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Wyoming
A Kirkus Best Fiction of 2019 Pick! A cross between Daniel Woodrell and Annie Proulx, Wyoming is about the stubborn grip of inertia and whether or not it is possible to live without accepting oneself. It’s 1988 and Shelley Cooper is in trouble. He’s broke, he’s been fired from his construction job, and his ex-wife has left him for their next door neighbor and a new life in Kansas City. The only opportunity on his horizon is fifty pounds of his brother’s high-grade marijuana, which needs to be driven from Colorado to Houston and exchanged for a lockbox full of cash. The delivery goes off without a hitch, but getting home with the money proves to be a different challenge altogether. Fueled by a grab bag of resentments and self punishment, Shelley becomes a case study in the question of whether it’s possible to live without accepting yourself, and the dope money is the key to a lock he might never find. JP Gritton’s portrait of a hapless aspirant at odds with himself and everyone around him is both tender and ruthless, and Wyoming considers the possibility of redemption in a world that grants forgiveness grudgingly, if at all.
242 pages, Paperback
First published November 19, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
January 16, 2020
Country grit, Stark lives with what seems as little opportunity. Yet surprises await around every corner, could things notnbe as straightforward as they seem.?
I thought the writing was very emblematic of both place and time. Shelley, a man who can't seem to make good choices nor step out of his own way. The prose is straightforward, the writing natural, without artifice. Shelley is a man who wants story known.
I thought the writing was very emblematic of both place and time. Shelley, a man who can't seem to make good choices nor step out of his own way. The prose is straightforward, the writing natural, without artifice. Shelley is a man who wants story known.
August 31, 2020
I know that sometimes books only loosely have something to do with their title. Maybe it is something symbolic or poetic. But, it is not always 100% related to what you read. I picked this up because the title is Wyoming and I am originally from Wyoming. Other than a couple of passing comments and one scene early in the book, it has nothing to do with Wyoming. So, I am a bit confused about the title, but that doesn't have anything to do with how I will review the book (just odd!)
2.5 to 3 stars
Disjointed and haphazard writing. Lots of time jumps - often unclear. Okay story and interesting characters. Not so sure about the ending. Not terrible, but not entirely fulfilling. It took me a long time to read this because I was not all that excited to get back to it.
I am not quite sure who I would recommend this book to as I think I would be hard pressed to describe what exactly it is. I guess the structure reminds me a bit of Cormac McCarthy, but definitely not in the same league. If you have a lot of extra time and nothing to read, it is not a bad way to spend a few hours, but you also might end up wishing you spent your time reading something else. That is pretty much how I feel - even though I am okay with the fact I read it.
Confusing enough of a review for you? 🙂
2.5 to 3 stars
Disjointed and haphazard writing. Lots of time jumps - often unclear. Okay story and interesting characters. Not so sure about the ending. Not terrible, but not entirely fulfilling. It took me a long time to read this because I was not all that excited to get back to it.
I am not quite sure who I would recommend this book to as I think I would be hard pressed to describe what exactly it is. I guess the structure reminds me a bit of Cormac McCarthy, but definitely not in the same league. If you have a lot of extra time and nothing to read, it is not a bad way to spend a few hours, but you also might end up wishing you spent your time reading something else. That is pretty much how I feel - even though I am okay with the fact I read it.
Confusing enough of a review for you? 🙂
August 31, 2019
Shelley Cooper is a narrator without boundaries. His has been a life of missed chances and bad choices, and yet there are a few who cut him some slack seemingly without cause. At a particularly loose end, he goes on a mission for his absolutely horrible brother (I must admit to never understanding why these errands exist except to set up a plot point, but then, maybe it's a guy-thing). And yet I admit being somewhat fascinated at his style as he spools his yarn in clear prose. No, he may not be "likeable" as others have claimed, but he's all too human and who hasn't made a few choices they've regretted.
June 10, 2019
Even though it's a fairly easy read, I know I was reading because I was hoping there'd be a shift to something a bit larger, a bit more revealing. Since the novel is set up with the narrator speaking to the readers, that puts a different onus on the readers because we can't really interject anything, and at times, I found that technique a bit tiresome, mainly because the narrator was so damn sexist toward all the women in the book. The narrator, our main character who is really hung up on admiring his best friend, even though we never see his best friend reciprocating, stumbles through life following this friend and blaming his older brother for the death of their mother. He never really matures. When his grandfather points out it wasn't his brother's fault that their mother died, he doesn't accept that and make amends for his brother, even though they are adults when all this happens. He doesn't take responsibility for his son. Basically, he's not a likable character, so hearing the story from his POV was a bit annoying because he assumes his readers will care about all the shit he gets into and how he fares in the end, but we don't. He's just not likable.
January 22, 2020
I find it troubling to read books about people who make one bad decision after another and never seem to get any wiser. I would have liked to have known that the main character felt remorse for his actions, but it was not clear to me that he did. I also found it disjointed the way the author skipped around in the time line. Seemingly these were flashbacks, but I had to work to keep track of which timeline we were actually in at that moment. Once I finished the book, I wasn't sure what message or lesson I was supposed to take away from it.
December 28, 2019
You’re probably not Sheldon (Shelley) Cooper, but he’s worth knowing, maybe worth understanding. Life has thrown him1 a few curves including an ex-wife, job he no longer has and a challenge he’ll soon come to face that is unlike anything he has faced before. With no money, he agrees to help out his brother by transporting a load of marijuana – a lot of marijuana – all the way to Texas from Colorado. That turns out not to be a problem but that’s when life throws another curve. Now he’s got to get the money back home and that’s not going to be easy. I don’t know what you’ll think of Shelley when you’re done reading, but one thing can be said: It’s a heck of a lot easier to find out what life’s like on the other side by reading about it than it is living it. Oh, and this one’s darn well written, too. And it’s full of fascinating, well-drawn characters. And the plot’s, well, different, with dialogue that’s so authentic you’ll be mesmerized. I loved it!
I met this book at Auntie's Bookstore in Spokane, WA.
I met this book at Auntie's Bookstore in Spokane, WA.
August 11, 2021
3.5 stars.
An authentic, pitch-perfect portrait of an America too often caricatured or ignored. That's what Alice McDermott has to say about this book, and, upon finishing it, I can't help but think that I've never read a truer book blurb in my life.
This is a book of bad choices, and missed opportunities, of hopelessness and broken families, and it's narrated by our protagonist, Shelley. It's important to know that Shelley is no hero, he self sabotages at every turn, he's fueled by rage and hatred. As his fumbling efforts to return his brother's money unfold, it's easy to pity him, but at times, it's just as easy to hate him.
As a novel, this is a well written, fun addition to the grit lit genre. This book, however, is exactly why review sites need a half star system, because it's not a 3-star read, but it's not quite a 4 either.
An authentic, pitch-perfect portrait of an America too often caricatured or ignored. That's what Alice McDermott has to say about this book, and, upon finishing it, I can't help but think that I've never read a truer book blurb in my life.
This is a book of bad choices, and missed opportunities, of hopelessness and broken families, and it's narrated by our protagonist, Shelley. It's important to know that Shelley is no hero, he self sabotages at every turn, he's fueled by rage and hatred. As his fumbling efforts to return his brother's money unfold, it's easy to pity him, but at times, it's just as easy to hate him.
As a novel, this is a well written, fun addition to the grit lit genre. This book, however, is exactly why review sites need a half star system, because it's not a 3-star read, but it's not quite a 4 either.
June 21, 2020
Once again I need a half star as this book was not quite a 4. I enjoyed this book but I was hoping for a different ending. The ending wasn't really bad, just different than I expected.
June 27, 2021
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley to read and review.
WYOMING by author J.P. Gritton is the story of Shelley, a younger man who comes from a difficult past that makes his chance at happiness and success in the future seem unlikely with the perception others have of him, and the bleak prospects available to him.
Shelley lacks options and is without other lucrative possibilities, so he finds himself entangled in a drug deal that goes wrong that his older brother hired him to deliver the product.
Clayton is Shelley’s older brother who has spent 5 years in jail previously and while he’s a criminal, he’s a loving husband and father, which is also true of his lifelong best friend Mike.
Sovereign is the name of Jack’s 6 year old son who he hasn’t seen for 5 of those years, and his ex-wife and her husband now call him Jack, which doesn’t set well with Shel since it was the boy’s grandfather’s name although he can’t very well object due to his absence in the boy’s life.
Can Jack find a way to mend the broken relationships in his life in addition to atoning for his part in the drugs being lost which has caused his brother an enormous financial setback?
Rough story that doesn’t add a lot of sunshine into the life of Shelley or his friends and family, and while I’m a fan of rural “hick-lit” type novels that include characters often in a hopeless existence, this was a hard one to read at times as the leading character doesn’t seem to have a clue of how to relate to others and especially those he’s closest to.
4 stars (even though this is another example of the need for both Net Galley and Goodreads to include half stars as there is a large gap between a 3 and 4 star rating).
