Morgan Talty

Charles was raised on the Penobscot reservation by his white mother and Indigenous stepfather but was forced to leave at 18 since he is not, by blood, Indigenous. He has moved across the river from where he can see the reservation. Now in his fifties, he is wracked by guilt and a sense of loss, trying to overcome a long estrangement from his mother and forced to keep secrets including of a daughter, whose Indigenous mother chose to leave him so that she could raise her on the reservation, and who doesn’t know about him.

Told in two timelines and in the first voice by Charles, Fire Exit by Morgan Talty is a beautifully written, powerful, and poignant novel about a man who is both part of and separated from his community by blood, by secrets, and by the river that flows between them. The characters are fully drawn with backstories and with flaws that make them both relatable and redeemable. The story is often dark and bleak as Charles recounts his sense of loss of his home, his past, his mother who is sinking into dementia but mostly of his daughter but it is also always infused with the love he wants to share with her. This is, in many ways, a very emotional even melancholic tale but never crosses the line into melodrama and ends on a hopeful note. I read an ebook of this novel while listening to the audiobook narrated by Darrell Dennis who does an amazing job of giving Charles a voice.

I received an e-arc of this novel from Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada and an audiobook from RB Media in exchange for an honest review… (mere)

Twelve interconnected stories set on the Penobscot Indian Island Reservation give episodic glimpses into the childhood and young adulthood of the central character, David, along with his family and friends. A small and sparsely populated area, Indian Island is literally and figuratively isolated, by rivers and poverty and social stagnation. The horror reference of the titular story indeed refers to this latter aspect:

I passed by a large boulder - rolled and placed back when the reservation was a burial ground. Couldn’t tell that to anyone, though, because people talked Pet Sematary. But it was true - this reservation was for the dead.

With not much happening, substance abuse is the main pastime of most of these characters. David and his best friend Fellis get their daily methadone treatments, smoke, and drink. David’s older sister Paige uses heroin. His mom and stepfather drink heavily. These dependencies are treated matter of fact; the characters are treated with humanity.

A frayed but still intact connection to their tribe’s history and identity provides a measure of meaning and creative outlet for the characters. Penobscot mythology and spiritual belief weave through the stories, and David’s stepfather is an occasional medicine man who tries to provide some protection for the family through the ceremonial and ritualistic methods he knows. Whether they do much good outside of providing some sense of purpose is pretty hard to see, of course, and ultimately they can’t save his own body from his pain and addiction.

Coming with cover blurbs from Brandon Hobson and Tommy Orange, among others, this collection introduces a promising young writer from the Native American community.… (mere)