Night of the Living Rez

Starred review from May 30, 2022
Talty’s smart and gritty debut, a linked collection, poignantly overlays a boy’s coming-of-age on the Penobscot reservation with a young man’s present-day struggles to overcome opioid addiction and economic precarity, implying that they might be the same person in different phases of life. “In a Jar” introduces young Simpsons-watching David as he copes with an absent mother and her hard-drinking medicine man boyfriend, Frick, who earned his nickname for a habit of saying “fricken this, fricken that.” His older sister, Paige, gets pregnant, stoking their mother’s ire like “Homer on Bart,” and the angry Frick dismisses David for being trigger shy on a hunting trip. Abandoned hunting trips recur throughout, as in “Food for the Common Cold,” about a tragic episode from Frick’s earlier life, and in the interstitial stories following 20-something Dee and his friend Fellis, who talk in “Get Me Some Medicine” about hunting porcupines for money. In “Earth Speak” and “The Name Means Thunder,” Talty reveals more of Dee’s and Paige’s painful histories involving opioids and methadone; the latter story, narrated by a grown-up David, serves both as a standalone meditation on truth-telling and an elegant keystone to the collection. Talty brings an abundance of love and skill to his accounts of troubled lives. The ingenious structure and heartbreaking stories make this unforgettable. Agent: Rebecca Friedman, Rebecca Friedman Literary.

Starred review from October 1, 2022

Talty's debut collection of 12 connected tales gives listeners a glimpse into what it means to be a modern Penobscot living on a reservation in Maine. Told from the perspective of a Penobscot man named David, the stories move back and forth between his childhood and adulthood. The layered tales wrestle with complex and sometimes heavy topics--generational trauma, family dynamics, addiction, illness, and uncertain futures. Each is full of heart and humor, capturing the trauma and hardship, but also the joy that comes with reservation life. Narrator Darrell Dennis, an Indigenous Canadian actor, creates a moving listening experience. Dennis's carefully paced and engaging voice matches the restraint and directness of Talty's prose. Of special note is the author's note at the end. Talty explains his use of the language and the decision to use phonetic instead of traditional spelling. While listeners won't see the phonetic spelling, this note provides them with the knowledge of how the language is meant to be understood. VERDICT This rich collection of interwoven stories will add a new perspective to any collection. Highly recommended, especially for libraries looking to highlight diverse voices and communities.--Elyssa Everling

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