WYOMING by author J.P. Gritton is the story of Shelley, a younger man who comes from a difficult past that makes his chance at happiness and success in the future seem unlikely with the perception others have of him, and the bleak prospects available to him.
Shelley lacks options and is without other lucrative possibilities, so he finds himself entangled in a drug deal that goes wrong that his older brother hired him to deliver the product.
Clayton is Shelley’s older brother who has spent 5 years in jail previously and while he’s a criminal, he’s a loving husband and father, which is also true of his lifelong best friend Mike.
Sovereign is the name of Jack’s 6 year old son who he hasn’t seen for 5 of those years, and his ex-wife and her husband now call him Jack, which doesn’t set well with Shel since it was the boy’s grandfather’s name although he can’t very well object due to his absence in the boy’s life.
Can Jack find a way to mend the broken relationships in his life in addition to atoning for his part in the drugs being lost which has caused his brother an enormous financial setback?
Rough story that doesn’t add a lot of sunshine into the life of Shelley or his friends and family, and while I’m a fan of rural “hick-lit” type novels that include characters often in a hopeless existence, this was a hard one to read at times as the leading character doesn’t seem to have a clue of how to relate to others and especially those he’s closest to.
4 stars (even though this is another example of the need for both Net Galley and Goodreads to include half stars as there is a large gap between a 3 and 4 star rating).
January 16, 2020
A colleague of mine counted this as one of his favorites last year. I can appreciate a downbeat book about a man making all of the wrong decisions, hoping for a shot at redemption. But Shelley Cooper sure is one unreliable narrator and unlikeable guy, and my tolerance for toxic and/or tragic masculinity is pretty low these days. So amidst the homophobic slurs and general white guy myopia, I was pretty unimpressed overall. It's no Kent Haruf, who can write these down and out and even somewhat trashy white characters with a lot more dignity and depth. But it you like to read about assholes who don't learn from the traumas in their lives other than to keep passing them on, then this is for you.
January 6, 2020
I found the book entitled: Wyoming by J.P. Gritton very hard to follow because it was so disjointed. The author kept going back and forth with the story line so it was hard to follow where the book was headed. I kept reading the book until I finished, hoping it would get better but it never did. I would not recommend this book for reading.
October 15, 2020
"If you asked me what I walked over to him for, I don’t believe I’d have an answer for you. It wasn’t to apologize, I don’t think, unless I’m wrong about that. Unless all I’m telling you here is that I did my brother dirty and I’m sorry for it."
We've all known people like Sheldon "Shelley" Cooper, though we rarely read about them, which is a shame because people who have some measure of control over what they say and do, who have wills capable of struggling with their instincts, are always more interesting than people whose faulty brain chemistry overrides any contrary forces within. After all, conflict, internal as well as external, is the driver of all good fiction, is it not? People like Shelley: they're not sociopaths or psychopaths, though they may be personality-disordered to some degree. They're capable of feeling bad. What they're not capable of checking the bad things they do and say that, or of fully facing up to the consequences of the wreckage they've caused. Because they don't really understand why they act as if they have righetous grievances when they really don't — they just know that when the time comes to step up and be nice, the meanness cuts ahead in line and manhandles the moment.
And so Shelley, itinerant carpenter, laborer, semi-deadbeat dad, thief and vandal, has stretched his closest relationships — with his brother, sister and best friend — beyond the breaking point, continually punishing them for the capital crime of giving him second chances in search of some untapped reservoir of goodness. That's what you do for the people you love, right? So when Shelley's brother Clayton, who grows and distributes illegal weed, gives him a chance to make a small fortune by making a road-trip transaction, even he knows ahead of time that he's going to blow it in part because he wants to blow it, because he wants to keep on hurting the people he loves and because he deep down doesn't think he deserves anything good or redemptive. As Shelley puts it:
“Well it wasn’t me stole it,” I told him, but then that idea come to mind again, the one I hadn’t been able to shake since that night at the Seaside: somehow I’d wanted it all to go south, I’d lost Clayton’s money cause I wanted it lost. And I couldn’t rightly blame that whore, either, cause it was me who let her in the room. I felt awful for what I’d done to those girls. I was sorry for everything. And what seems strange to me now, I never did apologize to Clayton."
