Fire Exit by Morgan Talty

 Saturday, Apr. 12, 2025--San Antonio

Fire Exit by Morgan Talty is a slice-of-life novel.  It takes place over a rather short period of time in a very particular place with back-stories to provide insight into who is who and why they are the way they are.  The setting is in rural Maine on the border where the Penobscot Nation tribal lands begin. The central character is an unmarried, non-Native American man who was raised by his mother and his Native American stepfather on the tribal lands until he became an adult and had to leave.  His stepfather bought land and built him a small home just opposite the river that is the border.  His best friends when living on the tribal lands were a boy and a girl his age who were both natives.  In his past, he and the young woman who had been his friend for years lived together and she became pregnant.  Because tribal rules do not give rights to people who are not 100% native, the woman left him and married a native man to assure rights for her daughter.  The daughter is now a married adult and is not aware that he is her real father.  The boy who was his close friend no longer lives in the area; his father, who was the chief of the tribe, beat him regularly as a child for not being manly and he now lives in California and is married to a man.  The mother of the main character has suffered from depression all her life and has developed dementia.  She eventually moved into town and there have been years of little or no contact between them.  Because of his loneliness and his own problems, the main character has developed a close relationship with an alcoholic man he met at AA meetings.  It is not a sexual relationship, it is a co-dependence based on the need for someone in each of their lives considering the loneliness they are feeling in this rural area.  The reader learns of the hardships all of these people have faced, the limitations of their lives based on the circumstances, the guilt and secrets that each has, their need to have better or different lives than currently exists for them, etc.  It's an interesting story.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.