The New Valley: Novellas

Josh Weil's writing is visceral. The physical quality of his descriptions and the way he designs the stories are unusual and compelling. For example, at the end of the first story Osby resolves the problem that was presented in the story's first sentence. The author's drawings illustrate the second story's central metaphor. The language in the third story lets you watch a bit removed as the main character is treated as one who is removed from everyday society. These three stories describe the core being of three different bone lonely men told in a convincing way. They are worth reading several times.

I am an avid reader, especially of newly published fiction. This is right up there with the Pulizer-winning Olive Kitteridge (2008) by Elizabeth Strout. The book consists of three separate, but inter-linked, short novels set in the hardness that life offers those who live it out in America's backcountry. Then there are those who finally give up, pull the trigger. And that is where the reader will find herself when opening up a book that I suspect will not be easy to put down. The language is truly brilliant with skies that are tacked up by stars. There are books which I treat like a rich dessert, refusing to let myself finish up because I just know that the next book I pick up will be so much less. And this is just that kind of work. It will get awards--or it should anyway.

The depth and grace of the storytelling, the lyric precision of the language, the richly-rendered setting, and the unforgettable characters make The New Valley a stunning, accomplished debut. Best of all, it's unlike any book I have read before. Weil is an undeniably powerful new voice in contemporary fiction.

This is the satisfying read of the spring. I have stacked next to me the Spivet book, and one about when Thoreau set fire to the woods around Concord, and another about a novelist in Iran in a struggle with his censor. Each is fine, and I'll get through them, plus the stack of other books that are there too, but this collection of novellas is what I was longing for...you just read it and can have a satisfied "yes" response. Have had similar reactions to the first novel I read by Rick Bass, and Jim Harrison, and McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses and Doig's Dancing at Rascal Creek, and Ron Carlson. Take the first novella: images, such as late spring snow, and sunset, a deserted house, cars driving in the distance worked into great, paced story telling. The main character of the novella is revealed as a complex flesh and blood guy, not some mopey sad sack, not some romantic heroic larger than life man-of-solitude, and yet he's more than just his singular life--seems to point to verities of living. Of all the books for this spring, this is the one I'll want to put in other's hands.

I was lucky enough to read an advance copy of Josh Weil's first book, and it is extraordinary. He is the real deal; a great writer with something to say about the intricate sadness and bravery and hopefulness of the human heart. Set in the hardscrabble country of Southwest Virginia, each of these three novellas is a gem, each different, each moving and involving and stunning in the simplicity and beauty of the language. Josh Weil is The Next Great Thing in American fiction. Don't miss it.