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This is a first-person narrative novel told from the vantage point of a young gay man employed at a steel mill in Arizona. Dizzy has had a rough life, being strung out on drugs and homeless before being sent to the mill as part of his rehab. Here he has worked for ten years, constantly moving his crane up and down the railroad tracks, bearing the responsibility for the safety and lives of many men working on the floor below. Any oversight or mistake on his part could lead to molten steel being spilled and instantly burning men alive in seconds. Dizzy decompresses with his best friends, Duffy and Rob. Duffy loves to read but hates school, and Rob loves to provoke fistfights in bars. Eventually, Rob hooks Duffy up with a young woman whom Duffy winds up marrying. This impels Dizzy to go back to school to study nursing.
That is the barebones plot structure of the story, but the author does a fine job of fleshing it out through skillful character development. He has a fine ear for character dialogue, especially male banter amongst the working men at the steel mill. The main character, Dizzy, likes to play guitar and compose songs. His intuitive nature also affords him insight into his motivations and psychological drives. Dizzy knows that he resents Duffy's new wife for taking him away from him. While his feelings for Duffy are not explicitly sexual, Dizzy has become attached. In fact, all of these men, while outwardly denying it, have strong emotional attachments, and the author shows his skill in baring these usually unspoken bonds between men. The thematic variations include such bonding but also the transient nature of life, jobs, relationships, and location in modern America. In short, this is a well-told and unique story.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review