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Black Road
Black Road unfolds in a small Ohio town, with one high school and one celebrated football team and one jumbo marching band. When the bad-boy star quarterback and his friends go too far one night with one of their pranks, a car crash severely injures two other students. The consequences of the crash and the court trials that follow reverberate through the town, reaching beyond the local community in haunting, almost surreal ways as the larger world seems to be turned upside down. As the details leading up to the crash are revealed bit by bit, a surprising number of people are implicated the outsider teenager who lives alone in a trailer next to the Amish farm where the crash happened; a high school teacher who fights to bring goodness and beauty to young lives; an Indian doctor and her school-aged daughter who hopes to follow her brother to Harvard; a Japanese exchange student. Watching from behind everything is an actual Greek chorus broken loose in time, Apollo and Artemis, lost souls trekking through the modern world.
320 pages, Paperback
Published March 7, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 15, 2024
Nancy Zafris was a master storyteller, and Black Roads is proof of it. On the surface, this is the story of a teen in small-town Ohio living on his own. His mother is a drug addict. Something terrible happens that he needs to come to terms with. But what it's really about is all of us. How we act as a community. How we rally around the wrong things for the wrong reasons. How we miss the point. But in the end, it's about hope - even amid tragedy. This story is delivered with exquisite detail, amazing wit, and kindness. It's beautiful and heartbreaking. No spoilers here, but the scenes with the doctor and with the Chinese girl will stay with me always.
I was friends with Nancy Zafris. She taught me so much about so many things related to writing. This book is a how-to on delivering story. I recommend this for people who love to read well-told stories. But if you are writing literary fiction, this is an absolute gem - a lovely example of how to so so many things well.
I was friends with Nancy Zafris. She taught me so much about so many things related to writing. This book is a how-to on delivering story. I recommend this for people who love to read well-told stories. But if you are writing literary fiction, this is an absolute gem - a lovely example of how to so so many things well.
January 8, 2025
After growing up in the Detroit suburbs and living in Philadelphia for fifteen years, we relocated to a Michigan town near the Ohio border. There were under 9,000 residents in the 'city' and little over 40,000 in the county. It was a culture shock.
High school sports was the center of the world. We were pressured to go to the football games, but all the kids were there so we had no one to babysit our preschooler.
The local paper crime stories were heavy on teenage pranks and drunk driving. The school closed for opening day of the county fair, held at the fairgrounds in town. The town emptied on opening day for deer hunting.
I recognized the town in Black Road. The description of the entire high school population, plus parents, gathering for the first football game of the season, marching band proud in new uniforms. When football star Jard and other members of the football team pull a prank with disastrous results, they face trial and others in town face accusations and incriminations.
One innocent is Travis, struggling to support himself, living in an empty trailer, his absent mother an addict. He is aided by a sympathetic teacher and the town librarian. He imagines his life story from an imagined future of fame.
Another is Hannah, the perfect student, the pretty head of the cheerleaders, a struggling girl whose dysfunctional family takes in the Japanese exchange student who she endeavors to protect from Jared.
The Indian town doctor is accused of malpractice at the scene of the accident.
Oh, the rumor network of a small town! I remember its bite all too well. What is community? Coming together for the football team? Protecting one's own? Helping those in need? What happens when community breaks down, alienating outsiders, whispering harmful words, turning a blind eye?
An interesting frame to this story is Apollo and Artemis revisiting the location over generations, interfering with humans, bemoaning the changes.
High school sports was the center of the world. We were pressured to go to the football games, but all the kids were there so we had no one to babysit our preschooler.
The local paper crime stories were heavy on teenage pranks and drunk driving. The school closed for opening day of the county fair, held at the fairgrounds in town. The town emptied on opening day for deer hunting.
I recognized the town in Black Road. The description of the entire high school population, plus parents, gathering for the first football game of the season, marching band proud in new uniforms. When football star Jard and other members of the football team pull a prank with disastrous results, they face trial and others in town face accusations and incriminations.
One innocent is Travis, struggling to support himself, living in an empty trailer, his absent mother an addict. He is aided by a sympathetic teacher and the town librarian. He imagines his life story from an imagined future of fame.
Another is Hannah, the perfect student, the pretty head of the cheerleaders, a struggling girl whose dysfunctional family takes in the Japanese exchange student who she endeavors to protect from Jared.
The Indian town doctor is accused of malpractice at the scene of the accident.
Oh, the rumor network of a small town! I remember its bite all too well. What is community? Coming together for the football team? Protecting one's own? Helping those in need? What happens when community breaks down, alienating outsiders, whispering harmful words, turning a blind eye?
An interesting frame to this story is Apollo and Artemis revisiting the location over generations, interfering with humans, bemoaning the changes.
October 5, 2025
Dynamic and haunting.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews