Book Review: Fire Exit - Morgan Talty ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"As Charles attempts to hold on to and care for what he can—his home and property; his alcoholic and bighearted friend Bobby; and his mother, Louise, who is slipping deeper into dementia—he becomes increasingly haunted by his past. Forced to confront a lost childhood on the reservation, a love affair cut short, and the death of his beloved stepfather, Fredrick, Charles contends with questions he’s long been afraid to ask. Is his secret about his daughter, Elizabeth, his to share? And would his daughter want to know the truth, even if it could cost her everything she’s ever known?"

Fire exit is a beautiful story about family - the families we are born into, the families we make and the families we never get to be apart of. The main character Charles speaks about his life, his decisions and struggles and grief, almost at arms length - like he can't/won't process the hurt. It was deeply satisfying to go with Charles on his journey of struggling with the question of whether to tell his daughter his secret because it felt like he was almost coming back to life - like he stopped living his life through the lens of 'what if' and actually started living. The scenes of Charles caring for his mother Louise as her dementia advances will stay with me for a long time - beautifully written and intensely sad while also having these sharp, funny moments.

I really enjoyed #fireexit and would definitely recommend in general but specifically if you liked books like There, There and Everything I Never Told you.

Thank you to #rbmedia for the advanced copy of this audiobook.

#fireexitbook #morgantalty #audiobook #audiobook #bookreview #readinginstead

It is important to note that most of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the book's subject matters & those detailed in my review overwhelming. I suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters that contain reflections on self-harm, parental abuse, physical violence, homophobia, substance abuse, Dementia, grief, & others.

Following the red thread that links one person to the other is a tedious endeavour. One might be surprised to find that the thread is slim, nearly indistinguishable. Whereas on occasion, a person may feel as though the entire universe conspired to weave two people together, the connections we share are tender & delight in the interpretations we might gather independently of the bones that hold us up.

When exploring the nature of genealogy & the intricate study of genetics, one observes the foundation on which rests human society; one must be the same as the other to merit entry to a neighbourhood, a home, or a heart. Conflicts arise through adoption, abandonment, displacement, & the forlorn forgetfulness of stories that can no longer be told.

Stories speak to an intimate experience of the world. The author has in their hands the ability to weave a narrative that is powerful & overwhelming though they may decide to go the other way; choosing instead to make their story one of slow wandering worry, paved with secular stones, & false idols.

Whereas Talty had experienced success in their previous work, namely “Night of the Living Rez” (2022) & most recently by contributing to the anthology “Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology” (2023), their recently published story follows a very sullen path & readers may not find the terrible tremble of the plot as engaging as in the author’s previous work. However, if they have the patience to accept that not all stories are Odysseys, that some stories are simple tumbles of stones at the base of a mountain, they may thoroughly enjoy what Talty has brought to their doorstep.

In essence, this is a story about a man who lives outside the community that raised him. Charles is not an Indigenous person by heritage or ancestry, yet his entire life is shaped & sung by the voices & people of the community he was raised in. When the reader meets Charles, he is seated on his porch, watching the world go by.

More specifically, Charles sits outside of his house day & night to watch the goings on of his neighbours across the river; the house where his child once lived & where his former best friend & romantic partner now resides with her husband. As he watches their lives unfold, Charles toys with his freedom to inform Elizabeth, his daughter, that she is his child. The reader must decide whether Charles is correct in his pursuit or if his silence is worth the torment, it causes him.

My experience with this story is strange to quantify into words. Talty’s writing style is very simplistic, I am confident any number of readers will be able to grasp the inner workings of the story at play & leave with more than they bargained for. The stylistic choices he employs throughout the book allow an easy flow to the narration that the main character provides.

At times, the juvenile reflections gave me pause: Why was I reading this story? Charles is older than I am & has lived a life humbled by regret & guilt. The reflections he provides throughout this story felt tangible & realistic because the book was not littered with prose. Though, there are times when writing with smoother edges might have cushioned the transitions of the story, Talty did well by providing Charles with the saw-toothed letters he spoke with.

While reading this book I found myself reflecting on the sincerity of the accusations Charles brought to the reader. While it was true, Charles felt immense guilt for the death of his stepfather, & though it is accurate to say that he was self-involved, much of this story could have been avoided had the main character been granted the opportunity to be heard.

