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A review by jakewritesbooks
Gravesend by William Boyle
4.0
And so I circle back to the beginning of William Boyle’s catalog, with his new one Shoot the Moonlight Out already in hand.
I tried reading Gravesend multiple times over the years. But it didn’t stick. It reminded me of George Pelecanos’ work, which I admire more than enjoy: character-focused neighborhood-centric stories in which crime just randomly happens and people get drawn in because they can’t escape their circumstances. Those books always sound like fun more than they read like it.
At the onset of the pandemic, with nothing else to do, I tried The Lonely Witness, since it seemed like a straightforward crime story. And it was, but I also think it’s Boyle’s weakest book. It tells the story from only one perspective, a character I wasn’t much interested in. Boyle’s strength is doing multiple character’s and their POVs.
City of Margins was his newest one as of last year and I grabbed it while still quarantined. It was very good, a step up over everything and made me think there was something to this Boyle. And then I got to A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself, which rocketed him to my favorite authors list. An excellent book.
So at last, for white whale, I went back to where it all began and this one is as good as anything he’s written. Now that I know his rhythms as a writer, I appreciate them more. He has a GRRM-esque ability to write characters that play against type: the vengeance-seeking brother of a murdered kid whose heart isn’t into revenge, the released ex con who wants to die but doesn’t know how, the failed actress who knows its over even if she refuses to say it out loud, the wannabe tough guy 15-year old with a bad limp. Above them are the older folks that populate the depressed area of Gravesend, Brooklyn, waiting for their turn to die.
I loved how the story unfolded, particularly around the revenge narrative and Alessandra’s. The kid’s less so, though it had a great conclusion.
All in all, it’s a great effort from Boyle who is one of the best out there with these outerboro NYC crime stories in which people can never really leave their neighborhoods.
I tried reading Gravesend multiple times over the years. But it didn’t stick. It reminded me of George Pelecanos’ work, which I admire more than enjoy: character-focused neighborhood-centric stories in which crime just randomly happens and people get drawn in because they can’t escape their circumstances. Those books always sound like fun more than they read like it.
At the onset of the pandemic, with nothing else to do, I tried The Lonely Witness, since it seemed like a straightforward crime story. And it was, but I also think it’s Boyle’s weakest book. It tells the story from only one perspective, a character I wasn’t much interested in. Boyle’s strength is doing multiple character’s and their POVs.
City of Margins was his newest one as of last year and I grabbed it while still quarantined. It was very good, a step up over everything and made me think there was something to this Boyle. And then I got to A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself, which rocketed him to my favorite authors list. An excellent book.
So at last, for white whale, I went back to where it all began and this one is as good as anything he’s written. Now that I know his rhythms as a writer, I appreciate them more. He has a GRRM-esque ability to write characters that play against type: the vengeance-seeking brother of a murdered kid whose heart isn’t into revenge, the released ex con who wants to die but doesn’t know how, the failed actress who knows its over even if she refuses to say it out loud, the wannabe tough guy 15-year old with a bad limp. Above them are the older folks that populate the depressed area of Gravesend, Brooklyn, waiting for their turn to die.
I loved how the story unfolded, particularly around the revenge narrative and Alessandra’s. The kid’s less so, though it had a great conclusion.
All in all, it’s a great effort from Boyle who is one of the best out there with these outerboro NYC crime stories in which people can never really leave their neighborhoods.