Crux

by Gabriel Tallent

In this story of intense friendship and grit, two down-and-out teens escape the hopelessness of their lives and chase a different future through rock-climbing -- from the New York Times bestselling author of My Absolute Darling.

Dan and Tamma are two teenagers in their last year of high school in the southern Mojave Desert. One is a gifted golden child, the other a mouthy burnout. Climbing boulders in trash-strewn parking lots during cold desert nights, they seal their unique bond and dream of a life of adventure.

As the year progresses and adult reality looms, they are rocked by change and pulled apart by irreconcilable obligations. Differences of class, talent, and prospects take on new importance; options dwindle, and their decisions grow ever more consequential and perilous. It feels inevitable, finally, that something must give.

With a magnificent gift for nature writing and a joyful appreciation for the redemptive power of friendship, Gabriel Tallent gives readers a rollicking, adrenaline-filled, and soul-searching novel about risking everything to change your life.

Genres: Literary Fiction, Coming Of Age, Fiction, Adult, Friendship, Young Adult, Adult Fiction

624 pages, Paperback

Expected publication January 20, 2026

Reviews

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whilst the synopsis focuses on the rock climbing aspirations of Tamma and Dan (and the book does have several detailed descriptions of the climbs they do), I found this book also delves deeply into the relationships the teenagers have with each other, their peers and their parents.

Both teens want to climb but Dan is being pushed by parental pressure to take a place at a prestigious university and Tamma's family just see her as a useless hindrance who needs to do more for her family.

I have to say that the parental relationships in this book made me extremely upset. If you want a manual on how to screw your kids up then this would be it. If the book teaches us anything then it is that teenagers, when properly motivated, are capable of far more than they are given credit for.

I confess to skimming over a lot of the climbing jargon. Whilst I am fascinated by the sport I didn't have the particular interest to learn all the details. However the interactions between Dan, Tamma and their families is also brilliantly written. I fell for both the main characters in a big way and was cheering them on right to the end.

Great characters, great plot. Very readable. I would definitely recommend this novel whether you are a climber or not.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Penguin General UK for the advance review copy.

[Celine · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 !

I loved that the friendship in this novel was the whole point. The love that Dan and Tamma have for one another is so palpable - I can recall the people I held that close when I was in high school, how they were the pinnacle of my life, and I think that Tallent captures this kind of magic perfectly.

Where I think I struggled while reading is that, because it's also largely about rock climbing (and the reader is thrown directly into the narrative) it's heavy on blocking (the descriptions OF rock climbing). I was never able to fully get into that element of the story, and it left me feeling incredibly disjointed.

I wanted more emphasis on their home lives. Their dreams - and what those dreams meant for their friendship, in the future. I loved those parts, deeply, and wish more time and attention had been given to fleshing them out.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Crux follows two teens, Tammy and Dan, whose lives are shaped by limited opportunities, difficult home situations, and one shared outlet: rock climbing. Their friendship is the anchor pulling them through a period where every choice feels life-defining.


⭐ What I Liked
• The friendship is the core of the book. It explores what it means to believe in someone when they can’t believe in themselves, and how friendship can both lift you up and hold up a mirror you don’t want to face.
• The themes around fear, ambition, and crossroads hit. The book drives home the idea that life isn’t about “reaching the top,” but about the moment you’re terrified and unsure — the turning point where you choose to fall or push forward.
• Tamma and Dan contrast each other in meaningful ways. One keeps getting back up no matter how many times she fails; the other gets stuck in his own paralysis. It reinforces a central idea: it’s the paralyzing fear that will kill you, not the failure itself.
• The generational layer adds depth. Their parents’ lost dreams echo in the kids’ own fears, creating a cycle both characters are trying to break.


⭐ What Didn’t Work for Me
• The writing style and voice didn’t land for me. The language swings between believable teen dialogue and suddenly very philosophical existential reflections. It felt inconsistent and hard to connect with.
• The climbing focus feels extremely niche. Climbing reads almost like its own character, and the heavy reliance on terminology and culture may shut out readers who aren’t already steeped in that world.
• The tone wasn’t approachable — often frustrating. The delivery undercut some of the emotional beats for me.