And that's the just the setup: most of WYOMING is about Shelley's fumbling efforts to navigate the fallout from the fifty thousand dollars he failed to bring back home: with his brother and sister, his ex-wife, his ex-best friend, and a host of others.. Things happen, and relationships change, and Shelley does his best to rise to certain moments, but don't look for redemptive arcs, tidy or otherwise, in this rough-hewn but emotionally true debut. Instead, look for the fullest possible explanation of a fascinatingly lost character in a ale rich with incident but never "twisty" in a calculated, commercial sense. What WYOMING, and the thunderously talented JP Gritton, has to offer is far more satisfying.
It's been described as "Daniel Woodrell meets E. Annie Proulx," but what it really is is "JP Gritton." Keep an eye on him.
We've all known people like Sheldon "Shelley" Cooper, though we rarely read about them, which is a shame because people who have some measure of control over what they say and do, who have wills capable of struggling with their instincts, are always more interesting than people whose faulty brain chemistry overrides any contrary forces within. After all, conflict, internal as well as external, is the driver of all good fiction, is it not? People like Shelley: they're not sociopaths or psychopaths, though they may be personality-disordered to some degree. They're capable of feeling bad. What they're not capable of checking the bad things they do and say that, or of fully facing up to the consequences of the wreckage they've caused. Because they don't really understand why they act as if they have righetous grievances when they really don't — they just know that when the time comes to step up and be nice, the meanness cuts ahead in line and manhandles the moment.
And so Shelley, itinerant carpenter, laborer, semi-deadbeat dad, thief and vandal, has stretched his closest relationships — with his brother, sister and best friend — beyond the breaking point, continually punishing them for the capital crime of giving him second chances in search of some untapped reservoir of goodness. That's what you do for the people you love, right? So when Shelley's brother Clayton, who grows and distributes illegal weed, gives him a chance to make a small fortune by making a road-trip transaction, even he knows ahead of time that he's going to blow it in part because he wants to blow it, because he wants to keep on hurting the people he loves and because he deep down doesn't think he deserves anything good or redemptive. As Shelley puts it:
“Well it wasn’t me stole it,” I told him, but then that idea come to mind again, the one I hadn’t been able to shake since that night at the Seaside: somehow I’d wanted it all to go south, I’d lost Clayton’s money cause I wanted it lost. And I couldn’t rightly blame that whore, either, cause it was me who let her in the room. I felt awful for what I’d done to those girls. I was sorry for everything. And what seems strange to me now, I never did apologize to Clayton."
And that's the just the setup: most of WYOMING is about Shelley's fumbling efforts to navigate the fallout from the fifty thousand dollars he failed to bring back home: with his brother and sister, his ex-wife, his ex-best friend, and a host of others.. Things happen, and relationships change, and Shelley does his best to rise to certain moments, but don't look for redemptive arcs, tidy or otherwise, in this rough-hewn but emotionally true debut. Instead, look for the fullest possible explanation of a fascinatingly lost character in a ale rich with incident but never "twisty" in a calculated, commercial sense. What WYOMING, and the thunderously talented JP Gritton, has to offer is far more satisfying.
It's been described as "Daniel Woodrell meets E. Annie Proulx," but what it really is is "JP Gritton." Keep an eye on him.
March 29, 2020
The action in this book is intense, and the relationships between the characters is well written. However, the main character is unlikable, unbeatable, and the resolution made me care less for this reading experience.
March 22, 2020
Sheldon decides to take a job offered by his brother making a drug hand-off down in Texas, but things don't quite go as planned.
This is a gritty, character driven story about a guy who is his own worst enemy. I've seen this plot play out on screen many times before (drug run gone wrong), but it's not one I've experienced on the page as often. I really love the writing style. It's as if Shell is telling you the story verbally in a conversational tone that reflects the grammar and wording of spoken rather than written language. It made the story come to life and feel authentic and real.
It's hard to like Shell but I really wanted to and tried to more than I actually did. He self-sabotages and projects so much loathing into the space around him, and it was a little heartbreaking when I finally started to understand why he is the way he is, but it made him more of a tragic character in my eyes, not much more likable. I love his reflective nature but found it frustrating that his realizations rarely lead to him alter his thinking or behavior.
This isn't quite the hero story I was hoping for. I'm unsure of how much the protagonist really changes as a result of his experience. If Shell had the chance to do it all over again, I don't think he'd change a thing despite some of the truths he faces along the way, and that left me feeling a little dissatisfied. This is an interesting character story though, one I'd love to discuss with someone who has read it, so give this book a try and you be the judge.
This is a gritty, character driven story about a guy who is his own worst enemy. I've seen this plot play out on screen many times before (drug run gone wrong), but it's not one I've experienced on the page as often. I really love the writing style. It's as if Shell is telling you the story verbally in a conversational tone that reflects the grammar and wording of spoken rather than written language. It made the story come to life and feel authentic and real.
