"This penetrating, intense, and powerful coming-of-age novel set in California about platonic friendship between two young people, is a thing of beauty."
Emotionally astute, with an exquisitely intense sense of awareness of the fragility of the human mind and body, this novel explores friendship, poverty, and ambition. Tamma and Dan, in their final year of High School in California, live to rock climb, pushing themselves into extreme situations in the hope of a future in climbing.
It feels as though the author, Gabriel Tallent, writes for himself, yet his power lies in being able to take you with him, essentially a deep-dive into an incredibly immersive experience. His devastatingly beautiful debut My Absolute Darling had a huge impact on me when I read it back in 2017, it hung my emotions out to dry and I can still remember how it made me feel.
Crux, his second novel published eight years later, took me in a different direction and yet the style of writing is immediately recognisable and he has the most wonderful ability to bring a character to vibrantly intimate life. While the sport could be seen as a third character here and love letter to the world of rock climbing, it sits as a base into which these two young people struggle to understand their past, present, and future.
The characters are everything, they evoke emotion, and for me existed beyond the page. The descriptions of the landscape, of the rocks climbed, of the sport, give an immediate access even if it is unknown to you. I loved this in an entirely different way to his first novel, yet it is just as readable, just as powerful, and so as well as a Liz Pick of the Month, this also joins our LoveReading Star Books.
Provocative and intense, Crux is a beautiful coming-of-age novel featuring the friendship of a young woman and man living with ambition in emotional and financial poverty.
'Tender, immersive, and thrilling' GABRIELLE ZEVIN, author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow'One of the best novels I've ever read about friendship between a young man and a young woman ... Exciting and tension filled' STEPHEN KING'A breathtaking, thrilling and unforgettable story of friendship, of hopes and dreams against a reality so harsh it broke my heart' CHRIS WHITAKER, author of All the Colours of the Dark'Profound and stunning ... It will make you question yourself and every one of your beliefs' LIZ NUGENT, author of Strange Sally Diamond***A heartstopping story of friendship, thrill-seeking and defying expectations: the explosive second novel from the bestselling author of My Absolute DarlingDan and Tamma are two Californian teenagers growing up dirt poor in the shadows of the Joshua Tree National Park, one of the world's great rock climbing meccas. Their mothers had once been teenage waitresses and best friends until their paths diverged. Now Dan's mother spends her days locked in her room, her dreams squandered and all her hopes pinned on getting her precociously clever son out of town and away to university.Tamma's mother holds no such ambition for her mouthy, queer, truant-playing, snaggle-toothed daughter, who everyone but Dan believes to be a troublemaker and no-hoper. But Tamma and Dan are fuelled by dreams of becoming legendary rock climbers, of devoting their lives to summiting the most challenging climbs and defying all the expectations, both good and bad, that others have for them.Climbing at sun-up, on cliff faces that test their bodies to the limit, is where their friendship is forged. It's also the one thing that gives them hope. But as their final year of high school unfolds and their climbs become ever more dangerous, and their home lives ever more extreme, it's inevitable that something is going to snap...
| Primary Genre | Literary Fiction |
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'Tender, immersive, and thrilling' GABRIELLE ZEVIN, author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow'One of the best novels I've ever read about friendship between a young man and a young woman ... Exciting and tension filled' STEPHEN KING'A breathtaking, thrilling and unforgettable story of friendship, of hopes and dreams against a reality so harsh it broke my heart' CHRIS WHITAKER, author of All the Colours of the Dark'Profound and stunning ...
Crux features in the following genres: Book Club Recommendations, Liz Robinson's Picks of the Month, Recommendations, Star Books, Literary Fiction, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Narrative theme: Love and relationships, Narrative theme: Social issues, Climbing and mountaineering, Literary Fiction, Narrative theme: Coming of age, Narrative theme: Sense of place
Paperback, Hardback. Not Available.
Crux was written by Gabriel Tallent and published by Fig Tree an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd
Crux has 352 pages
