DESCRIPTION

Set in a Native community in Maine, Night of the Living Rez is a riveting debut collection about what it means to be Penobscot in the twenty-first century and what it means to live, to survive, and to persevere after tragedy.

In twelve striking, luminescent stories, author Morgan Talty--with searing humor, abiding compassion, and deep insight--breathes life into tales of family and a community as they struggle with a painful past and an uncertain future. A boy unearths a jar that holds an old curse, which sets into motion his family's unraveling; a man, while trying to swindle some pot from a dealer, discovers a friend passed out in the woods, his hair frozen into the snow; a grandmother suffering from Alzheimer's projects the past onto her grandson; and two friends, inspired by Antiques Roadshow, attempt to rob the tribal museum for valuable root clubs.

A collection that examines the consequences and merits of inheritance, Night of the Living Rez is an unforgettable portrayal of an Indigenous community and marks the arrival of a standout talent in contemporary fiction.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Morgan Talty is a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation where he grew up. Named one of Narrative's "30 Below 30," Talty's work has appeared in The Georgia Review, Shenandoah, TriQuarterly, Narrative Magazine, LitHub, and elsewhere. He lives in Levant, Maine.

REVIEWS

Morgan Talty's Night of the Living Rez is a beautifully crafted, raw and intimate book about youth, friendship, and family on the reservation. These stories are profoundly moving and essential, rendered with precision and intimacy. Talty is a powerful new voice in Native American fiction.--Brandon Hobson, National Book Award finalist and author of The Removed
Night of the Living Rez delivers stories that combine the otherworldly with the everyday in ways that startle and sing. Morgan Talty portrays Maine and his Penobscot characters in language and images both beautiful and inventive. With equal parts humor and haunting, this book will linger.--Toni Jensen, author of Carry
Night of the Living Rez is an indelible portrait of a family in crisis, and an incisive exploration of the myriad ways in which the past persists in haunting the present. I loved these sharply atmospheric, daring, and intensely moving stories, each one dense with peril and tenderness. Morgan Talty is a thrilling new talent.--Laura van den Berg, author of I Hold a Wolf by the Ears
While soaked in pain and broken promises, Night of The Living Rez delivers with a grace and dignity on par with the writings of Craig Lesley, Dawn Dumont, James Welch and Joseph Dandurand. Morgan Talty delivers on so many levels and proves that this is why Indigenous Literature continues to be its own unique and sacred blessing. I loved this book. Loved it. And I can't wait to see what Morgan Talty does next. I am a fan for life. Mahsi cho, Morgan!--Richard Van Camp, author of The Lesser Blessed
A collection of stories set in a Native community in Maine, Talty's book centers questions of what it means to be Penobscot today--what it means to live through and reckon with historical tragedies. Talty grapples with such complicated inheritances with tenderness and humor, with characters ranging from a boy who finds an old curse in a jar to a grandmother struggling with Alzheimer's.-- "LitHub"
Evokes the short, sad misadventures in Denis Johnson's Jesus' Son. . . . For a fan of Johnson's work, the comparison forms with an instant, pleasurable shock.-- "Publishers Weekly"
Twelve incredible stories. . . . Haunting, insightful, and just plain excellent.-- "Book Riot"
In these searing, devastating and often darkly funny stories, we come to know a community of Native people living on a Maine Penobscot reservation in all of their complexity and drive for survival. There's family tragedy, struggle with drugs and deep poverty, but there's also children with a plucky spirit, adults who grapple for purchase against all odds and an abiding love that will stay with you for a long time.-- "Good Housekeeping"
These stories took me in the same way Denis Johnson's Jesus' Son did when I first read it. The comparison here is meant in every way to praise Talty as a writer, and I'm sure I won't be the only one who says so, partially because of his emotional precision, his stark, unflinching, droll, intoxicating style, and also because of a certain drug/addiction element at play here. But as I got deeper into the work, into the book, and came to understand these lives and this community, the further away it felt from my initial comparison with Johnson, and the more familiar it felt--our Native communities being bound by countless common threads, strengths and afflictions both--and only then did I understand the distinct brilliance of Talty's voice as its own, and ours. I knew and felt for these people. Wanted to and knew I couldn't help them, even as they did me. There is so much brutal, raw, and beautiful power in these stories. I kept wanting to read and know more about these peoples' lives, how they ended up where they ended up, how they would get out, how they wouldn't. It is difficult to be so honest, and funny, and sad, at once, in any kind of work. Reading this book, I literally laughed and cried.--Tommy Orange, author of There There
Night of the Living Rez is a fiercely intelligent and beautifully written set of stories--a spectacularly visceral and moving account of the experience of a member of the Penobscot Nation in today's America--as well as a wrenching meditation on family and familial dysfunction. Morgan Talty is a master of the way dependency and pain transition from one body to another; the way both separating and refusing to separate become modes of saving ourselves; and the way, for all of our failures, we never stop doing what we can to provide each other hope.--Jim Shepard, author of Phase Six
Night of the Living Rez is true storytelling. It's a book so funny, so real, so spirited and vivid it brought me back to my own rez life and the people who made me.--Terese Marie Mailhot, author of Heart Berries
Talty's Penobscot tribal community is eerily unique and tangibly universal. I can't wait to dive into the pages of Night of the Living Rez to discover triumphs and failures akin to my own Indigenous communities. Moreover, Talty is sure to delight us with humor and mend our hearts with humanity.-- "Paste"
Talty is adept at unearthing his characters' emotions. . . . these stories reveal the hardships facing a young Native American in contemporary America.-- "Kirkus, Starred Review"