It's hard to like Shell but I really wanted to and tried to more than I actually did. He self-sabotages and projects so much loathing into the space around him, and it was a little heartbreaking when I finally started to understand why he is the way he is, but it made him more of a tragic character in my eyes, not much more likable. I love his reflective nature but found it frustrating that his realizations rarely lead to him alter his thinking or behavior.
This isn't quite the hero story I was hoping for. I'm unsure of how much the protagonist really changes as a result of his experience. If Shell had the chance to do it all over again, I don't think he'd change a thing despite some of the truths he faces along the way, and that left me feeling a little dissatisfied. This is an interesting character story though, one I'd love to discuss with someone who has read it, so give this book a try and you be the judge.
September 16, 2020
This is not the type of book I usually like. The main protagonist is a horrible person to begin with. The ending is not particularly satisfying. The stylistic idiosyncrasies of the voice never stop being distracting. And yet, Wyoming held my interest from start to finish and, somehow, provided an enjoyable reading experience.
May 2, 2021
Very solid. It took me probably the first quarter of the book to catch the pace and get the proper feel for the narrative but that was probably on me. Once I got a feel for it this book flew by, very much so a recommend although the story gave me anxiety at times. I caught myself waiting for that other shoe to drop as it had been shown to do from to time throughout the story.
January 8, 2020
Really enjoyed reading this very realistic tale. The fact that the main character is so flawed made it very believable. The fact that he's aware of his shortcomings made the story especially interesting.
January 1, 2020
The only word I can think of to describe this book is “gritty”. I read it really fast- kept my interest and the characters were well done. I couldn’t give it a four because I really wanted Shelley to have some redemption- but that never came. Well-written book. Gave me all kinds of hopelessness. I guess I like at least a little ray of sunshine in a book, though.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 14, 2020
Wyoming takes place mostly in Colorado, Texas and Missouri, but, hey, Fargo was excellent movie and pretty good TV series, that barely touched North Dakota. And like Fargo, this book is full of hard-bitten bad guys amid midwesterners emitting false-pleasantries, set against sprawling cold landscapes.
I particularly enjoyed the first-person dirty conversational style -- a lot of attitude with off-beat colloquialisms and the occasional "oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you this part..." It fit nicely with the relatively simple plot -- a shady road-trip gone wrong, which is broken up with flashbacks and flash-forwards.
But the protagonist himself was difficult to ride along with. Normally I relish tales of criminals, even dishonorable ones, but the main character here isn't just a thief and a liar and lawbreaker... his self-loathing anger is so misplaced, it makes him a petty, mean-spirited jerk. I suppose his downward spiral and questionable redemption is the point of the novel, but for me, his hatefulness is redeemed largely due to his honest and cool narration. All in all, I think this author wrote a great debut novel; I'd definitely read his next one.
I particularly enjoyed the first-person dirty conversational style -- a lot of attitude with off-beat colloquialisms and the occasional "oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you this part..." It fit nicely with the relatively simple plot -- a shady road-trip gone wrong, which is broken up with flashbacks and flash-forwards.
But the protagonist himself was difficult to ride along with. Normally I relish tales of criminals, even dishonorable ones, but the main character here isn't just a thief and a liar and lawbreaker... his self-loathing anger is so misplaced, it makes him a petty, mean-spirited jerk. I suppose his downward spiral and questionable redemption is the point of the novel, but for me, his hatefulness is redeemed largely due to his honest and cool narration. All in all, I think this author wrote a great debut novel; I'd definitely read his next one.
December 26, 2019
Oh man. What a novel. It’s been a long long while since I’ve picked up a book that’s really compelled me to keep turning the page. I finished this book on a venture to Death Valley NP, and stayed up late into the night with a flashlight under the covers. And every time I put it down to try to get some rest I found myself picking it right back up again. Gritton is serious talent
January 4, 2020
I got this book because I thought it was going to be about my home state (Wyo represent!) but it really didn’t have a whole lot to do with Wyoming at all. And at first, I didn’t like the voice of the main character and thought he was awful. I was going to DNF it, but then I started getting into it and before I knew it..I had finished it! I still think the main character is awful, but it was a compelling story and I’d definitely read more from this author.
February 22, 2020
Gritty book that exudes real, messy life...beyond the obvious drama. Liked the author's treatment of forgiveness, family, and perseverance.