⭐ Overall Thoughts & Recommendation

At its core, Crux is about fear, resilience, and the choices that shape us at the edge of adulthood. The themes are strong, the friendship dynamic is compelling, and the emotional undercurrent works — even if the writing style and climbing-heavy execution didn’t personally resonate with me.

📚 I’d recommend for readers who enjoy:
• character-driven literary fiction
• messy, realistic friendships
• stories about ambition, fear, and crossroads
• sports-as-metaphor narratives

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5
I must admit I have some doubts about this novel. If you are a climber yourself, then you’ll probably love Crux. If you have never climbed before, you’ll possibly have no idea what large parts of of the book are about and that may really destroy the enjoyment of it. Even though Tallent describes the climbing in an exciting way (I occasionally climb myself and I could almost feel the rock, visualise the moves, and imagine the pockets, holds, ridges etc.), I especially found the beginning a struggle to get through. Not only because of the technical climbing vocabulary, but also because the character of Tamma needed time to get used to and to evolve. (I don’t believe that anyone uses the word ‘dude’ that often to be honest, but luckily her language got more creative and smarter further on). The whole story needed time to develop really, because in the end, Crux is not only about climbing, it’s also about poverty, family, friendship, depression, growing up & having dreams and working hard.
So yes, I had some trouble early on, but I raced through the rest of this novel and on the whole enjoyed it.
Thank you Riverhead Books and Edelweiss for the ARC.

[Ellen Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. The rock climbing in this book and the geographical setting was so interesting as I read. The energy from the intensity of the friendship between the characters was definitely palpable and their development was very well written out. The relatable part is the way friendships ebb and flow with the personality differences whether it’s your class, your future, and everything in between. They say this is a soul-searching novel and that vibe is heavy throughout the plot and makes it reach inside and squeeze something we can all relate to no matter what age we are.

[Liz]

CAN'T WAIT

[Natasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know nothing about climbing, but I still loved this novel. The story follows two poor teenagers living in the desert who are obsessed with climbing. They’re the children of former best friends—adults disappointed in their own lives and unsure how to love their kids. Yet somehow, these two unlikely friends learn to love and rely on each other.

The book is about responsibility and dreams, filled with sharp observations and genuinely laugh-out-loud moments.

As for the synopsis: Tamma and Dan want one thing—**to climb**. Their dream is to become “dirtbags,” living for the sport. They plan to run away right after graduation. But Dan has real academic promise, and his parents expect him to go to college. Tamma unexpectedly finds herself responsible for her sister’s children. Will they chase their dreams or remain bound to their families—and can their friendship survive the strain?

[Bonnie Brody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dan and Tamma are the best of friends, so close that they can almost read each other's thoughts. They have a shared love of rock climbing, a passion they try to fulfill every day in the Mojave Desert in California. Both are seniors in high school and come from dysfunctional families that are very different from one another. Dan's mother was a young prodigy, having written a very brilliant and critically well-received novel when she was just 18 years old. Now, she rarely leaves her room. She suffers from profound depression as well as heart problems. Tamma's mother is emotionally abusive. Her father, who has since left, was so physically abusive to Tamma that he broke her jaw when she was little.

Dan is doing great in school and his parents want him to go to college. He is conflicted about this, wanting to continue rock climbing with Tamma. However, his intellect and character make him a great student. Tamma has dreams of going far in the rock climbing world. She is a loud mouth and hates school.. Her jaw clicks from the time her father broke it. Most days, she doesn't even attend her classes. They are both poor and don't have the money for adequate climbing gear. They make do with what they have but there is danger in this.

I read Mr. Tallent's first book, My Absolute Darling, and loved it. I didn't feel the same way about Crux. While I enjoyed reading it, it was too filled with climbing terminology, most of which I was completely unfamiliar with and, to be honest, not that interested in. I wish that the technical aspects of climbing had been focused on less. What I really enjoyed was reading about Tamma and Dan, their lives, friendship and dreams.

This is a sparkling novel about adolescent friendship and coming of age. I thank NetGalley and Penguin Random House for an early review copy. This novel is slated to be published in January 2026.

[Siobhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crux is a novel about two best friends coming of age with dreams of rock climbing, and real life getting in the way of their dreams. Tamma and Dan live in Calfornia near Joshua Tree National Park, where they're in their senior year of high school. Previously their mothers were best friends, but now Dan's parents see Tamma as a bad influence, an unpredictable queer girl without a future, and in the way of Dan going to college. Dan and Tamma have rock climbing plans, but without money, it's more of a gamble than usual, and they have to rely on their belief in one another.

Having enjoyed Tallent's previous novel, My Absolute Darling, I went for Crux even though it didn't immediately jump out as the sort of book I'd read, and I'm really glad that I did. It is a vivid picture of growing up poor in California and trying to have dreams when the only person who believes in your dreams is your best friend, and it is packed full of emotion and dusty, dangerous climbing. Even without knowing a lot of the context (I'm not American, I've never done rock climbing like that), I felt like I immediately was immersed in the vibe of the book and connected to the characters, especially Tamma. She's such a standout character—a queer, seemingly feral girl who has a lot more depth than anyone other than Dan gives her credit for, and who ends up not only facing the harsh realities of her rock climbing dreams, but also putting so much work into caring for her sister's children.

Crux is about friendship and the reality of who gets what kinds of dreams, and it is a powerful book that is as tense in its interpersonal scenes as its rock climbing ones. It really surprised me, a slow burn that drew me into the world of the characters so I felt wrung out by the end.

[Ben Dutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crux by Gabriel Tallent is an engaging, provocative novel about two teenagers - Tamma, the bright-star wannabe whose nature isn't inhibited by the small town in the shadow of the Joshua Tree National Park she lives in and Dan, her best friend. The friendship between these two is the core of this novel as is their shared passion for scaling the most dangerous peaks of the Park.

Tamma is especially well drawn, a fascinating and unique character, and she leads us into this world. Tallent's writing is modern and engaging, and Crux pulls the reader in quickly and thrillingly. I read this one quickly in one sitting, up late into the night. I'll be seeking out Tallent's first novel on the back of this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

[Emilie Sommer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not care about ballet before reading They’re Going to Love You by Meg Howrey; I was skeptical about video games before reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin; I saw no appeal in rock climbing before reading Crux by Gabriel Tallent. This is a masterful story about grit and the lure of adventure, but it is also the story of how resilient children can take care of themselves — and each other — when they are failed by every adult in their lives. More than anything, it is an unforgettable story about the lifesaving properties of pure, selfless, platonic friendship. I loved Dan and Tamma, I feared for their safety, I cursed the parents who neglected them, I wept for the unfair and unyielding burdens they carried. Crux is brutal and beautiful — a novel about choice, determination, circumstance, and courage. I haven’t worried this much about fictional teenagers since reading Demon Copperhead. A heartbreaking, life-affirming masterpiece.

[Susanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

**3.5**

Crux is a character-driven novel about the relationship between best friends Dan and Tamma. They live to climb, and their climbing becomes a reflection on what it’s like growing up. They take risks; they choose what to hold or release; they fear failing as much as falling. Their way to becoming adults is painful and shaped by the expectations of both family and poverty.

At times I found the book difficult to follow. It wasn’t just the climbing terminology or American slang jargon, but the sudden shifts in scenes left me confused. Just as I was settling into one part, the story jumped somewhere else. This pattern of writing is repeated throughout the novel.

While it wasn’t the easiest book to navigate, there was something about both Dan and Tamma that touched my heart, and their lives continued to linger with me for days.

My thanks to Penguin General UK, Fig Tree, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF around 35%.

I thought Gabriel Tallent's first book. My Absolute Darling, but I couldn't get on with this one.

The plot is about two youngsters who are obsessed with climbing. Tallent is also either somewhat obsessed with climbing, or has done a shitload of research and wants that to be very clear!

The book is so full of climbing jargon that I found it unreadable. Each climbing scene is intended to be tense but to me read as pages of incomprehensible climbing jargon followed by either he/she fell of or he/she did not fall off.

I understand the climbing is just the vehicle for the stories of the two main characters but I felt it dominated the text. The scenes where Tamma is looking after her sister's kids were the best parts I read, because there was no climbing terminology!

