Staff Pick
Another great gut punch from Kevin Canty. Focusing on people from a small Idaho town in the aftermath of a mining accident that kills 91 people, Canty shows deep empathy for his surviving characters and how people cope after such an event. Canty knows how to build a moving novel with authentic dialogue and that specific kind of small-town depression and loneliness. He's one of my favorite writers. Recommended By Kevin S., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
For readers of Russell Banks and Richard Ford, a novel about loss, love, and redemption following a catastrophe in a small mining town.
In The Underworld, Kevin Canty tells a story inspired by the facts of a disastrous fire that took place in an isolated silver mining town in Idaho in the 1970s, in which almost everyone in town lost a friend, a lover, a brother, or a husband. The Underworld imagines the fates of a handful of fictional survivors and their loved ones — Jordan, a young widow with twin children; David, a college student trying to make a life for himself in another town; Lionel, a lifelong hard-rock miner — as they struggle to come to terms with the loss. It’s a tough, hard-working, hard-drinking town, a town of whores and priests and bar fights, but nobody’s tough enough to get through this undamaged. A powerful and unforgettable tale about small-town lives and the healing power of love in the midst of suffering.
Review
"The Underworld pierces with busted hearts, broken families, and the gristly days of work and drink that bind them. A lovely, melodic, and unsparing look at small-town life in the West." Deborah Reed
Review
"A timely reminder of the tremendously complicated questions communities in the American West face. And faced. And will face. These are superbly drawn people in an impeccably told tale, a perfect storm and novel." Antonya Nelson
Review
"Canty writes with uncanny insight into the unspeakable beauty of life itself." Brad Watson
Review
"Any writer will admire and envy his deft management of a range of characters and storylines… Any reader will empathize with his sometimes flawed, sometimes valiant people, as they wrestle with the perplexities of social class, family, and love." David Gates
About the Author
Kevin Canty is the author of four novels and three short story collections and has been published in The New Yorker, Esquire, GQ, and the New York Times Magazine. He currently teaches at the University of Montana in Missoula.