by Tom Franklin
First published 2001
In the swamps and polluted rivers of Alabama, hunters and fishermen watch their world die around them. Paper mills and power plants devour the lush forests and waterways that once sustained their communities. Factory workers and farmers alike turn to poaching as their traditional ways of life crumble. Some respond with violence to the slow destruction of their environment. Others dream of Alaska as a distant refuge from the decay. These men are trapped between the rotting marshlands they call home and the industrial forces that consume everything in their path. Franklin captures their desperation as they struggle against the inevitable collapse of their world. Violence erupts from their frustration, but offers no salvation. The characters represent a vanishing way of life, caught between the natural abundance of the past and the polluted wasteland of progress. Their illegal hunting becomes both survival and rebellion against forces beyond their control.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, 21st-century, environmental-science
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: man-vs-nature, vanishing-way-of-life
Setting: Alabama, Alaska
Period: 21st-century
272 pages · Paperback · ALBIN MICHEL
Content warnings: violence