Perhaps this book ascends into something wonderful but I shall never reach the peak here as I wasn't enjoying it.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Penguin General UK Fig Tree , Gabriel Tallent & Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

In this book we follow Dan & Tamma who are two Californian teenagers who live near the Joshua Tree National Park which is known for the world's greatest rock climbing.
Some of the rock climbing descriptions completely lost me. As someone who has never been rock climbing I did feel a little bit confused. However although rock climbing has never interested me I loved reading about Dan & Tamma passion for it.
This was truly such a raw coming of age story and also a beautiful story of friendship.
Gabriel Tallent is a fantastic writer. I built such a love for Dan & Tamma.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is much different from the author's previous book (my absolute darling) but just as engaging. I was completely obsessed with Tamma and Dan from the start. These two are in their last year of high school, best friends their whole lives. They are very different people but both love rock climbing, and their banter and friendship was so fun to read. I have zero interest or knowledge of rock climbing, and appreciated the detailed descriptions of those activities, but there were a lot and I sometimes rushed through those passages to get to the character interactions. I was sad when the book ended because I just wanted to keep reading about Dan and Tamma, as their individual lives moved beyond their hometown and complicated families into new adventures, each facing their fears and forging their own paths.

[Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow wow wow I loved everything about this novel. The desert setting, the two main characters you can't help but love and wish the best for, the challenging vocabulary both on the rockfaces and otherwise.

What an intensely beautiful examination of two young people trying to escape their circumstances. This is one I won't forget for a long time and has rocketed to the top of my 2026 list of best reads.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up! Ive never read a book so devastating and yet still so full of hope. This one is definitely for the dirtbags who choose climbing instead of therapy (me)

[Chelsea Knowles · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.*

Crux follows best friends Dan and Tamma who are two teenagers who love climbing but are dirt poor. They live near the Joshua Tree National Park which is known for rock climbing. Their mothers were once best friends but now Dan’s mother spends her days locked in her room with depression and Tamma’s mother doesn’t really care about Tamma or think she’ll amount to much. Dan and Tamma have dreams of being legendary rock climbers but the climbs are dangerous and living as dirt poor rock climbers might not lead to a great future.

This was great and I had such an enjoyable reading experience. I love reading male and female friendships and I loved Dan and Tamma’s connection. They both had tough lives in different ways and I found to very easy to connect to these characters and empathise with them. This had some slight humour and a lot of heart. The writing was excellent and I found this to be compulsively readable. This is definitely a book to anticipate for 2026 and I will definitely recommend this. I’m giving this 5 stars and will be buying a copy of this when it releases.

Favourite Quote (subject to change upon publication) - “When Tamma had been young, there had been nerve damage in her cheek and jaw that hadn’t yet healed, so her expressions had been palsied and asymmetrical. Mrs. Curry had used to ask her not to smile so as not to scare the other children and Tamma was ever after always more or less in the habit of smiling and then trying not to smile, faltering in embarrassment, sealing it over with her lips stretched tight over her snaggletooth, then cracking open nonetheless into a delight she was powerless to stem, her smile zippering open left to right to show the whole chipped and disorderly shebang, waiting there on the side of the road with the grove all around her.”

[kc]

A SPECIAL ONE. it's been ages since I last entirely lost track of time while reading a novel the way I did reading this.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teenagers Dan and Tamma want nothing more than to escape their small town lives in a forgotten corner of the California desert and follow their dream of becoming dirtbag rock climbers. But while Tamma has been living a hard scrabble life in her verbally abusive mother’s trailer, abandoned by her physically abusive father, and with no one thinking she has any potential at all, Dan has been living a relatively privileged life. He feels pressure from his parents to become the first in his family to go to college; they don’t approve of his friendship with Tamma, but he only feels alive when he’s with her and climbing. While Tamma doesn’t really have many options to create a better life for herself, Dan does - he’s a good student with loving and supportive parents - and that tension forms a lot of his character journey.

Tamma is a unique character. I didn’t like her at first - she’s foul mouthed, crude, and doesn’t seem to care about anyone or anything other than Dan (platonically - she’s gay) and rock climbing - but she has a vibrant energy and turns out to be surprisingly capable, hard working, and devoted when her sister and Dan need her. I found a lot of her dialogue to be really unrealistic, overwritten, and kind of obnoxious, but it ends up being so perfect at a pivotal point in the book that I grew to like her.