This might seem like a silly thing to say & you would be correct in thinking this. Ultimately, Charles is not able to speak his mind & he does not have anyone who will earnestly listen to him, this is not the reality of this story. However, I find it useful to ponder the nature of his circumstances because they are too tangible to be fictitious.

In life, many things take place that remain outside of our control. When Charles refused to go with his stepfather into the woods, he could not have known that the man would pursue a moose deep into the trees until he succumbed to frost & ultimately, death.

What makes the plight of the main character so dreadful is that there is no redemption. His life is moving in a direction that no longer parallel’s his parent’s; he must go it alone. Talty has ensured that the cast of characters were fleshed out enough for a reader to see similarities between themselves & their environments, within the strict frame of the story.

As the plot unveils itself to the reader, several key pieces are brought to light. The communal influence that has left Charles feeling Indigenous; the home that reels with the absence of his parents; the proximity to what he can no longer attain.

Certainly, one may find the dilemmas that Charles ponders rather annoying, nearly insulting. However, it is not the reader’s role to judge the main character for his views nor for his moral conundrums. Rather, because the reader is not given a full scope of the reality that has surrounded Charles, they are kept in a distinctly primed position.

The author knows they will judge Charles, & he bets on their heightened feelings to drive home the conclusion of this story; we are all who we are in part because of the people we meet, & primarily because of those who have come before us.

The scope of this story follows one man & his troubles are valid; he has a child & his partner all but abandons him with this knowledge so that their child can be perceived as “full blooded”—a practice wholeheartedly inappropriate & reminiscent of the deranged lack of understanding that accompanies those without knowledge of genetics; blood is not mathematically fractioned, it is oil & stone into the entity; rippling monsters under the cavernous sea to boast of old stories & lore unbeknownst to the newborn. 

However fancifully I wish to write about this subject, the truth remains; certain communities still perceive blood, heritage, lineage, & ancestry to be something one can keep purely to the point; a tit-for-tat in the mirror of dynasties & mile-high perverse incompetency.

I am not here to write about my feelings towards Charles identity. This is not my place & I would not want to add fuel to a fire that is burning ominously as it is. Rather, my reflections contain the truth of my experiences in the world as a person who is the human fraction, a putrefied equivalent of a mutt dog; a mongrel; a half breed; a silly slimy frog in a pool of swans.

That being said, so are we all. In some storybooks the Prince is tender & sweet, whereas in others, she is hidden behind the beast of his own appearance. These tales are meant to guide humanity & ease their personal burdens—they are not alone. No matter the moral at the end of the fantasy, one must acknowledge that there is a role for all to play & so we do.

Charles was a son, he is a father, he is a recovering alcoholic, he is lonely, he is a friend, he is frustrated, & warm-hearted; he is a human being with a complicated relationship to the world & with himself. Part of the joy of this story is being privy to the chaptered representations of his philosophy.

On occasion, Charles is the Prince & in other cases, he is the magic mirror captive in the house. The character was dynamic & crafted to reflect the people we share this life with. However, there were still instances wherein I found the story to stall & I wondered what the point of such a narrative was, if my thinking had been thought & all my ruminating had been completed before the final curtain call.

The story hinges on the decreased mental ability of Charle’s mother who has Dementia. The secret of her past tumble forward when she is at her most vulnerable & the author nearly reveals what happened before the reader arrived on scene but, he doesn’t. Instead, he reminds readers that the spectrum of this story is contained & sheltered in the confused fear of the narrator. I cannot fault him for this, it appears that he wrote the story he wanted to tell & he did not leave room for meandering. Rather, I mention this detail because I was waiting for something more.

Perhaps it is unkind to reveal that I wanted more from a story that simmered so densely on subject matter that is objectively difficult to experience firsthand. Yet, I claim my spot here; I wanted the story to reveal more vulnerability than it had in store.

Though the characters were earnest in their portrayal, the core of the narrative remained poised on the surface level. Charles does not necessarily grow from his reflections, nor does he ever truly take into account the reality that encumbers each of the people impacted by Elizabeth’s unstable mental state. I do not say this to be unkind, but rather to highlight that each character who was a parent to her tried to give her the upper hand without understanding the vulnerability that coveted her psyche.