Probably a 3.5-stars read. As the first book of 2020, I'm rounding up.
Probably a 3.5-stars read. As the first book of 2020, I'm rounding up.
July 8, 2020
“I thought about the road home, all shot to hell and the pavement split and ribbed, and I thought about the security box snug behind the seat, and Lij’s Luger snug in the cuff of my boot again. In my hand, a bottle of Jack “Daniels on sale for $11.99. What I’m saying, don’t think for a second I was dumb enough to figure it would turn out all right.”
Welcome to High Plains Hard-boiled! No more city streets, air clotted with noise and smoke, wisecracking, dangerous dames, tough guys with vaguely ethnic accents and swarthy miens. And, don't expect the steely-eyed, laconic, post-Wild Bill Hickcok ranchers and cowhands with their beat-up Ford F100s. This ain't no Brokeback Mountain . . . it's not Thom McGuane's Deadrock . . bye-bye Willa Cather and her sublime heroines.
Instead, J.P. Gritton's hard-hitting proletarian novel reads more like Daniel Woodrell meets Terrence Malick's Badlands or Charles Portis as tragedian rather than comedian. Work is hard but scarce and tenuous. Families pull together and pull apart. The road is an invitation to disaster, not escape. Across these mean steppes a man must travel who is not himself mean, who is both tarnished and afraid. That man's name is Shelley Cooper - - and he belongs to America's greatest contribution to world literature - -the beautiful loser.
What joins Gritton's supremely well-written novel to the hard-boiled tradition is this: every decision is a bad decision because the choices are bunk. Shelley's gut-felt moral actions - -for instance, to punish his brother and help his friend - - end in disaster not just because he's foolish but also because - - as Hemingway phrased it in To Have and Have Not - - a man alone ain't got no bloody chance. Shelley's struggle is individual but general: he knows the truth - - about himself, his family, his situation - - but the truth is too difficult. No magical solutions or victories for Shelley, only the recognition that - - to paraphrase an Irish writer - - he is a creature driven and derided by vanity, his consciousness burning with anguish and anger.
Besides this character study of the doomed prisoners of the American dream, Gritton's other main accomplishment is Shelley Cooper's voice - - a plain-spoken but rich idiom knitted together from the linguistic wreckage of small-town Missouri, the resources of American sass and slang, and old testament judgment.
Welcome to High Plains Hard-boiled! No more city streets, air clotted with noise and smoke, wisecracking, dangerous dames, tough guys with vaguely ethnic accents and swarthy miens. And, don't expect the steely-eyed, laconic, post-Wild Bill Hickcok ranchers and cowhands with their beat-up Ford F100s. This ain't no Brokeback Mountain . . . it's not Thom McGuane's Deadrock . . bye-bye Willa Cather and her sublime heroines.
Instead, J.P. Gritton's hard-hitting proletarian novel reads more like Daniel Woodrell meets Terrence Malick's Badlands or Charles Portis as tragedian rather than comedian. Work is hard but scarce and tenuous. Families pull together and pull apart. The road is an invitation to disaster, not escape. Across these mean steppes a man must travel who is not himself mean, who is both tarnished and afraid. That man's name is Shelley Cooper - - and he belongs to America's greatest contribution to world literature - -the beautiful loser.
What joins Gritton's supremely well-written novel to the hard-boiled tradition is this: every decision is a bad decision because the choices are bunk. Shelley's gut-felt moral actions - -for instance, to punish his brother and help his friend - - end in disaster not just because he's foolish but also because - - as Hemingway phrased it in To Have and Have Not - - a man alone ain't got no bloody chance. Shelley's struggle is individual but general: he knows the truth - - about himself, his family, his situation - - but the truth is too difficult. No magical solutions or victories for Shelley, only the recognition that - - to paraphrase an Irish writer - - he is a creature driven and derided by vanity, his consciousness burning with anguish and anger.
Besides this character study of the doomed prisoners of the American dream, Gritton's other main accomplishment is Shelley Cooper's voice - - a plain-spoken but rich idiom knitted together from the linguistic wreckage of small-town Missouri, the resources of American sass and slang, and old testament judgment.
December 10, 2019
Although this debut novel is littered with crimes (ranging from vandalizing a car to drug trafficking and more), I would hesitate to call it a crime novel. It's more of a domestic tragedy, revolving around Shelly, a ticking time bomb of resentment and contrariness who is his own worst enemy. Set in 1988, with portions flashing back over the years, and ranging across Wyoming, Colorado, and Texas, the story covers Shelly's fraught relationship with those around him -- especially his ex-con big brother, whom he blames for his mother's death.
