son fils dont on se doute très rapidement. On le voit alors errer dans les rues, se faire endoctriner par certains propos de certains groupes tels que les théories du complot qui le font garder la tête hors de l’eau mais en ayant des idées complètement farfelues voire même grotesques. Ses proches l’attendent, gardent espoir qu’il revienne à lui, que sa femme retrouve le mari qu’elle a épousé, cet homme qui l’a toujours soutenu et qui devrait rester à ses côtés car elle aussi souffre.
Malheureusement, Patterson va croiser le chemin d’autres personnes qui ne vont pas l’aider, mais le faire encore plus sombrer avec comme prétexte de dépasser son deuil par la vengeance. Cela va lui plaire, il va tomber dedans sans vraiment le savoir, tomber dans l’alcool, la drogue, la violence, sans plus aucun état d’âme.
L’une des principales personne qui va le faire tomber de la sorte, c’est Junior. Ce personnage tout aussi perdu, rongé par un lourd passé qui le fait rester à l’écart de sa famille tant il ne se sent pas méritant, alors que ses proches l’attendent et ne veulent que sa présence. Dans sa souffrance et ses traumas, il fait sombrer les autres avec lui, rectifie tout uniquement par la violence, l’abus et la désillusion.
On va alors observer ces deux personnages avancer, sombrer, trébucher, faire des actes atroces sans aucun état d’âme, sans réfléchir, simplement pour évacuer toute leur haine et leur désarroi.
Puis il y a tous les personnages secondaires qui croisent leurs chemins. Certains n’auraient jamais du se frotter à eux, et puis il y a ceux qui les attendent toujours, qui attendent qu’ils reviennent à eux, qu’ils se sentent, qu’ils surmontent toute la noirceur qui peut les envahir.
C’est un roman qui parle du deuil de façon phénoménale d’une immense justesse, tellement réaliste et tellement sombre, tellement noire à la fois. On parle d’un deuil qui anéantit, qui détruit un être, et qui est attendu par ses proches, advienne que pourra, peu importe le temps que cela prendra
On découvre alors le personnage de Patterson, n’étant plus que le fantôme de lui-même après la perte de son fils dont on se doute très rapidement. On le voit alors errer dans les rues, se faire endoctriner par certains propos de certains groupes tels que les théories du complot qui le font garder la tête hors de l’eau mais en ayant des idées complètement farfelues voire même grotesques. Ses proches l’attendent, gardent espoir qu’il revienne à lui, que sa femme retrouve le mari qu’elle a épousé, cet homme qui l’a toujours soutenu et qui devrait rester à ses côtés car elle aussi souffre.
Malheureusement, Patterson va croiser le chemin d’autres personnes qui ne vont pas l’aider, mais le faire encore plus sombrer avec comme prétexte de dépasser son deuil par la vengeance. Cela va lui plaire, il va tomber dedans sans vraiment le savoir, tomber dans l’alcool, la drogue, la violence, sans plus aucun état d’âme.
L’une des principales personne qui va le faire tomber de la sorte, c’est Junior. Ce personnage tout aussi perdu, rongé par un lourd passé qui le fait rester à l’écart de sa famille tant il ne se sent pas méritant, alors que ses proches l’attendent et ne veulent que sa présence. Dans sa souffrance et ses traumas, il fait sombrer les autres avec lui, rectifie tout uniquement par la violence, l’abus et la désillusion.
On va alors observer ces deux personnages avancer, sombrer, trébucher, faire des actes atroces sans aucun état d’âme, sans réfléchir, simplement pour évacuer toute leur haine et leur désarroi.
Puis il y a tous les personnages secondaires qui croisent leurs chemins. Certains n’auraient jamais du se frotter à eux, et puis il y a ceux qui les attendent toujours, qui attendent qu’ils reviennent à eux, qu’ils se sentent, qu’ils surmontent toute la noirceur qui peut les envahir.