Ultimately, this is a good book & one that reveals a distinct reality for many people. Readers may find themselves drawn or repulsed by Charles & his quest to speak truth into Elizabeth’s life in an attempt to clear her blue skies. Their genuine attempts to do the right thing, while being uninformed & self-serving, made harsh the environment where their shared love grew into a matured & tender greenery.

If one has the patience to follow flawed characters, one will find themselves drawn to the yellow brick road that leads to the protected centre of the story; we are who we are & no claim, chain, status, or census will change what nestles deep within; the studies & fruitfully crafted code that propels us forward until the end.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada, & Morgan Talty for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I absolutely loved this book!! I couldn’t put it down.
I just loved all the characters. I highly recommend this book.

Big thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the early copy of this book. This narrative is as dark as it is authentic, intense, and deeply human. The writing is immediately engaging and relatable, creating a sense of urgency that makes the book nearly impossible to put down. The characters are intricately crafted—complex yet intimately familiar—making me connect and empathize with their struggles and sacrifices. The story navigates through the intricate dynamics of identity, family ties, and mental health with raw honesty. It challenged me to consider the difficulty of finding the right path when all feel wrong. The vivid descriptions of Maine were fully immersive, I could feel the snow in my boots. It’s thought-provoking, beautiful storytelling, that handles some of the darker aspects of life with care. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a meaningful, engaging story.

From the porch of his home, Charles Lamosway has watched the life he might have had unfold across the river on Maine’s Penobscot Reservation. Charles spent his younger years on the reservation living with his mother Louise and step-father Fredrick but, in accordance with the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act, when he turned 18 Charles no longer had any right to live on the reservation. His step-father had purchased land across the river and he and Charles built a house which Fredrick signed over to Charles. When his step-father died his mother (a non-native) chose to move off the reservation.

The story is told by Charles, an alcoholic who's been sober for 22 years, and through him we meet some great characters and some not-so-great but interesting all the same. It's a story of life, family and relationships. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Penguin Random House Canada for providing access to the electronic version of this book via Netgalley. All opinions expressed are my own.
Publication Date: June 4, 2024

As the writer of the collection of short stories “Night of the Living Rez” it makes sense that this is the debut novel we receive from Talty: an assortment of stories. The importance of understanding where you come from is a universal notion that, arguably, everyone can appreciate. However, the layered and complex identities of those living both on and off reserve absolutely requires an even deeper grasp of ancestors, histories, traditions and language. As a reader, if this is something new to you, Talty executes this message effortlessly. Whether it’s through Charles never truly feeling a part of the world his daughter inhabits, or the deep sense of duty he feels to tell his daughter where she truly comes from.

I have to admit that this book is a much slower burn than I anticipated with most of the expected “action” unfolding at around the 85% mark. However, the more I sat with the novel after I finished it, the more I realized that I actually appreciated this because it mirrors reality so well. Important events don’t happen in a vacuum. As readers, we often jump into the story right while events are unfolding or right after they have just transpired. This is exciting because we’re getting right to the good stuff. But, there’s something to be said about the privilege of listening to the, sometimes mundane, steps taken to get to the climax.

As a narrator our protagonist Charles isn’t exactly the strongest or most engaging but that’s not really the point. He’s your cousin, your uncle, your brother, your dad who doesn’t really know how to talk to you, but tries hard nevertheless. He’s an endearing character and the subtleties included in his characterization make Charles that much more “real”. I especially felt this way about his consistent confessions of “I think that was their name” when referring to several other characters.

I selfishly wanted more from the ending purely out of curiosity surrounding how these characters carry on because the action was so delayed. Even so, I did feel that the ending was fitting and really beautiful.

Thank you to @netgalley @penguinrandomca and @knopfca for making this eARC available.

4⭐️
Pub date: Today!

I requested this book initially because I love reading all things Indigenous. There was not as much as I had anticipated, but what was there I enjoyed.

This is the first book I've read by Morgan Talty. I loved the writing stye. The main character was a little obsessive and reminded me a lot of the main character in "Is Mother Dead." The main character and primary POV, Charles, lives across the river from an Indigenous community. He has a daughter, but he's not allowed to see her and get to know her. Not a lot happens this book, but at the same time, on an emotional level, a lot happens. The author did a great job exploring different family types, culture, etc.

