Reviews
The latest way station in ÝDrury's¨ fascinating artistic evolution is The Driftless Area, a fast, mean, beautiful little book about a man and a woman who become linked through a cycle of revenge....A book of hard, tangible surfaces, yet it is absolutely drenched in mystery., A Drury story, like many by Alice Munro, is apt to jump its banks as it flows, wonderfully free-form, with devilment in its details....There are twists worthy of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, and vengeance, but not for the obvious reasons., "A near masterpiece...Drury imbues the landscape with an impersonal, threatening and anclent chill that's a bit reminiscent of Twin Peaks, complete with sudden appearances of the supernatural....Hypnotic and memorable." -- Thomas Haley, "ÝA¨ moody and mysterious tale. Over the course of four original novels, Drury has forged an entrancing form of mldwestern paranormal noir. Deadpan wit, cosmic melancholy, characters both ethereal and down and dirty, predicaments a Beckett character would accept as inevitable, and a porous divide between the living and the dead add up to a delectably unnerving outlaw fairy tale." -- Donna Seaman, The farther he goes, the more good it does me. I don't want philosophies, tracts, dogmas, creeds, ways out, truths, answers, nothing from the bargain basement. He is the most courageous, remorseless writer going and the more he grinds my nose in the sh- the more I am grateful to him. He's not f--ing me about, he's not leading me up any garden path, he's not slipping me a wink, he's not flogging me a remedy or a path or a revelation or a basinful of breadcrumbs, he's not selling me anything I don't want to buy--he doesn't give a bollock whether I buy or not--he hasn't got his hand over his heart. Well, I'll buy his goods, hook, line, and sinker, because he leaves no stone unturned and no maggot lonely. He brings forth a body of beauty. His work is beautiful., "In Tom Drury's splendid new novel the writing is like fresh lake water--transparent, revealing all depths, and so truly original. It has left me thoughtful, so caught up in the story, wishing it would go on and on. Even the wicked people in Drury's tale are plainly seen and written about with understanding--that is, real charity." -- Paula Fox, "Readers will finish the book only with satisfaction, meditation and amazement at a dreamlike novel by one of America's finest, most imaginative authors." -- Yiyun Li, "ÝDrury has¨ a deadpan-comic ear for small-town life and an eye for the singular moral codes of the characters who inhabit them." -- Frank Bentayou, "With a spare and direct prose style, ÝThe Driftless Area¨ is full of wonderfully ironic characters and cool moments of small wisdom." -- Gilbert Cruz, "With deceptively simple prose, Drury is able to evoke characters and scenes in just a few brushstrokes...A genre-bending literary challenge...'Midwestern neonoir' Ýwith¨...elements of the Brothers Grimm as well as the Brothers Coen...ÝDrury has¨ come up with a region entirely his own." -- J. D. Dolan, The bittersweet ending is a perfect mix of light and dark. Drury is a master at showing extraordinary things happening to ordinary people--and It's always a fun ride., "Drury is an enormously skilled...storyteller. He delights in lulling the reader with meandering yet entertaining dialogue." -- Robert Draper
