“We are made of stories, and if we don’t know them—the ones that make us—how can we ever be fully realized? How can we ever be who we really are?”

Thank you to NetGalley and Tin House Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is my second work I’ve read of Talty’s (first was from Never Whistle at Night), and it did not disappoint.

The ending was so heartbreaking yet so hopeful, and I think that encompasses the book in its entirety. Following Charles through his mother’s decline and depression and the desire to tell his daughter who he is felt raw. As someone who worked in the mental health field, it all just felt so realistic, raw, and vulnerable.

I’m looking forward to picking up a copy of Night of the Living Rez to read more of his work, and I can’t wait to see what he writes next.

This book comes out 6/4, don’t miss it!

CW: death of parent, alcoholism, injury/injury detail, homophobia, suicide attempt, terminal illness, medical treatments (medication and ECT), violence

This book had the unfortunate effect of being read in between some really great books and it unfortunately didn't measure up. The story is impactful, deeply insightful but the writing is very lackluster for me. While i would recommend it, it's not one I would revisit.

5 stars

Come for the understated and gripping style but stay for the family and personal drama. Readers will be immersed in all of this as they enjoy this short but powerful debut novel from Morgan Talty.

As an incoming fan of Talty's short stories, I couldn't wait to engage with this novel. I was - as expected - NOT disappointed.

Charles, the m.c., has a deep secret that he somewhat troublingly keeps an eye on constantly, and he has a number of other challenges, too. Most of his drama revolves around friends and family, and prospective readers who really enjoy introspective characters who dig into these issues will find a lot to chew on here. There are secrets, sacrifices, instances of longstanding guilt and uncertainty, and deep-seated questions about how we can best connect with each other while maintaining a healthy sense of self.

For such a powerful title and cover, this novel has a quiet quality that made me even more drawn to the way events unfold. Some of that slow burn heightens the intensity that is often punctuated by challenging characters and Charles's interactions with them. I was fortunate to access both the ebook and audio version, and the narration of the audiobook is also excellent. I'll be recommending this format, especially, when and where accessible.

I enjoyed this thoroughly, remain a solid fan of this author, and look forward to what Talty offers up next.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tin House for the ARC!

Morgan Talty’s "Fire Exit" is a good story that doesn’t fit well in a novel.

Thematically, there are some interesting concepts about identity—particularly in the context of blood quantum—because the narrator is a white man who was raised on a reservation. This aspect of the book is largely held in the background, which keeps it subtle and lends complexity to the story without playing into tropes.

Unfortunately, "Fire Exit" seems like it just doesn’t belong in a book of this length. Everything about it would be more at home in a tightly crafted short story, whereas it feels slack and cumbersome in a full-length novel. It’s written such that readers gradually learn more about its characters’ past, which might feel satisfying if constrained to a few pages, but because the book is so contingent on a constant unfurling of “major revelations,” it begins to consume itself, with each revelation carrying less weight. Furthermore, the characters always feel a little impressionistic, so learning more about them doesn’t add much shade or dimension—the new information just feels needlessly deferred.

When the book finally picks up momentum near its cataclysmic end, it feels like too little, too late, and I wished I could have just read those 50 or so pages independently. To be clear, I don’t think novels are obligated to take any particular shape—it can be enjoyable to feel a writer’s self-conscious decisions about form through the text; in "Fire Exit," though, it feels less like intentionality and more like uncertainty.

All in all, I found "Fire Exit" to be deeply disappointing. It isn’t bad by any means—maybe I would have enjoyed it more if it were—but it feels strangely obligatory, like a book that was required to exist instead of a book that needed to.

"This was something I had no claim to talk about - as in I had no Native blood - yet I knew and still know what it was like to both not belong and belong, what it was like to feel invisible inside the great, great dream of being. We're all alike, even when we're not."

So muses Charles Lamosway, the main character of Morgan Talty's forthcoming book, Fire Exit (Tin House, June 2024). Charles is a white man who lives on the fringes of the Penobscot Nation in Maine, literally within eyeshot of the reservation across the Penobscot River. His mother, Louise, was married to Frederick, a tribal member, who raised Charles and loved him, taught him Penobscot ways, but could never give him Native blood. In adulthood, Charles has a daughter with a Penobscot woman, but because he is not a tribal member, claiming her means the child's blood quantum would fall below the required 25% for membership. Here lies the book's main point of tension: Who gets to belong? Who decides the rules of inclusion? And what happens when inclusion is based on a lie?

Throughout the book, Talty gives the reader several examples of found families that have nothing to do with blood relation: Charles and Frederick share a father and son bond as strong as any biological one; Louise treats Bobby, Charles’ friend from Alcoholics Anonymous, like a son despite the fact that they have known each other only a short time; Roger takes in Elizabeth as his daughter even though she is not his own; Gizos and Dave adopt a son; and so on. On the other hand, Talty also gives examples of families or groups that reject members despite having blood relation: Lenos rejects his son because he is gay; Mary rejects her child’s father because he is white; a drumming circle rejects Mary because she is female; Louise rejects her son as her mind deteriorates.

