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A review by bunnieslikediamonds
Cataract City by Craig Davidson
5.0
I think it's safe to cross out Niagara Falls from your travel wish list. It appears to be a dreary hellhole where nothing good ever happens, if Craig Davidson's novel is any indication. Unless you're a super outdoorsy type and really into greyhound racing, illegal dog fights and boxing, you have no business there. The men are mean and the dogs do not cuddle. Smelling of cookies is not a good thing in this book.
Technically I guess it's correct to describe this as grim and gritty, as some blurbs do, but that's not exactly how I think about it. Yes, it's brutal and dark, but it's so much more than that. The writing is stunning. A critic called it "a punch to the chin", which made me think it might be the kind of writing people used to call "muscular", which is a creepy way to describe prose and makes me think of oily body builders getting stabby with a pen, but it wasn't. It was just beautiful and thoughtful and breathtaking. I had to read it in two sittings because I couldn't stop, not on account of the suspense but because the words just wouldn't stop coming at me. Enchanted, I was. How on earth did this not win the Giller prize?
Technically I guess it's correct to describe this as grim and gritty, as some blurbs do, but that's not exactly how I think about it. Yes, it's brutal and dark, but it's so much more than that. The writing is stunning. A critic called it "a punch to the chin", which made me think it might be the kind of writing people used to call "muscular", which is a creepy way to describe prose and makes me think of oily body builders getting stabby with a pen, but it wasn't. It was just beautiful and thoughtful and breathtaking. I had to read it in two sittings because I couldn't stop, not on account of the suspense but because the words just wouldn't stop coming at me. Enchanted, I was. How on earth did this not win the Giller prize?