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Settright Road
Settright Road is a collection of 20 short stories and one longer piece of fiction, all set in and around a string of busted Massachusetts mill towns during the cocaine-fueled 1980s.
Its pages are colored by unforgettable a teenage lothario whose plans to escape his one-horse town by hopping a train to California are monkey-wrenched when he impregnates a local girl from a prominent family; fresh-out-of-prison Sean Folan, who nearly kills a man in a bar fight just so he’ll get locked up again; underage Bill Buick, who sells dope to hard-up townies and seduces high school girls, when he’s not driving a wedge between his aunt and her new boyfriend; and Eskimo — trouble in a too-tight dress — a dancer and a poet whose unsavory relationship with a strip club owner comes to a tragic end when she falls in love with a notorious backwoods brawler.
Jon Boilard lets loose these conflicted characters against a backdrop of the abject poverty that sits in stark contrast to the lush New England scenery; then he challenges us to root for these desperados despite the weight of their human errors.
Its pages are colored by unforgettable a teenage lothario whose plans to escape his one-horse town by hopping a train to California are monkey-wrenched when he impregnates a local girl from a prominent family; fresh-out-of-prison Sean Folan, who nearly kills a man in a bar fight just so he’ll get locked up again; underage Bill Buick, who sells dope to hard-up townies and seduces high school girls, when he’s not driving a wedge between his aunt and her new boyfriend; and Eskimo — trouble in a too-tight dress — a dancer and a poet whose unsavory relationship with a strip club owner comes to a tragic end when she falls in love with a notorious backwoods brawler.
Jon Boilard lets loose these conflicted characters against a backdrop of the abject poverty that sits in stark contrast to the lush New England scenery; then he challenges us to root for these desperados despite the weight of their human errors.
184 pages, Paperback
Published January 10, 2017
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About the author
Jon Boilard
7 books5 followersJon Boilard (1967-present) was born and raised in small towns in Western Massachusetts. He has been living in Northern California since 1986. His award-winning short stories have appeared in some of the finest literary journals in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Jon’s debut short story collection, SETTRIGHT ROAD (Dzanc Books/2017), was preceded by two novels, THE CASTAWAY LOUNGE (Dzanc Books/2015) and A RIVER CLOSELY WATCHED (MacAdam Cage/2013). ARCW was a finalist for the Northern California Book Award. He has participated in the Cork International Short Story Festival in Cork, Ireland, the Wroclaw Short Story Festival in Wroclaw, Poland, and LitQuake in San Francisco, California.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 7, 2020
When I read a story I care about language and that feeling of being compelled to keep reading no matter how ugly the setting or the lives of the characters might be. One of my favorite stories in this collection is "Storm Chaser" for the authentic voice of Sean, a veteran and ex-con, who perfectly captures the malaise of Generation X...a man who doesn't get along with his father, an ambivalence he feels toward all the people in his life, and all this just as a hurricane is about to hit. During a bar fight with a local loud mouth as he's about to choke the man out we read, ". . . but my power comes from a deeper well. A darker place. And there's just no match." And another line that really grabbed my attention for its authenticity if you want to call it that, "I learned a long time ago that only during violence can I correct my mistakes in the very same instant that I make them. And that's the beauty of it..." For my money, Jon Boilard is not only a talented writer but an astute observer of the human soul. These stories are a revelation.
May 31, 2017
It maybe wasn't fair to read this immediately after Jesus's Son.
Both my parents were from that area of Massachusetts, and during the time of the book (mid seventies to early eighties, I think?) we spent some summers and holidays there. He gets the tone of the place correct, I remember it being very dodgy and back water...my uncle referred to it as "a real dump" and the feeling of squalor and malaise in the rotting mill towns was palpable. I remember Poet's Seat looming over the Connecticut river valley like a vulture. (https://tinyurl.com/poetseat) My cousins were full of stories of skulduggery --drunks, drugs, suicides and accidents -- surrounding that tower. Also the French King Bridge suicides (https://tinyurl.com/frenchkingbridge) were a favorite topic of the boy cousins...
anyway that's a little off topic -- I had to read the book because of my connection and I'm glad the author can now write about it from a distance.
Both my parents were from that area of Massachusetts, and during the time of the book (mid seventies to early eighties, I think?) we spent some summers and holidays there. He gets the tone of the place correct, I remember it being very dodgy and back water...my uncle referred to it as "a real dump" and the feeling of squalor and malaise in the rotting mill towns was palpable. I remember Poet's Seat looming over the Connecticut river valley like a vulture. (https://tinyurl.com/poetseat) My cousins were full of stories of skulduggery --drunks, drugs, suicides and accidents -- surrounding that tower. Also the French King Bridge suicides (https://tinyurl.com/frenchkingbridge) were a favorite topic of the boy cousins...
anyway that's a little off topic -- I had to read the book because of my connection and I'm glad the author can now write about it from a distance.
January 3, 2025
A lost grit lit masterpiece. Boilard and these stories are the real deal.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews