Crux

LoveReading Says

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.

Reviewed by Liz Robinson
Liz has been an Editorial Expert writing reviews for LoveReading since 2014.
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About Crux

A heart-stopping story of friendship, thrill-seeking and defying expectations

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