Under the Microscope - Provinces of Night

Provinces of Night

Provinces of Night, by William Gay, is a brilliant and dark country noir, but one so beautiful in its bleakness that it almost glows in the dark. Poverty, music, the frayed and brutal ties of family, the possibility of life, and the approach of death all play a part in this story spun out on the dirt roads of the back country. There's drinking here, and the power of stories and myths (the kind told about us and the kind we tell about ourselves), and characters that slink through our brains, unwilling ever to completely leave the stoops of our imaginations. Why leave? Not when there's a song to be played and a few more drinks to be had.

And yes, yes, prose so perfect it makes you want to drink a little yourself.