Through their pursuit of rock climbing and their daily struggles in life, Tamma and Dan both explore if they have what it takes to pursue their dream - and if it’s even still the right dream for each of them as their senior year of high school progresses.

The friendship between Tamma and Dan is the soul of this book and it’s beautifully portrayed - but there are a lot of long jargony, technical passages about rock climbing that are so tedious to read that I almost gave up on the book. I’m glad I kept reading because I did end up enjoying the story and Tamma and Dan’s character journeys but the pages and pages of climbing detail really took away from it for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Riverhead for the ARC.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crux is a tender and emotional coming of age story set against class hardships and strength of friendship.
Dan are Tamara are two teens in the Mojave desert from families who are, for different reasons, quite dysfunctional. Climbing is their escape and their bond is absolute.
Being very familiar with the world and people in competitive climbing I can attest to the accuracy of the Tallent’s setting. As he described Tamma squeezing the crimps I could imagine the pads of her fingertips tearing. Climbing without a climbing pad on a core shot rope is something only the most desperate, and dedicated climber would do. In doing this you can sense that urgency in her and Dan.
This novel tests the limits of friendship and dreams. Each of the main characters fights seemingly insurmountable struggles. As they mature and face their individual cruxes their futures inevitably diverge. The unanswered question is “did they find what they were looking for or did they settle”? While climbing showcases the Dan and Tamma’s struggles and goals, it is their familial interaction that causes the most angst and forces them to make life altering decisions.
I found this novel gut wrenching and inspiring. The backdrop of the Mojave desert is beautiful and the rock climbing scenes are thrilling.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for an advance copy of this exceptional book. It is 5 stars all the way. These opinions are my own.

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I really enjoyed the two main characters and their development throughout the book, the significant amount of time the characters spent rock-climbing and the technical climbing jargon made this a slow-going read. In essence, rock-climbing is a third main character but unless you are a climber, probably 40% of this book may bore you. I've read lots of mountaineering books in which hiking and climbing were integral to the story but written in a way that invited the reader in -- this book doesn't do that. And the parents of both teens were just so supremely awful, but not in a way that felt believable. For these reasons, I'm unlikely to suggest this book to teens despite the interesting and well-developed main characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

[Michael Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tallent’s narrative transforms climbing into a metaphor for overcoming adversity - a testament to friendship, grit, and the unwavering pursuit of ascent. Beautifully written, symbolically rich.

Set in the Mojave Desert, the story follows two high-schoolers, Dan and Tamma, whose passion for rock climbing becomes a lifeline amid the struggles of class differences, uncertain futures, and personal ambition.

Crux is definitely a peak worth scaling!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the ARC!

[Jennifer Wurges byrnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boulder Climbing. Teenage Friendships. LGBTQ. Poverty. Toxic Families. Parenting.

Crux by Gabriel Tallent has a lot of themes but they blend together seamlessly. Dan and Tamma are two teenage best friends who couldn't be more different. Tamma is a "burnout" who likes to smoke pot and doesn't take school seriously, while Dan is a (mostly) responsible genius. But they have one main passion in common - they both love climbing. Lucky for them they live in the Mojave desert near Joshua Tree National Park where they can practice their climbs.

While the book focuses on Dan and Tamma's passion for and experiences with climbing, their deep friendship was what I liked the most about the book. Despite thier differences, their friendship just works and they balance each other out beautifully. Tamma is lively and vivacious and has a never-give-up attitude, while Dan is internal, thoughtful, and often depressive.

Both of their characters have surprising depth and inner conflict and growth. When Tamma's newborn nephew suffers a brain injury she drops everything and goes to live with her sister to take care of her 10-month-old niece and 4-year-old nephew. She discovers that she enjoys this caretaking thing, and becomes an expert at giving baths, cooking meals, and reading stories while her peers look forward to graduating and their next steps.

Dan worries for his mom who suffers from depression and a failing heart. All she wants for Dan is for him to go to college. But Dan dreams of being a professional climber and living off the grid with Tamma. Thus, Dan is conflicted - whose dreams should he pursue, his own, his mom's, or Tamma's?

