Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty
A curious formalistic work, Morgan Talty's collection of short stories reads more like a novel as it traces a community living on the Penobscot Indian Reservation
Morgan Talty’s Night of the Living Rez is described as a linked story collection, and while these stories can be read individually, most will read the collection like they were reading a novel. The stories concern a group of individuals who live on the Penobscot Indian Reservation. Narrator David has troubles at home and increasingly looks elsewhere for companionship and camaraderie. As he moves from childhood into adolescence he not only loses his innocence, but his way in this world.
It’s the woman in his life; ‘Mom’, sister ‘Paige’, and ‘Grammy’, who offer him the more useful life lessons. The men are almost universally toxic influences but David is increasingly drawn to their dark side. As his addictions grow stronger and he more desperate, events build to the most heartbreaking and horrific conclusion, and as they unfold you realise that clues as to what has really been going on were there all along; but viewed through the smoke-filled and stoned consciousness of our narrator they are only clear with hindsight.
It can take a while to tune into Night of the Living Rez, but the work becomes increasingly familiar not only in terms of style but also content (Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting is just one apposite comparison – another linked story collection). That similitude was key to opening up this unfamiliar world. The best fiction can engender empathy and understanding of other people and their culture, and by writing with clarity, specificity and heart, Morgan Talty shows that there’s more that unites us than divides.