Ryan Blacketter’s Horses All Over Hell is a stunning book. From the first story, I was captivated by the complex drama of the Shane family and their lives in rural Idaho during the early 90s. The collection is a series of interlinked stories told from the point of view of ten-year old Cory, the eldest son, as he observes his younger brother Matt, his loving but alcoholic father Marty and his mysterious but religious and depressive mother Joanna.
In “Starlings,” the characters change with such delicate power I found myself sitting in the mood of the story for quite some time.
“Starlings” opens the collection and presents Joanna as a religious fanatic oppressing her husband and children, who feel a strong need to escape from her lectures. But by the end of this story characters unfold in a way that inverts our earlier expectations. In her own way Joanna is trying to escape from her husband’s drinking and her own past alcoholism. Religion is simply one way she tries to change her life. In “Starlings,” the characters change with such delicate power I found myself sitting in the mood of the story for quite some time. The interconnected stories move with a beautiful ease; longer pieces such as “Convent Boys,” where the Shane children create mischief at a church gathering, and their mother feels pressure from her religion to always be happy, transition into short micro-fiction pieces like “A Lifelike, Celestial World” that describes the glow-in-the-dark stars Marty has placed over Corey’s bed; a great moment of peace and wonder is felt. This collection is filled with subtle shifts that reveal complex character dynamics without ever having them directly stated.
Imagination is an important theme throughout this evocative book. Corey creates explanations for the strange behaviors of the adults around him; and likewise, the adults make up their own stories to soften life’s difficulties—for children and themselves. The unusual imaginations and behaviors of children are authentically captured: Cory hands his mother a beer, encouraging her to drink again because it is easier when she is in a good mood; the kids believe their father’s story about a night job as a spy told to coverup his drinking; at his mother’s friend Lucy’s Corey feels judged by a horse and yells at it; when he is upset with his father for being with a new woman named Carla he takes out his frustration on her prized bear rug. But the parents also have their own unique perceptions and behaviors. They fabricate small lies and explanations that give them hope: for a little while drinking does save you from an unhappy life; a new job in another city might make you into a different person this time; maybe religion can save us, and we will be like the smiling happy people at church.
Corey creates explanations for the strange behaviors of the adults around him; and likewise, the adults make up their own stories to soften life’s difficulties—for children and themselves.
Corey wonders why his parents are not like the better off middle-class parents in their Idaho community. Why does his mom sleep so much? Why is their house so dirty? Why does his dad stay out all night? Kids make fun of him and his family, but no matter the situation, his compassion and curiosity save him. The love he has for his family is immense and often painful to witness. Likewise, his dad Marty is a clever and loving father, and despite his drinking he is never portrayed as a one-dimensional character. He loves his family, and they love him. This is a book of well-rounded, complex people immersed in real-life situations. Many of the stories deal with little things the characters do together as a family: walks, fishing, dinner trips, and little lies that make reality more bearable for the family. This book is filled with little acts of humor and imagination that allow people to rise above the limits of their situations. Blacketter tells the truth but tells it slanted. This method of storytelling makes the book extremely effective; complex family and social events are seen through a child’s eyes; nothing is ever directly stated. Characters are skillfully revealed through plot and by the time you reach the end of a story subtle shifts in the narrative have revealed or transformed them. In the hands of a less skilled writer, themes of depression and alcoholism could easily be overwrought, but Blacketter’s deft writing and careful plotting make the stories into real life. Readers will recognize their own lives, or the lives of people they know.
In the book’s final story, titled “Horses All Over Hell,” characters converge, and we witness a powerful depiction of a family falling apart despite their best hopes and intentions. Marty has been staying with a new woman named Carla and Joanna is thinking about moving in with her friend Lucy. Corey acts out in a way that is at first comical but then disturbing. Despite his love for his parents and his imagination, damage has been done to him that may be too late to fix. The book ends with carefully controlled violence, a mood of deep love, and the suggestion that the cycle of depression and drinking may start over again. Maybe things won’t get better because they are still the same people just in different situations. The final pages left me stunned.
This book is classic American fiction influenced by Flannery O’Connor, Raymond Carver, and Breece D’J Pancake. Blacketter’s style confidently takes its own place alongside these works; the clear elegant writing, the careful revelation of character, the subtle and moving transformations are the type of experience one can only access in great fiction. This book is certainly that.
Ryan Blacketter is the author of Horses All Over Hell and Down in the River. Ryan has a GED, an MA in English, and an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He serves as fiction mentor for PEN America’s Justice Writing Program.
Publisher: Wipf and Stock (July 3, 2019)
Paperback 5.5″ x 8.5″ | 136 pages
ISBN: 9781532689895
Drew Lavigneis the Poet Laureate of Moncton, New Brunswick. A member of the editorial board at The Fiddlehead and host of the Attic Owl reading series. Recent work has appeared in Vallum: Contemporary Poetry, Tourniquet Magazine, and with Productions Rhizome. He is the editor of Labyrinth Press, and author of the forthcoming collection The Golden Snare.
- Drew Lavignehttps://miramichireader.ca/author/drew-lavigne/
