“I read a rumor somewhere that Mark Spragg was unhappy with one of his novels. I donât know whether that was the one that followed this, An Unfinished Life, but I have my suspicions.
I wish I could remember where I saw that little bit of information, but itâs gone now. It could, in fact, be a complete lie and more just a highlight of how I felt.
After taking a run at An Unfinished Life, I set Mark Spragg down. Itâs compared to Plainsong and some of Cormac McCarthyâs stuff, but it just didnât do a whole lot for me. With this book, though, the comparison works for me a little better.
What Iâm trying to say is, if you gave Mark Spragg a shot before and didnât get into him, Iâd say give this one a go. It worked for me. The writing was tighter, and the stories were incredible, whether itâs the story of the toughest kid in town or how young love is sometimes expressed by an iceball to the face or, in the first and one of the best pieces, about riding a sick horse nearly to death and fearing that âcareless boys grow into careless men.â
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