Crux
In his assured second novel, Crux, Gabriel Tallent asserts that friendships are as intricate and significant as any relationship bound by blood or romance ... For most readers, the prose will amount to an immersive language course where fluency is achieved through brute experience ... Tallent might telegraph the novel’s ending, but the way he executes the conclusion is thrilling, propulsive and earned.
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Difficult and ferocious ... Pushing through these pages — echoing its characters’ ordeals — requires resolve and stamina, but certain rewards abide ... Crux is huge, ungainly and almost insanely bighearted. It could have used pruning, but so much of its writing is monster-audacious you forgive that.
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Many minutely detailed, lingo-heavy episodes of rock climbing, much of which will never become fully intelligible to the reader who lacks background in the sport. Fortunately, it can still be fun to read ... While the adult characters are generally eye-rollingly awful, the kids could also stand to be a bit more lovable ... These reservations aside, Crux pulsates with ambition, intensity, passion for the natural world, and devotion to life’s biggest questions. It’s a young person’s book.
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