Through these examples of acceptance and rejection, Talty exposes the power of belonging and its impermanence. Talty never gives a definitive answer to the questions the book raises. Like every good writer, he’s more interested in raising questions rather than giving answers. However, there is a passage about a quarter of the way through the book where he comes close: “The three drum groups were set up, and when one played, the other two listened. It was during those times that others – always boys, of course – would go over to the drumming group and ask if they could be part of the next song, and always some older Native would hand them his drumstick and move for them.”

What if we listened more?

What if we all got up and made room?

I have to admit that it took me some time to get into Fire Exit. After reading his debut short stories, I expected to be transfixed from the start but Fire Exit is a slower story that trickles in and weaves together themes over time, but then you realize you’re 60% in and desperately need to know: does he ever speak to Elizabeth, what does his mother know, what happened to the house??

Talty is an expert at wounded characters who bring a humble, raw perspective to the world and life. The complexity of families, community, friendship, boundaries, and expectations all come together in this novel and make it impossible to not end up in your own quiet pondering. There is a heaviness to the writing but there is such humanity to the characters that you can help being drawn in and investing. The descriptions of nature, stillness, and being in one’s own body are so distinct.

I think Night of the Living Rez is still my favorite of the two for its sharpness and the way the stories developed a picture over the course of the book but it’s a bit unfair to compare formats and either way I’m excited to keep reading Talty’s writing. If you enjoy stories of family drama, beautiful descriptions of nature, and contemplative writing check out Morgan Talty’s books!

2.5. this book was a little too slow for my liking and I felt like it was going in circles. I enjoyed the end once the pace picked up but the pacing felt like it shifted from super slow to super fast with little flow.

I love the intimacy of FIRE EXIT; it almost feels like immersing yourself in a personal journal. Charles is a captivating narrator. The contemplative prose will not be for everyone, but fans of literary fiction are sure to enjoy it - and I appreciated it very much. The writing is simply lovely. I especially admired how the author treated the theme of forgiveness.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance e-galley; all opinions in this review are 100% my own.

Morgan Talty's FIRE EXIT is so compelling, I could not put it down. Even with e-galley file trouble, I thought about this story when I wasn't reading it. Talty's ability to paint deeply developed, flawed characters on the page is so impressive--and yet he makes it seem effortless. He can deliver a character's backstory in a few sentences (or less). This is one I don't want to risk giving away a single detail. I will be using it in my novel writing classes and can't wait to discuss it with my students.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tin House Publishing for this ARC. Fire exit is a literary fiction piece with a first person narrator Charles. Charles is white but lives on a reservation. His mother, Louise, married his native Stepfather, frederick, when Charles was 3. Frederick has just passed away, the only father Charles has ever known. He feels most at home on the reservation, he fathered a child with a neighbor, this is a secret. Charles is not a part of her life, and she doesn't know she is not a full blooded indigenous person. A great character is Charles' best friend Bobby, who he met in AA. Bobby and Charles struggle with their sobriety most of the book... as his mother Louise falls deeper into dementia. What makes a family? What makes someone part of your family? What do we owe to our memories and family history? The answer to all of these questions are complex, and some of what Charlie explores in this sensory descriptive novel.

Fire Exit was a really solid read! I enjoyed Charles as a narrator and appreciated his meandering, pensive inner monologue. If you're looking for a reflective contemporary fiction novel about family, the things that tie us all together, and forgiveness, definitely pick this up.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tin House for my review copy.

This felt very much like reading a journal. It is an intensely intimate portrait of family, self-loathing, self-discovery, and what it means to belong. The narrator struggles with his identity - not just in terms of his race, but also in terms of how he relates to those in his own life. Is he still a son if his mother doesn't remember him? Is he a father if his daughter doesn't know his name? Is he a friend if hid buddy only calls him when he's drunk at the bar?

Talty's writing is loose - not overly structured, but nuanced. Reading at moments like a stream of consciousness and at other times so descriptive, you can feel the cold and hear the crunch of the snow. The reader is transported into the moment and into the narrator's life.

This was a fantastic read and the only reason it was not five stars for me is because I did not connect with the character. I would highly recommend to anyone who is looking to discover a truly gifted writer.

Fire Exit is a powerful, poignant, and multilayered story that had me utterly captivated. The story alternates between two timelines and examines two cultures. The complex characters in the story had so much depth that by the end of the book, I felt that I knew them all personally. It’s been a week since I finished Fire Exit and I find myself still thinking about the story and its characters.

Fire Exit is truly a remarkable story and I enjoyed it so much that I had to put it on my list of top reads of 2024. This is my third read by Talty (previously read Night of the Living Rez and his short story in Never Whistle at Night), and Fire Exit solidified him as one of my favorite authors.

Fire Exit by Morgan Talty will be available on June 4. A massive thanks to Tin House Books and NetGalley for the gifted copy!

Charles spends his days watching the house across the river from him. Why? His daughter, Elizabeth, has grown up there with her mother and new husband. Her mother chose to live as if she and her new husband are Elizabeth's biological parents so that she would be allowed to live as a Penobscot. While Charles initially agrees to this, he's haunted by the decision his entire life and for most of the novel he is struggling with whether to tell her the truth, because as he puts it, she deserves to know all of her story.

There are a lot of other things going on at the same time. Like real life, Charles' days are messy and full of conflicting obligations. Charles' mother is slipping into dementia, and his friend is struggling with alcohol abuse. Charles juggles these things along with the guilt over his father's death from years ago. Since the novel is told entirely from his point of view, we're right there with him for the entire book. It's heavy going at times but and there are no easy answers, but the characters are written sympathetically even with (and maybe because of) all their flaws. Charles sees in his daughter some of the same signs of depression and despair his mother struggles with, and there is a touching scene in the hospital where the two women interact with each other while both waiting for ECT treatment for their depression, neither knowing who the other is.

The book doesn't make light or neatly tie everything up into a happy ending, but there is hope. I really enjoyed this.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

The plot kept slipping around but had a stronger finish. Overall, an okay read. 2.75☆

I enjoyed Morgan Talty's short story collection Night of the Living Rez, so I was hoping to like Talty's debut novel. I did like some parts of it, but ultimately it wasn't for me.

Fire Exit covers many of the same themes as the stories in Night of the Living Rez: Penobscot identity, life in/near the reservation, alcoholism, dementia, difficult/estranged family relationships. But I didn't find this novel nearly as engaging as Talty's short stories. Fire Exit feels like a thin novelization of a think piece: What if a white man is raised by a Native stepfather and fathers a child with a Native woman, but he isn't allowed to live on the reservation because he isn't Native? What if the white man's daughter thinks a Native man is her biological father because otherwise she won't have enough blood quantum to be an enrolled member of the Penobscot Nation? Now wouldn't that be messed up and complicated? Maybe indigenous identity and community aren't so cut and dry... Who would have thought?

The novel could have explored all of these questions in a more compelling way, I think, if it read as more character-driven or voice-driven. Instead, the main character felt like he grew out of a think piece or thought experiment and didn't fully develop from that point.

Many thanks to Norton, Tin House Books, and Netgalley for providing me an advanced copy of the book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Morgan Talty's short story collection, Night of the Living Rez, was one of my favorite books of 2022. When I heard he was going to come out with a full length debut novel, I was beyond excited. Fire Exit does not disappoint. It covers similar themes of his short story collection such as identity and family. In this book Talty shifts his perspective and writes from an outsider named Charles who is looking in at his community, who questions if he has any right to call it his community because he does not share the one defining element of being a member: meeting the Indigenous blood quantum. This is a powerful and poignant story of belonging, dislocation, regret, and legacy. The plot moves as a slow burn, leisurely pace but I didn't mind it at all as I really got a great grasp of who Charlie is- loving, loyal, and determined to do what is right though he doesn't quite understand how his actions might affect others. The book does touch on some heavy topics such as homophobia, physical abuse, and caring for a parent who has dementia but it also does have some levity of humor and love undercutting the darkness.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Plot
Charles grew up on the Penobscot reservation in Maine, but was kicked out at age 18 because he had no blood ties to the Tribe. We follow him years later as he struggles with taking care of his aging mother, and figuring out if he should introduce himself to his daughter who lives across the river, but doesn't know he exists.

There are lots of themes of depression and mental illness, dementia, what it means to be a family, and grief.

What I liked
I really liked Talty's writing style. The dialogue flowed nicely, and it was easy to read. I also value reading about different perspectives and life experiences, so Charles' life and his experiences were valuable to me.

What I both liked and didn't like
This is just a story about a guy. Which sounds boring and mundane, however, I do think that it was a nice change of pace from reading about a chosen one or hero that does amazing things. Sometimes it is nice to just read about a guy living his ordinary life. What I can't decide is if I love the fact that it reminds me of my own mundanity, or if I hate the fact that it reminds me of my own mundanity.

What I didn't like
About 85% of the way into the book a character uses the r slur, which felt completely unnecessary and left a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the book. The character would have been the same, the plot would have been fine, everything would have been the exact same without it.

Fire Exit is a very powerful book and competently weaves the themes of friendship, intimacy, trust and acceptance. It is a poignant story of an outsider who is loving and kind who cannot seem to find his place in the world. I was quickly drawn into the story of a man that has spent the majority of his life searching for acceptance and love. While the story is set on a reservation and made the issue of identity more apparent, it is ultimately a story about the human condition. I highly recommend this book! Many thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for sharing this advance copy with me.

This book is simple but very disturbing. I didn't like it as much as I thought I would though. The writing felt disjointed and clunky which hampered my reading experience. The story is what saved it for me. I like storylines that are dark and morbid, this one definitely fit that bill. This book is eerie and haunting, but I don't think this book will be memorable for me. I wanted a more emotional ending, and I was left feeling underwhelmed. I think I will enjoy this author's short story collection more. Interesting book but lacked cohesion.

Thank you, Netgalley and Tin House for the digital ARC.