Charles, the main character, is stuck in his life. Having grown up on the reservation in Maine, he now lives across the river where he can see people he loves from his home but has no access to them. Charles is not a native by blood but was deeply loved by his native stepfather. After the death of his stepfather, Charles is left to care for his ailing mother and builds a friendship with a local white guy, but he's never far from his ties to his former community. This is a story of loyalty and love, guilt and pain.

Charles has a sweet voice and a simple way of speaking that belies his deep thoughts and anguish. The characters stuck with me long after I'd finished reading.

Most anticipated read of the year and wow did it STILL blow me away. I just adore Morgan Talty’s writing style. It’s quiet, to the point, but emotionally devastating. There were several moments where I was tearing through this book and I actively tried to make myself slow down and savour it. I reread my favourite passages several times and read them out loud to my husband, too.

Talty has such a talent for crafting an everyday scene and then exposing something startling, something holy, about it. The fact that he’s a short story writer first really shows in this, his debut novel, because most chapters feel like that—like they can stand alone, that you can feel and experience so much just one chapter at a time.

Fire Exit is about Charles—a white man who grew up on the reservation with his Penobscot step-father, fell in love with a tribal member and got her pregnant but wasn’t able to be her baby’s father. Now, years later, watching his mother struggle with her memory and reliving his past, he thinks it’s time to tell his daughter who she really is, to expose secrets long hidden.

What follows is an exploration of family and responsibility, blood quantum and blood ties, and what our history carries or how it escapes us—bolsters or lets us down.

I mean suffice to say I absolutely loved it. Like his short story collection Night of the Living Rez, it spoke to hurts both great and small and was just so visceral and contemplative, emotionally resonant without mincing any words. Morgan Talty is such a talent and has easily established himself as a literary powerhouse and for me, an all/time favourite auto-buy author.

Here’s hoping this one gets all the hype it deserves!

Thank you so much to @knopfca for sending me this beautiful finished copy for early review. BUT, I was planning to buy this myself if they hadn’t!

Fire Exit by Morgan Talty is out June 4, 2024.

Interesting concept, very Character driven with some pacing issues. But I’m still reeling from the r slur being dropped in a very ableist scene that was not required for the plot. It completely destroy what could have been a really moving scene with the protagonist and his daughter.

I'm about 40% through this book, but I'm having a lot of trouble with the print size of the ARC on my Kobo. For some reason, I can't change the size and it's giving me serious eye strain as it's really tiny.

Coincidentally, I won an ARC from Goodreads, so I'm going to wait until that arrives in the mail and finish it then (I might even re-start it so that I'm not concentrating so much on the act of reading and more on the content of the book).

Then I will post my review on Goodreads.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of Fire Exit by Morgan Talty, published by Penguin Random House Canada
I enjoyed this novel, it is told well, I like the author's writing style. I liked the characters and the setting and the description of people and places.
The story's main character Charles, experiences many events as the author describes his life both past and present. The author lays the story out nicely and leaves the reader to use their imagination for certain outcomes. I liked the way the characters conversed with each other, sometimes blunt and to the point, like real life.
I would absolutely read more books by this author

4.5 stars
This book was very character driven. It wasn't particularly exciting; it wasn't fast paced. But I was never bored. It was easy to pick up and feel absorbed. I wanted to know how Charles would find his daughter. I wanted to know if his relationship with his mother would improve. I wanted to know how he would carry on because I cared about him. He lived on the edge of two cultures, never really feeling a sense of belonging in either. It was a very interesting perspective.

We begin with a wish. An urge to speak the truth and share a story. Charles sits on his porch across the river from the daughter he wasn't allowed to raise. He sits and watches just as he's watched her grow. To her, he's a white man who lives across the river from the Penobscot Reservation.

Charles wants her to know who he is but has he really thought this through? What about her wants? Or the mother’s? Or the man who has been raising her for more than 20 years? That's not all he has to consider. He has an always-drunk friend mulling about, and a mother who is descending deeper into dementia each day.

The past, both known and unknown, told and untold, is ever present in the relationships, minds, and actions of these characters. This is neither a slow burn nor a blistering comet. Fire Exit simmers at just the right temperature to keep you engaged from start to finish.