This book has a lot of twists and turns and thrills. Do you have to know anything about the sport of rock climbing to enjoy this book? No. I know nothing about climbing and I still loved it. At first the climbing lingo and descriptions put me off because they was so detailed and I wasn't really understanding the terminology. And yet I could still picture in my head what the author was trying to describe, so well done Mr. Tallent.

I was a bit surprised when I got near the end of the book to realize how much I loved it. I went into the book blind, not knowing anything about it. Crux was unputdownable, it made me emotional (OK it made me cry), it had a lot of on-your-seat moments, and I couldn't help falling in love with Dan and Tamma and rooting for them.

5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and Riverhead Books for the ARC ebook for review. Crux will be published on January 20, 2026

[Genevieve Hogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Crux” by Gabriel Tallent is a courageous and risky novel that is as full of heart as the heroine at its core. In all her awkward vulnerability, Tamma is on a hero’s journey. Her depth of character and willingness to search for meaning amongst the rocky crags of our humanity define and drive this book.

Tamma and Dan are best friends, connected through their shared love of rock climbing and their need to grow beyond the limitations of their lives. Rock climbing is the central activity, which engenders the scenes, images, and metaphors of the novel. Dan and Tamma face many steep and complicated challenges. In each climb it is the crux, the most difficult point where decisions impact everything that comes after, that defines who they are.

This is an exquisitely written and profoundly meaningful coming-of-age story. “Crux” digs into the smallest crevasses to find handholds that allow Tallent to ascend to vistas that will take our breath away. In all its specificity, this novel invites us to experience our own humanity with its contingent obstacles and challenges.

“Crux” is a novel about choice and love, as well as discovering meaning within ourselves. It is a book that invites the reader to open themselves to life with all its terrors and low percentage moves. It is about choosing to live and love fully and wholeheartedly, knowing there are risks and there will be pain. We will be hurt, and we will fail. Even so, it is our great privilege to try. It was a privilege to read a book that so beautifully portrays our humanity with empathy and awareness.

Thank you to NetGalley and Riverhead Press for access to this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Lyndsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crux follows Tamma and Dan, teens finishing up high school in the southern Mojave Desert. They climb boulders together with dreams of reaching rock climbing glory, while unsafe conditions, real life and the expectations of their extremely dysfunctional families repeatedly get in the way.

This is one of those books where halfway in you already feel sad about the end because you know how much you’ll miss these characters. Tamma especially is so funny, strong, selfless… totally lovable and utterly unforgettable in the best way. The dialogue between Tamma and Dan is uniquely and hilariously “teenager” and adds so much to this book’s charm.

If you can’t already tell, I LOVED this book. There is so much fun and adventure in a book that completely immerses you in a new world, in this case the world of rock climbing. I didn’t always understand the climbing jargon, but after checking out some images online of “highball bouldering” and “trad climbing” I had the context I needed to follow the action. I also felt like while the technical terminology was unfamiliar at times, the author took care to provide relatable descriptors to orient the reader without taking away any of the heart pumping adrenaline of those moments (“like bear-hugging your way up a fridge” was one image I loved). But more than sports or adrenaline or a story about dreams deferred, this is at its heart a story about friendship. You will root for these two and if you’re like me, you won’t want to say goodbye!

… Maybe they can turn this into a movie so we can spend more time with Tamma and Dan? 🙏🏻

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read early and review.

[Kate Vane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crux is a coming-of-age story about two California high schoolers who are passionate climbers from impoverished backgrounds. They devote their lives to their dream of taking their place alongside elite athletes while they don’t even have decent boots.

The story follows their struggles as Dan contemplates walking away from a college place, and Tamma longs to escape low-paid work and being lumbered with the unpaid care of her chaotic extended family. Their friendship is complicated by the fact that their mothers were once best friends but are now estranged for reasons that only emerge during the course of the story. They too were torn between their dreams, and the constraints thrown up by the people around them and economic reality.

Crux is beautifully written and tells a familiar story in a fresh and engaging way. There is also an interesting ambiguity around all the characters’ motives. Their constraints are real, but do they also make bad choices? Should they be judged, or are their characters shaped by the very pressures they face?

