'A triumph and a gift' Paul Beatty, Booker Prize-winning author of The Sellout'Immediately engrossing' Jennifer Egan, author of A Visit From the Goon Squad A magnificent debut that traces the lives of young, working-class people navigating love, grief, survival, and the pursuit of something more. In eight breathtaking parts,
Locals explores what we owe each other as children, parents, lovers, and friends-and what it means to find a sense of belonging when those roles become indelibly warped. Set in the aughts, Jared Jackson's dazzling fiction vibrates with an unforgettable cast of funny and achingly frank young people who are forced to grow up too quickly in a deeply stratified Hartford, Connecticut. As characters reappear across these interlocking chapters, we're invited to see them again through the eyes of others and to consider the tenderness that lies beneath their brashness.
Collin reveals his cowardice when he fails to show up for Bebo, an outsider far braver than Collin will ever be. Mikey becomes a man too early when he hunts for emotional scraps from his uncle's girlfriend. Minnie wants redemption. And Andrews wants his white fraternity brothers to accept him despite being a "local," while all his cousin Ant wants is for Andrews to remember that being a local is a worthy inheritance.
From absent parents and fractured bonds to found family and profound acts of care, Jackson invites readers to share in his characters' frustrations as well as their triumphs. At once a love letter to a city's people and a critique of its inequities,
Locals is a striking vision for reclamation - of faith in city, and faith in self - and announces the arrival of a generational talent.
Industry Reviews
Jackson is
a clear-eyed and beautiful writer with so much to say. So glad his voice is in the world. Finally!
I loved the characters in Locals, their deadpan humor, their sometimes harsh, sometimes tender forbearance. I loved their complexity, drawn by Jackson with artful plainness, and the way they see and know themselves and each other
Reading the
exquisitely crafted stories in Jared Jackson's collection was like walking through a neighborhood that was new to me in its particulars but also quite familiar. Thanks to Jackson's gift for arresting storytelling and crisp, confident prose, the residents felt like old friends, neighbors, and loved ones--an intergenerational cast of characters grappling with coming of age, abandonment, love, loss, and grief . . . This is a fully alive, awe-inspiring debut!