The book opens with promise -- describing Shelly's hourly construction job, framing houses, and the fire that strikes while he's on one job. When that all goes south he makes bad choice after bad choice, and doubles-down on being a jerk to those around him. He lurches from incident to incident, never quite escaping self-sabotage. There are plenty of compelling portions -- including a tense stay at a motel and confrontations with the motel owner and his family, and another uncomfortably tense overnight at his ex-wife's house with their child (whom he hasn't seen in years) and the nice-guy new husband.
However, despite some fine writing and some excellent sections, it never quite jelled for me. The time shifts certainly don't help, but like a lot of first-time novels, it has the feel of several well-honed stories spot-welded together. It says something that a week after finishing it, I have no particular recollection as to how it wraps up or where Shelly ended up. I suspect he's basically right back where he started and none the wiser for all he went through. That said, I'll definitely keep an eye out for the author's next book, because there's definitely promise in the writing.
The book opens with promise -- describing Shelly's hourly construction job, framing houses, and the fire that strikes while he's on one job. When that all goes south he makes bad choice after bad choice, and doubles-down on being a jerk to those around him. He lurches from incident to incident, never quite escaping self-sabotage. There are plenty of compelling portions -- including a tense stay at a motel and confrontations with the motel owner and his family, and another uncomfortably tense overnight at his ex-wife's house with their child (whom he hasn't seen in years) and the nice-guy new husband.
However, despite some fine writing and some excellent sections, it never quite jelled for me. The time shifts certainly don't help, but like a lot of first-time novels, it has the feel of several well-honed stories spot-welded together. It says something that a week after finishing it, I have no particular recollection as to how it wraps up or where Shelly ended up. I suspect he's basically right back where he started and none the wiser for all he went through. That said, I'll definitely keep an eye out for the author's next book, because there's definitely promise in the writing.
December 20, 2019
I don't remember Wyoming ever being a setting in this book. The main character Shelley (Sheldon) Cooper is a Colorado house framer who's really hard to like. But he doesn't understand why he does what he does either, so I guess author JP Gritton is trying to say something about humanity in general.
At one point he is reduced in work time to three days a week. He sets fire to the company truck and lets his best friend take the blame.
The main plot point is when he takes a job delivering pot for his brother who was growing it on his grandfather's farm. He's only getting $2500 for a dangerous job and there's a padlock on the box with the money he gets paid with. He breaks in and finds $50,000. He decides to keep $15,000 for himself, but a hooker steals most of the money.
At one point he tries to pay his brother back by giving him his paycheck after getting back on with the framing company. He manages one payment before this new kid breaks into the office and steals the owners checks. Everybody thinks Sheldon did it.
It's hard to keep track of what's going on. Author JP Gritton is jumping back and forth filling in the gaps. For instance, Shelley hides the $15,000 in a broken TV before the hooker can steal the rest and we don't find out how or if he got it back until near the end of the book.
His brother, the pot dealer, keeps helping out the family. He gives money to Mike, Shelley's best friend, whose little daughter is dying; he helps his grandfather when he gets kicked off the farm when the DEA finds pot growing there, and he forfeits the property. It's actually harder to tell who's the real jerk, here, Clayton, the brother or Sheldon.
At one point he is reduced in work time to three days a week. He sets fire to the company truck and lets his best friend take the blame.
The main plot point is when he takes a job delivering pot for his brother who was growing it on his grandfather's farm. He's only getting $2500 for a dangerous job and there's a padlock on the box with the money he gets paid with. He breaks in and finds $50,000. He decides to keep $15,000 for himself, but a hooker steals most of the money.
At one point he tries to pay his brother back by giving him his paycheck after getting back on with the framing company. He manages one payment before this new kid breaks into the office and steals the owners checks. Everybody thinks Sheldon did it.
It's hard to keep track of what's going on. Author JP Gritton is jumping back and forth filling in the gaps. For instance, Shelley hides the $15,000 in a broken TV before the hooker can steal the rest and we don't find out how or if he got it back until near the end of the book.
His brother, the pot dealer, keeps helping out the family. He gives money to Mike, Shelley's best friend, whose little daughter is dying; he helps his grandfather when he gets kicked off the farm when the DEA finds pot growing there, and he forfeits the property. It's actually harder to tell who's the real jerk, here, Clayton, the brother or Sheldon.
