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Friction
An unstable novel for unstable times.
"Friction," the second novel by Matt Marshall ("The Starlight Line"), unfolds over the course of the tumultuous year 2014. The planet continues to warm, pro-Russian militants seize large swaths of Eastern Ukraine, the Islamic State rises to terror in the Middle East, Syria splinters further toward collapse, Ebola breaks out in West Africa, unbridled white cops cut down unarmed blacks in U.S. cities, heroin kills indiscriminately throughout the Midwest (and beyond), a floundering man meets a desperate woman wheeling her bike off the velodrome in Cleveland.
Written in a free-flowing style punctuated by shifts in font size, "Friction" follows the relationship between these two Clevelanders—the woman, a recovering heroin addict increasingly drawn into the conflict in her ancestral Ukraine; the man, an “astronomical folklorist” with a penchant for Sun Ra recordings, trying, perhaps, just to stay tethered to Earth. Identities flitter and morph as 2014 rumbles on and the two struggle to find meaningful roles amidst the upheaval.
"Friction," the second novel by Matt Marshall ("The Starlight Line"), unfolds over the course of the tumultuous year 2014. The planet continues to warm, pro-Russian militants seize large swaths of Eastern Ukraine, the Islamic State rises to terror in the Middle East, Syria splinters further toward collapse, Ebola breaks out in West Africa, unbridled white cops cut down unarmed blacks in U.S. cities, heroin kills indiscriminately throughout the Midwest (and beyond), a floundering man meets a desperate woman wheeling her bike off the velodrome in Cleveland.
Written in a free-flowing style punctuated by shifts in font size, "Friction" follows the relationship between these two Clevelanders—the woman, a recovering heroin addict increasingly drawn into the conflict in her ancestral Ukraine; the man, an “astronomical folklorist” with a penchant for Sun Ra recordings, trying, perhaps, just to stay tethered to Earth. Identities flitter and morph as 2014 rumbles on and the two struggle to find meaningful roles amidst the upheaval.
146 pages, Paperback
Published April 12, 2016
118 people want to read
About the author
Matt Marshall
2 books5 followersMatt Marshall is the author of "The Starlight Line" and "Friction." He contributes regularly to AllAboutJazz.com. His work has also appeared in Jazz Inside Magazine, Cleveland Scene, Cleveland Free Times, Free Inquiry and various print and online literary journals. He lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 9, 2018
Matt Marshall captures a sign of our times in his second novel: the run-ons; lack of punctuation; hurried language effectively speak to this scurried, non-stop world of today!
The daily stress and anxiety of 2014, pre-apocalypse to this 2018, is captured in main character that can feel little comfort in any one place for too long:
"...the feeling that I was late for something or
other but I can't for the life of me recall what
it might have been... drove home or to that
other important unimportant place that I so
desperately needed to be"
Interweave of character plot is smart with doubletakes. Breadth and historical context of current issues and past music culture anomalies in Sun Ra translate well into this "folkloric" non-reality reality of modern life.
I recommend Friction to the well-versed fiction lover!
The daily stress and anxiety of 2014, pre-apocalypse to this 2018, is captured in main character that can feel little comfort in any one place for too long:
"...the feeling that I was late for something or
other but I can't for the life of me recall what
it might have been... drove home or to that
other important unimportant place that I so
desperately needed to be"
Interweave of character plot is smart with doubletakes. Breadth and historical context of current issues and past music culture anomalies in Sun Ra translate well into this "folkloric" non-reality reality of modern life.
I recommend Friction to the well-versed fiction lover!
Displaying 1 of 1 review