Set among the working class of a Seattle suburb called Federal Way, this original debut novel extols the lives of a large cast of characters lost in various modes of darkness and despair.
Well marks the astonishing debut of an author with a singular and unflinching voice and vision. The denizens of this brilliant novel are boxers, bartenders, and data-entry technicians, fishermen, mothers, and exotic dancers, would-be kings and queens of the punk rock scene, sparemen and gunmen and soon-to-be dead men. What binds them is the Well-that dark barren region of the human heart and mind. Whether desperately alone or struggling to come together, they grapple with dangerous compulsions and heartrending afflictions, searching for relief, transcendence, or a vehicle up into the light they know must exist. They search in sex, drugs, and violence, and in visions of apocalypse and creation, dreams of angels and killers and local sports championships. Compact, finely wrought, and powerfully charged, Well is a mesmerizing tour de force that will establish Matthew McIntosh as a bold and progressive new voice of American fiction.
Critically acclaimed Well marks the astonishing debut of an author with a singular and unflinching voice and vision. Set primarily among the working-class of a Seattle suburb called Federal Way, this highly original novel-told in the form of interlinked short stories- extols the lives of a large cast of characters lost in various modes of darkness and despair. Whether struggling to come together or desperately alone, they grapple with dark compulsions and heart-rending afflictions. As if trapped at the bottom of a well, they search for relief, for a vehicle into the light they know is up and outside.
They search in sex, in drugs and violence, and in visions of Apocalypse and Creation, dreams of angels and killers and local sports championships. Compact, finely wrought, powerfully charged, Well ultimately rises toward the light, in a finale which echoes with the exhilarating human capacity for hope. The result is a mesmerizing tour de force that will establish Matthew McIntosh as a bold and progressive new voice of American fiction.
Stories:
BURLESQUE
Snapshots of various troubled couples on the day that the Seattle SuperSonics lose their chance at advancing to the NBA finals. Len and Adda are fighting- Len is in love with Adda (she is "the girl he wanted") but she is torn, and is leaving the next day to spend a week with her