Want to read
September 7, 2019PW Starred: " In a voice rough as a chainsaw blade and Midwestern as green bean casserole, debut author Gritton chronicles the trip-to-hell-and-back life of the troubled Shelley Cooper. After a fire ravages the mountains in the vicinity of Montgrand, Colo., and most of the construction work dries up, Shelley steals an air compressor from his boss and loses his job. He needs money, same as his weed-growing older brother, Clayton, and his sister, May, who is married to Shelley’s best friend Mike. Clayton’s wife, Nancy, has the same shaking sickness her mother had, and May and Mike’s little daughter, Layla, has cancer: in short, these are folks “whose bad luck run longer than an interstate.” Something deep and unnameable bothers Shelley; he cares an awful lot about Mike, though his discontent mostly seems like a mean streak to others. When Clay starts coming up with mystery money, Shelley becomes suspicious; his brother already spent five years in prison for dealing weed, and Shelley blames this calamity for their mother’s death. Nevertheless, he agrees to deliver Clay’s latest batch of marijuana to Houston, and what happens on this trip is both violently tragic and a twisted sort of redemption. Pitch perfect cadences sing from the mouths of Gritton’s characters, and the author performs skilled loop-de-loops in and out of Shelley’s memories. This auspicious debut marks Gritton as a storyteller to watch. (Nov.) "
March 29, 2020
Most people have a story that goes something like this: Your mom takes cookies out of the oven sets them on the counter to cool tells you (10) and your little brother (8) "don't eat these before dinner". Your brother sneaks back into the kitchen and eats all the cookies. Your mom finds out, call you both and asks "who ate the cookies?" You both look at your feet. Then she looks at you asks directly and you say "no ma'am". She asks your brother the same thing but he has not yet acquired the guile to convincingly lie to his mother but he gives it his best shot. He ultimately breaks under her pressure and admits to the crime, saying he just couldn't help himself, he was hungry, etc. Then he blames your mom for leaving the cookies out. Then he says he was mad at you and didn't want you to have any.
Well this describes perfectly the main character in this novel. He has never made a good decision and he blames everybody and anybody for the consequences of his bad decisions. As I kept reading, I looked forward to his finally doing something redeeming and I'll let you find out if this indeed occurs.
Well this describes perfectly the main character in this novel. He has never made a good decision and he blames everybody and anybody for the consequences of his bad decisions. As I kept reading, I looked forward to his finally doing something redeeming and I'll let you find out if this indeed occurs.
January 25, 2020
Wyoming is the work of a skilled writer who isn't afraid to investigate the complicated, disturbing parts of the human psyche and how they impact our most important relationships. Gritton adeptly captures the vernacular of the time, place, and people about which he's writing, and creates dynamic characters that surprise the reader, making for tense scenes and page-turning dramatic situations. The prose is lovely, rich, full of complexity. Don't let the plain-speak fool you: the rhythms and musicality of the language, as well as how each word feels essential to its phrase or sentence, reminds one of poetry. Through the intimate, direct-address narration, I often felt I was sort of bumping along with Shelley, the protagonist, down the winding, gravel road of his screwed-up life, hoping against all odds that he would make better decisions for himself than I knew he was capable of doing. Each page of Wyoming captivated me and propelled me to the next. Read this book!
January 25, 2020
Sort of feels like walking into a double-wide trailer in the heart of America. Done with respect and integrity this is a taut narrative which becomes so tensiony that it is opaque at times. The protagonist is both sympathetic and unlikable as he has continued difficulty accepting his own bad judgment and likewise finds ways of blaming others around his life. In fact some of his misfortune is not his fault but he never seems to find a way to improve the choices he makes. The dialect of middle American "white" working people is captured with a good ear by the author. If one stands outside the vision of the lead character and considers the world he is reporting on from that perspective the people are decent and understandable. The reader should do this to actually appreciate the tale. (I would give it 4.5 stars if that were allowed.)
May 6, 2020
This was a pretty fantastic book that took me by surprise. I picked this up off of the newish/featured bookshelf at my favorite bookstore, Diesel. I thought my husband would like it and bought it for him to read. He read it in one day at jury duty and told me it was great. So, I decided to give it a read, too. It kind of reminds me of "The Outsiders," of a grown up Pony Boy Curtis. Lots of poor choices are made, the family seems a little messed up, takes place in the midwest, you still kind of care deeply about everyone involved. I found the writing style outstanding. I couldn't put the book down, it was such an easy read. This is the authors' debut and I am excited to read whatever else he writes. A solid 4 start book. Thank you, newish/featured bookshelf at Diesel! Book #13 of 2020. Book #8 of Coronavirus Reads.
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