Tom's Crossing
A Novel
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4.9 • 7 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of House of Leaves comes a magisterial novel about two friends determined to rescue a pair of horses set for slaughter.
“This is an amazing work of fiction. I absolutely loved it. At the heart you’ll find a blood-drenched story of pursuit and two brave and resourceful children. But there’s so much more. I immersed myself. Have never read anything like it.” —Stephen King
Hard to figure how so much awful horror could've started out with just them two horses and not a one yet named...
While folks still like to focus on the crimes that shocked the small city of Orvop, Utah, back in the fall of 1982, not to mention the trials that followed, far more remember the adventure that took place beyond municipal lines.
For sure no one expected the dead to rise, but they did. No one expected the mountain to fall either, but it did. No one expected an act of courage so great, and likewise so appalling, that it still staggers the heart and mind of anyone who knows anything about the Katanogos massif, to say nothing of Pillars Meadow.
As one Orvop high school teacher described that extraordinary feat just days before she died, Fer sure no one expected Kalin March to look Old Porch in the eye and tell him: You get what you deserve when you ride with cowards.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
House of Leaves author Danielewski returns with an exciting if long-winded western set in 1982 Orvop, Utah. Terminally ill teen Tom Gatestone bonds with new kid Kalin March over their love for a pair of horses owned by wealthy meat processing plant owner Orwin "Old" Porch. Before Tom dies, he pleads with Kalin to save the horses from being rendered for meat. Kalin follows through on his promise, stealing the horses and taking them through the state's canyons and mountains with a plan to set them free at a place called Tom's Crossing. On the way, he's tailed by Old Porch's teen son Russel, who's sporting his father's pistol; Tom's ghost, with whom only Kalin can communicate; and Tom's younger adopted sister, Landry, who hopes to protect Kalin on his mission. Landry confronts Russel and takes away the gun, and after Russel returns without it, Old Porch flies into a rage and kills him. Old Porch then pins the blame for the killing on Kalin and Landry, launching a lengthy game of cat-and-mouse that culminates in a well-foreshadowed bloody shoot-out. Some of the passages verge on pretentiousness, like the pages-long lists of the town's dead, which echo Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, but the novel is buoyed by its characterizations (Old Porch is an effectively menacing villain). Adventurous readers will enjoy this wild ride.
Customer Reviews
Impossible to forget
Too long. I skimmed the long, long passages.
I was always told, “don’t use a big word when a little word will do.” Well, it expanded my vocabulary, but I doubt I’ll ever need to use any of these new words.
It’s impossible to forget those horses. Anyone who’s had a horse knows what this book’s about. My heart lies buried out back on the rise where when ridden’ we paused to look over his domain.
Of course it’s not just horses, the author conveys a lot more. It depends on individual readers what they get. It’s an experience that’ll dominate your days for awhile and then come back later.