Even at this late in the
year, I have not read anything that packs the punch of Craig Davidson’s novel
Cataract City. It is a vibrant creative masterpiece of the kind of stories Thom
Jones and Jim Thompson would write. It is a brutal world, and that is putting
it lightly. Gallons of blood are split, bones are broken and spirits are
crushed throughout this small town epic, but it not only written in a way that
is poetic and eloquent, which I have found in most novels like this, with the
violence and depravity sounding not like inferior speech, but as an almost
operatic expression of human feeling, but it is also endlessly creative in the
many ways its two central characters journey from boyhood into adulthood, and
from their personal nightmares into something that look something like a
redemption, at least for the people who find themselves stuck in the vice grip
of Cataract City. This book goes to so many different places, some dark, some
heartwarming, that it left me awestruck that Davidson, with such skill and
precision, connects these disparate dots in a way that doesn’t give the reader
any kind of whiplash, and little protest as to whether or not that was exactly
how things should have ended up. Besides that, the book has many scenes of
intense violence that made me think of Frank Bill’s Donnybrook. You don’t
simply read about the injuries, you hear the crack of cartilage, and feel the
many cuts opening up on the human body that almost feels transformative. The
novel focuses on two unfortunate boys who find themselves stuck in Cataract
City, a place where jealous and hateful people snuff out dreams of idealistic
people. They are Owen Stuckey and Duncan Diggs. They have slightly different
upbringings, but it isn’t so much that people notice. They bond over a love of
wrestling, leading to a scene in a forest in the outskirts of town that is one
of the most brilliant pieces of writing I have had the pleasure of coming
across, with the direction Davidson takes both audacious and moving.
Eventually, they each grow up, Duncan becoming involved with many illegal
dealings, such as dogfighting, and bare-knuckle boxing, with one of the most
shady and hateable antagonists in recent memory, leading to him going to jail
for eight years, while Owen becomes an embittered ex-athlete who is now a cop
with little to do in such a draining town. When Duncan gets out of jail, he has
big plans that he wants Owen’s help with. Without spoiling too much, the book
somehow circles back on itself in the end, when the two broken men at the
center of this whirlwind of a story find themselves in pieces, both physically
and spiritually, and desperately trying to put themselves back together. There
are some scenes in this story that even I had a hard time reading, especially
during both the dig and human fight scenes, but there is something primal and
deep going on in this book, with Davidson tapping into questions of masculinity,
pride and desperation unlike any other writer working today. Approach this book
with an open mind, an open heart and an empty stomach.
Rating: 5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment