I love literary fiction, but I need it to be dripping with emotion, likable or redeemable characters and a plot that still moves.

The tone of this novel is very dry while it deals with sad things. Completely vapid of emotion. I didn’t care for any character really, and the ending was underwhelming. It felt like someone was telling me about their day in one long run on sentence. I requested this novel because it’s the Indie Bookstore pick for June.

I think readers who enjoy David Joy and like a dry tone would enjoy this book. I am just not the intended audience for this.

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

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.

For those who were entranced by the entangled short story-esque format and speculative fantasy/horror elements in Talty's debut are going to be sorely disappointed by this sophomore release. "Fire Exit" is comparatively a much calmer novel. Despite it's last gritty, direct, depiction of elements of residential life and history in a lot of ways, this story is no less resonant. Switching up tones between works is a move I appreciate from an author who wants to show the breadth of ways the tales and matters that they have in them can take form. Personally, while I greatly enjoyed the spookier potentially supernatural elements of the first, the format which I'm not usually opposed to and even enjoy, for some reason left me a little lukewarm. So this more traditional storytelling format worked better for me.

"Fire Exit" tackles so many topics that on the surface and by summary-- one I believe unfortunately gives a little too much away-- seems like a disorderly pile akin to throwing everything at the canvas hoping that rather common elements might just feel fresh. When you breath these elements down, however, and let them set to see the connections Talty is drawing, it is a somber web woven.

There have been several novels that tackle the issue of belonging. In recent days there have been a fair share of those that have talked about the rules of the tribal registers. I have never heard the discussion of cultural identity tackled in quite this way. One particular moment that on surface would seem rather contradictory but makes complete sense culturally is how someone can feel as part of a culture and yet still secluded from one group of people and yet makes the case for those who had never had a chance to grow up with their people to be able to claim as much and more right to that identity than they do.

Having been abandoned by a parent is a topic we've seen a lot from the perspective of the child and the issues that creates in their own sense of identity. Being a child of someone who took off because they knew I was in good hands and taken care of, this hit particularly hard to be put in his shoes to some extent. It is ironically amplified by the fact that this same individual suffered from early on set dementia.

Louise's struggles morphing from one set of issues to another was another interesting element. It painted the process of loosing yourself, the memories that emerge, and the connections we still latch onto something to really sift through. Granted, I do not frequently seek out books on this topic due to my own personal fears about genetics, but I always commend authors for presenting illness in the wide range of ways it manifests. It was also incredibly touching to see how our protagonist tried to see the light when he could to the situation.

Another element presented for comparison was Charles' and Bobby's different approaches to alcoholism. It again shows that there is not one single stereotype the fits all realities. This continual paralleling seems to be as much of a theme in this novel.

I don't want to conclude how very much storytelling is still at the heart of this. There are the stories that Charles took from his childhood friends. There are the stories that our own personal ones that we know about ourselves and who we share them with. Is there a responsibility to share certain parts of stories? What does it mean for your own story to be 'incomplete'. Do you need to know every element to be complete? What stories do we tell ourselves, or convictions, versus those like Louise who are constantly a new set of stories with a lack of continuity when we lose the ability to organize our history. What do we let others' interpretation of our stories influence who we see ourselves to be?

"Night of the Living Rez" might have been a slap and stab to the heart. "Fire Exit" may combustible, but feels more like an erosion. In the end, it might even stay with me longer. If nothing else, it certainly makes me wonder what style and how deep Talty is going to try to hit us next time. I only hope he doesn't tire of speaking for a part of my state's population that has too long been ignored.

I saw the review Tommy Orange left for this and knew i would enjoy it. It’s a story about stories. A complex yet interesting story that kept your attention. Overall i enjoyed still story to listen to and would recommend it!

I received a free advanced copy of this (audio) book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.