C’est un roman qui parle du deuil de façon phénoménale d’une immense justesse, tellement réaliste et tellement sombre, tellement noire à la fois. On parle d’un deuil qui anéantit, qui détruit un être, et qui est attendu par ses proches, advienne que pourra, peu importe le temps que cela prendra
May 7, 2020
Patterson a perdu son fils Justin il y a des années mais son souvenir est toujours présent, voir brûlant. Alors pour faire son deuil, ce père passe son temps à écrire à son fils dans des carnets. Des carnets qu'il noircit au gré de ses pensées, bonnes comme mauvaises. Et ces dernières sont beaucoup plus nombreuses. Patterson travaille sur des territoires où il y a eu des catastrophes naturelles (ouragan, tempête) pour enlever les décombres, faire place nette. Quand il ne travaille pas, il s'assoit avec son chien Sancho sur sa terrasse et observe le soleil se coucher sur les montagnes, en face de son terrain à la mesa. Sa petite vie pourrait se dérouler tranquillement, jusqu'au jour où des personnages vont rentrer dans sa vie et le faire se retourner sur son propre passé, quitte à faire face à ses propres démons, dont l'alcool est le roi indétrôné.
Un peu d'espoir, beaucoup d'obscurité, mais surtout de l'amour entre tous ses personnages rythment les pages de Cry Father. On sent une forte sensibilité chez Patterson Wells qui nous pousse à nous arrêter à chaque page pour prendre conscience que derrière cet homme aux épaules voûtées, il y a une envie de rédemption profonde. Une envie de revoir son fils et de faire punir le coupable de sa mort. Junior, Laney, Jenny, Henry sont les personnes qui gravitent autour de Patterson et qui l'empêche de sombrer. Un livre qui se veut très sombre, où la vulgarité s'imprime sur presque toutes les pages, révélant une Amérique profondément touchée par des épisodes noirs (Siège de Waco, le 11 septembre). Une Amérique qui s'invente des complots, qui s'équipe d'un attirail d'armes pour se défendre contre des menaces extérieures, qui se s'enfonce dans la drogue pour ne pas avoir à relever la tête et affronter ses problèmes. Une plume féroce, poétique par moments et qui fait la part belle à toutes les étapes du deuil dans lesquelles un père doit passer pour dire au revoir à son fils.
Cruel mais sublime à bien des égards !
Un peu d'espoir, beaucoup d'obscurité, mais surtout de l'amour entre tous ses personnages rythment les pages de Cry Father. On sent une forte sensibilité chez Patterson Wells qui nous pousse à nous arrêter à chaque page pour prendre conscience que derrière cet homme aux épaules voûtées, il y a une envie de rédemption profonde. Une envie de revoir son fils et de faire punir le coupable de sa mort. Junior, Laney, Jenny, Henry sont les personnes qui gravitent autour de Patterson et qui l'empêche de sombrer. Un livre qui se veut très sombre, où la vulgarité s'imprime sur presque toutes les pages, révélant une Amérique profondément touchée par des épisodes noirs (Siège de Waco, le 11 septembre). Une Amérique qui s'invente des complots, qui s'équipe d'un attirail d'armes pour se défendre contre des menaces extérieures, qui se s'enfonce dans la drogue pour ne pas avoir à relever la tête et affronter ses problèmes. Une plume féroce, poétique par moments et qui fait la part belle à toutes les étapes du deuil dans lesquelles un père doit passer pour dire au revoir à son fils.
Cruel mais sublime à bien des égards !
April 11, 2022
Cry Father is a story of fathers and sons. It's also a story of brutal and unflinching violence fueled by substance abuse. This book sits more towards the extreme end of grit-lit, it's full of bloodshed, bleak situations, death and casual racism. While this makes it a book that won't be for everyone, it's certainly a worthwhile read if you like reading about messed up people doing messed up things.
Whitmer's writing is stunning here. There are these moments of quietness, of actual loveliness, where our main character writes letters to his dead son. These parts break up the unapologetic violence, making those scenes even more powerful. There's a certain... Something about a book like this. It's a special experience, it's a painful, gut-wrenching feeling that makes your heart sink every time you pick it up.
"We're all everything we've lost. Just as my fuckups as a father came, in part, from losses before you. Nothing ends, nothing heals."
Whitmer's writing is stunning here. There are these moments of quietness, of actual loveliness, where our main character writes letters to his dead son. These parts break up the unapologetic violence, making those scenes even more powerful. There's a certain... Something about a book like this. It's a special experience, it's a painful, gut-wrenching feeling that makes your heart sink every time you pick it up.
"We're all everything we've lost. Just as my fuckups as a father came, in part, from losses before you. Nothing ends, nothing heals."
December 16, 2017
A few good turns of phrase can't really rescue this turgid, overwrought morass.
March 6, 2018
I don't know how I feel about this book. Well written but I just don't know.
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