A review by emma_naomi
August by Callan Wink
4.0
I adored 'Dog, Run, Moon' - Callan's debut short story collection, despite never having been a lover of short stories in the past! So I've been waiting for this for a long time!!
This is a wonderful, quiet and emotional coming of age novel, beautifully written and the descriptions of the landscape and people of Montana are one of my favourite things about it. But it is an odd novel in the sense that August is not much of a character - he's just trying to quietly figure his life out. The characters around him are much more rounded, which is intentional of course and I imagine very hard to pull off, and it's through them that we really get a sense of August. But in a way this is also it's downfall - it can't help but feel like a string of short stories in some sense. I feel perhaps Callan has a preference for the short story form as there are so many perfectly formed stories within this novel that would easily stand alone,and in fact the novel is obviously an expansion of one of his short stories from 'Dog, Run, Moon'.
This isn't a book for everyone - it's very masculine, it has barely any plot and it has some a couple of very brutal incidents that will make me think carefully about who I recommend this to. But I will make no secret of the fact that I adore Callan's writing, and I am already excited again for what he will write next! He has this incredible ability to write such real characters and relationships - the telephone calls between him and his father are some of the most touching and poignant scenes of the whole book, despite most of them being spent talking about the weather! The final 30-40 pages of this novel are absolute perfection and had me completely welling up.
This is a wonderful, quiet and emotional coming of age novel, beautifully written and the descriptions of the landscape and people of Montana are one of my favourite things about it. But it is an odd novel in the sense that August is not much of a character - he's just trying to quietly figure his life out. The characters around him are much more rounded, which is intentional of course and I imagine very hard to pull off, and it's through them that we really get a sense of August. But in a way this is also it's downfall - it can't help but feel like a string of short stories in some sense. I feel perhaps Callan has a preference for the short story form as there are so many perfectly formed stories within this novel that would easily stand alone,and in fact the novel is obviously an expansion of one of his short stories from 'Dog, Run, Moon'.
This isn't a book for everyone - it's very masculine, it has barely any plot and it has some a couple of very brutal incidents that will make me think carefully about who I recommend this to. But I will make no secret of the fact that I adore Callan's writing, and I am already excited again for what he will write next! He has this incredible ability to write such real characters and relationships - the telephone calls between him and his father are some of the most touching and poignant scenes of the whole book, despite most of them being spent talking about the weather! The final 30-40 pages of this novel are absolute perfection and had me completely welling up.