When four former classmates turn up in their Pennsylvania hometown on the same night in 2013, we learn how their high school experience in a town impacted by both the Great Recession of 2008 and by the opioid epidemic, has had a formative and mostly devastating impact on their respective lives. One copes with substances, one by escaping into the military, another by traveling the world, and the latter not really coping at all.
This is a brutally honest depiction of how the convergence of the economic disaster of 2008 and the opioid crisis has impacted a generation of young folks. Even those characters with talent or high intellect had challenges because of their low middle class status and lack of cultural capital. They lacked the the connections, the mentorship, the folks who believed in them and who might lead them to achieve their higher goals. With a few noteworthy exceptions, the adults around them were too preoccupied with their own struggles to be supportive or encouraging.
The writing here is outstanding. It is a hard narrative, replete with painful images, but it is powerful and gritty and truly the only way to tell this story. The rotating perspective is also extremely effective. As we learn more and more through each character, the story builds and adds tension, and the climax is both shocking and satisfying.
I recommend this novel, but it is not for the feint-hearted. It is a tragic story, with graphic scenes. But it is honest, vivid, and authentic.
kindread spirits 