With powerful, hard hitting lines and poignant observations about life, Morgan Talty masterfully tells a story about the stories that make up our lives. About what happens to our spirits or souls when we live with interrupted or incomplete stories.

Stories are in our blood. They are the truths we are made of, they bind us to some, allow us to connect with others. Be willing to share, be willing to listen. You won't regret this book.

Charles was raised on the Penobscot reservation by his white mother and Indigenous stepfather but was forced to leave at 18 since he is not, by blood, Indigenous. He has moved across the river from where he can see the reservation. Now in his fifties, he is wracked by guilt and a sense of loss, trying to overcome a long estrangement from his mother and forced to keep secrets including of a daughter, whose Indigenous mother chose to leave him so that she could raise her on the reservation, and who doesn’t know about him.

Told in two timelines and in the first voice by Charles, Fire Exit by Morgan Talty is a beautifully written, powerful, and poignant novel about a man who is both part of and separated from his community by blood, by secrets, and by the river that flows between them. The characters are fully drawn with backstories and with flaws that make them both relatable and redeemable. The story is often dark and bleak as Charles recounts his sense of loss of his home, his past, his mother who is sinking into dementia but mostly of his daughter but it is also always infused with the love he wants to share with her. This is, in many ways, a very emotional even melancholic tale but never crosses the line into melodrama and ends on a hopeful note. I read an ebook of this novel while listening to the audiobook narrated by Darrell Dennis who does an amazing job of giving Charles a voice.

I received an e-arc of this novel from Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada and an audiobook from RB Media in exchange for an honest review

This is a rich and powerful book. The narrative voice is authentic and raw. Charles doesn't leave out his own indiscretions, nor does he leave out how his actions may have affected others. This is a book about lies and secrets, how family withholds truth from another person, and how that omission affects us. Charles wants his daughter to know the truth about herself, but underneath that narrative runs the desire for his own knowing of a past story, his own story. Unfortunately his mother has just been diagnosed with dementia and often can't even remember who he is.

The skillful telling of this story made me constantly wonder what Louise (his mother) is hiding. What secret she is keeping from Charles. I loved how the narrative moved back and forth in time, leaving me with even more questions as the story progress.

This will be an author I'll want to read whatever he writes!

Thank you NetGalley for giving me this ARC!

This story has depth. Though slow, it takes the reader down the path of finding identity, and loyalty to family. The story of the son and the mother is heartbreaking, the son's devotion to his mother heartfelt. Talty knows how to weave a story

I really struggled with this one. It took me longer than normal to finish as I just kept setting it aside.

While the premise of the book was interesting and had potential, I just found myself struggling to connect with or care about any of the characters. The book is about the struggles Charles has faced, being removed from the reservation and never being allowed to know his daughter. Unfortunately, I just found the entire book slow and depressing.

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC of Fire Exit. As always, all thoughts are my own.

I really enjoyed Night of the Living Rez by Penobscot Nation member, Morgan Talty and was excited to see how he would move from short stories to a novel. I am happy to say he has done so very successfully!

Following Charles who sits on the side of the river opposite the reservation, we see him watching as his daughter who has been raised by her indigenous mother and by a man who is also indigenous, grows up. Due to blood quantum rules, Elizabeth needs to have two parents from the reserve and Charles is white. She doesn’t know about her birth father and now watching his adult daughter, Charles wants to tell her her history. Charles is also dealing with a mother who is suffering dementia and depression and a best friend who is an alcoholic. This story is not so much about what happens if/when he tells her but rather the process of going through life not being able to tell his daughter about him and how it affects him. Of equal importance to the story is the relationship he has with his mother and the guilt he feels about the death of his stepfather.

The imagery Talty puts forward is vivid and the characters clear. He holds back on several occasions in sharing the what happens next which created some curiosity but perhaps not the level of drama that the writer intended. This didn’t bother me much as I most enjoy character driven stories and while I need plot to drive the story forward, do not focus on that as much. I am curious how other readers will find the plot for this one.

The highlight of Fire Exit for me was the story of his mother and her dementia and lifelong depression and how Charles saw himself through her eyes. Charles seems to have made a vow to himself to always attend to someone’s requests/needs after losing his stepfather. He regularly drives his friend home from the pub and makes himself available to his mom as much as he can.

Thank you to @netgalley and @knopfca for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. Fire Exit comes out June 4, 2024.