Well

A rare contemporary novel that speaks to a contemporary reader on a profoundly human level, without formulaic politics, or formulaic psychology, or condescension, or cuteness, or formulaic humanity, but with the voice of an author who, like a good doctor, cares genuinely about some very sick patients, his characters, not even despite but because of their flaws. Compared to Selby and Carver by some, this may be especially so to the extent that each of them shows traces of Dubliners, as McIntosh distinguishes himself with characters that could really be anyone at all, and are, though of a very particular time and place. Others have synopsized the plot and style, so there is no need to repeat. Suffice to say, the author manifests a sophistication and subtlety of human study well beyond his young years, and this reader has not been as deeply touched by contemporary fiction in a long time, when contemporary meant something else entirely.

Well done, McIntosh. I've never been to Seattle, or kept tropical fish, or got a girl pregnant, or been kept hostage by a gun-man but having read "Well," I've a pretty good idea of what all that feels like. McIntosh's method of layering personalities and events one over the other gave me the same delight I get from stripping layers of wallpaper from old walls - I am fascinated by all the different designs and choices people have made. "Well" is like that. It's non-linear, character-driven but with plots forced into small spaces like little fingers in wall-sockets. I loved it. http://www.bagoodjohn.blogspot.com

This book is a lot of things. It's depressing, it's sad and it's dark. It's funny, it's real and it's honest. And most of all, it's very hard to put down. Matthew McIntosh is a 26 year old son of a preacher who spent time in London and California before landing in a little suburb of Seattle called Federal Way, the setting for the book. The book follows the lives and relationships of many people who are lost, despondent, disturbed, and struggling to just get through one more day. This is a brutally frank snapshot of people that most of us of hope we never meet and pray we never become. We see them on street corners, in alleys, in parks and sometimes right next door, though we pretend to not notice and hope to God they don't notice us. McIntosh's writing style is unconventional and compelling at the same time. It is refreshingly (and shockingly) different.

Like Carver? Denis Johnson? Well even if you don't you should give this innovative and masterful book a try. McIntosh weaves together the lives of his suburbanite characters into a picture of modern life unlike any yet presented. His voice is incredibly original and is the true genius behind the book but what's remarkable for a first novel is that this voice really has something to say.

"Well" is a hard-earned marvel, and Matt McIntosh is a nothing less than a prodigy. His book focuses on a tapestry of broken lives in Federal Way, Washington, outside of Seattle, drawn together by the common ailments of discontentment, disillusionment, and a yearning for some small redemption. The chapter (or story) "Fishboy," about a young man suffering from the break-up of his family, has a raw, wrenching power like something I've rarely encountered in contemporary fiction, somewhat like the stories in Denis Johnson's "Jesus' Son," but wholly Matt McIntosh's, wholly unique. His work has a kind of poetic integrity that signals a rare talent, a new voice.