You don’t have to be a climbing fan to buy into the passion of Dan and Tamma and it’s refreshing to see a male/female friendship portrayed so sensitively. I did feel like my interest dipped a little towards the end, there were a couple of twists that felt contrived and not fully resolved, and the end didn’t fully tie up thematically.

Overall, though, Crux features a memorable set of characters. It also portrays vividly how hard work, drive and intelligence are no protection against falling into poverty – and once again reinforces the horror that is the US healthcare system.
*
Copy from NetGalley

[Lucy Ellis-Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very quickly invested in this book; it was fast-paced, gripping, and emotionally rich from the start. I absolutely loved the relationship between Dan and Tamma, two people who, in any other world, would never have become friends. Tamma comes from a broken family; she’s poor, non-academic, and weighed down by trauma and responsibility. Dan is gifted, bright, and clearly destined for further education and great things. And yet climbing bonds them, and what grows between them is this unlikely, beautiful, powerful friendship.

Their shared dream of climbing  alongside the expectations others place on them poses the question; if you chase these dreams, do you always find your purpose? The story explores themes of family dysfunction, betrayal, medical debt, poverty, depression, trauma, and, above all, the strength of deep friendship.

The climbing scenes, as well as the other dramas woven throughout the narrative, kept the tension high. I didn’t always understand the technical climbing terminology, but it didn’t matter as I could still follow the narrative. The characters were so well developed that I genuinely cared about them, and I remained invested from beginning to end.

The scene-setting was vivid and extremely well written; I was fully inside their world. I was especially moved by Tamma’s strength, determination, and loyalty. Her relationship with her sister, Sierra, and her commitment to helping her and the children was incredibly touching.

I would definitely recommend this book. I really enjoyed reading it. I received a free advance review copy from NetGalley and the publisher, and this is my honest review.

[W.S. Luk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Click here for my full review. Thank you to Penguin for sending me a copy of this book.

“I want to prove that grit and passion matter more than money and privilege. Because this is our sport! It should belong to us—to reckless dipshits who thirst for adventure.”

America’s first and greatest myth is the frontier. In visions as different as the sea-scapes of Herman Melville to Ray Bradbury’s Martian colonies, American artists have hoped for and been horrified by the thought of stepping into untapped wilderness.

But what happens when we run out of wildernesses? Gabriel Tallent’s CRUX takes place in modern California, amidst air-conditioned hospitals and high schools. Yet its teenage protagonists, Dan and Tamma, still have the old dream of the frontier in them. Carrying frayed rope and battered safety gear, they risk death in Joshua Tree National Park for their love of rock-climbing.

Tallent skilfully conjures the thrill of this sport, tracing each “smooth, clean, desperate movement” his protagonists make as they clamber up sheer rock-faces, climbs that are as beautiful as they’re self-destructively risky. His depictions of the barren Californian landscape at times strive to channel Cormac McCarthy, with evocative images of “figures side by side in a vast prospect of desert, […] the light, dishwater; the sun, a bed of coals embanked in ash”.

And yet we’re not in McCarthy’s unpeopled borderlands, but an era where their all-consuming passion for climbing is trivialised as material for college application letters...

[Kayla Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's their last year of high school, and all that Dan and Tamma want to do is spend their days climbing in the desert. For Dan, the gifted intellectual, there’s pressure to go to college and make something of himself. For Tamma, the reckless burnout from a broken family, no one expects she’ll amount to anything. But the two best friends have a dream of their own—becoming professional climbers who live a life of freedom.

Reality derails their plans and pulls them away from one another. Over the span of the year, the two of them have to acknowledge their differences, learn what their priorities really are, and consider the role they play in each other’s futures.

When I read Gabriel Tallent’s debut, My Absolute Darling, 8 years ago, it nearly tore me apart. The pressure placed on a sophomore novel after a debut as remarkable as that one was surely huge, and I tried to temper my expectations. There was no need—this book was no-less a masterpiece than his first one. Tallent has the ability to drop readers into a world they may know nothing about (in this case, the world of bouldering/rock-climbing) and make them care deeply. This is a story as gut-wrenching as it is hopeful and as joyful as it is devastating. I can’t remember the last time I read a more beautiful depiction of friendship. All the trigger warnings—this is not for the faint of heart—but I will read every word he ever writes. This was one of my favorite books I read this year.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.