The War for Gloria

There are few writers whose every book I know I'll read, but, two books in, Atticus Lish is one of them. His debut novel, Preparations for the Next Life, grabs your lapels with its story of two people at the desperate edge of American life, and his second holds on just as hard. His short sentences come at you with a declarative velocity, and his characters push themselves with a similar urgency, even when they are stuck, churning and feeling like they are getting nowhere, like Corey Goltz, the teenage son of a single, ailing mom on the outskirts of Boston, trying to find a father figure and a foothold in a cruel world. If this book had a smell, it would be a gym mat after a long day of mixed martial arts training sessions. Luckily, it doesn't, but you may find yourself needing a shower, or a long, brooding walk, after it's done.