meanieheadbookreviews 's review for:

Dixon, Descending by Karen Outen

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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Don’t ask me why, but I love a mountain climbing drama. I’m not a mountain climber and don’t aspire to ever be one. But I love high altitude melodrama. I think I came across this author’s work in one of my Best American Short Story collections (I’m not positive on that). This book is about two brothers who take a run at being the first black american men to scale Everest. Obviously, things go horribly wrong. A lot of the story is the aftermath of Everest—the spiral it sends the protagonist on (the titular character descends from the mountain and then descends in life; the title is genius). It’s really well done. The plot is not linear, but it is arranged so effectively. This book was very evocative. The characters and their relationships and arcs were superb. I’ll be recommending this one to just about everyone. I believe this is the author’s debut novel, which makes it all the more impressive. I will be keeping an eye out for her future work. This book will probably be in my top bracket of finished reads this year. READ THIS BOOK.