In the past few years I’ve read a handful of books that could be labelled as ‘manly man literary books’. This is of course my highly scientific name for them, which I’m sure will catch on any minute now. What makes these books unique is the writing style which is typically very sparse and straightforward (no flowery language here folks!) and the action, which is usually violent but not gratuitous. Craig Davidson’s Cataract City, and D.W. Wilson’s Ballistics are two perfect examples of this genre, and Kevin Hardcastle‘s debut novel In the Cage is an exceptional addition to this budding category of literature.
It’s a bit strange that I liked this book so much because it deals with subject matter I don’t care for. It features a young man named Daniel who is a retired MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter, forced out of competing too early because of an injury. Living in a small rural town in Ontario he struggles to find work as he has a wife and child at home, but he falls in and out of work with a local gangster who seems to be able to offer the only dependable (albeit dangerous) and well paying job in the area. I’m not a fan of watching professional fighting for a multitude of reasons, and this book includes lots of fighting references; training for fights, professional fights, violent fights breaking out between hot-headed men, etc, but Hardcastle describes these bouts almost as a dance, with lots of technical know-how and observation so I actually found these descriptions interesting.
Kevin Hardcastle-even the author’s name sounds bad-ass!
The language of the book is what I liked the most. A few examples of how tight each sentence is:
“In the dark and pisswet alleyway Daniel stood under one meagre light” (p. 12 of ARC);
“He sat in his gitch on the edge of the couch cushions” (p. 76 of ARC);
“The pads of his feet were raw and they spoke to him about it on the walk” (p. 116 of ARC). Â
When the book you are reading uses the word ‘gitch’, you know the author ain’t foolin’ around. In fact, some of the sentences sound like they’re almost missing a word or two, to the point they sounded grammatically incorrect. They could be for all I know, but it doesn’t really matter in the end because this was clearly a stylistic decision, not a mistake. Plus, the book was published by Biblioasis, a well-known and reputable publisher, so we know the book received a proper edit and approval by a proofreader, which is why I think this is just a case of me not being 100% up on my rules of grammar.
The ending of this book really blew me away, I felt myself release a big exhale when I turned the last page, and I could hardly believe what I had just read. Believe me, Hardcastle just GOES for it, alliances to certain characters be damned! My only quibble with this book would be the characterization of Daniel’s wife Sarah. She is a strong woman, fearless really, and the amount of shit she puts up with is unbelievable. She stands up (more than once) to the small-town criminals that Daniel falls in with, and although I’m sure men WISH a woman like that existed, I’m not sure I’ll ever meet one. Hopefully, my husband never does either.
You’ve described my feelings about this book perfectly! I liked it despite not being a fan of fighting, the ending blew me away, and I even noticed the unusual sentence structure that you mention (and which I also assumed was supposed to be that way – to me it came across as a kind of rural dialect maybe).
But, YES, that woman was a saint to put up with so much!
haha yes ‘rural dialect’ is a very diplomatic way to put it 🙂
I had the pleasure of meeting Kevin last week. And I will get to his book very soon. The moderator at WOTS Toronto kept referring to this type of book as “Hillbilly Noir.” Not sure if I am crazy about that term. Andrew F. Sullivan (whom The Toronto Star confused with Kevin a couple of weeks ago) is also a writer in that genre.
I read Andrew’s book last year when I interviewed him for Wordfest. I can’t remember if I actually reviwed his book on my blog or not, but I liked it too. It’s a little more violent and grotesque than Hardcastle’s though, it reminded me of a freaky circus actually.
“Hillbilly Noir” does sound disrespectful (and I think the people in Appalachia have already claimed it (I kid!)). I have to wonder what MMA has to do with hillbilly life. Perhaps the moderator means hillbilly justice? (confession time: I’m too familiar with the concept because I live it).
you are familiar with hilbilly life, or hillbily justice?
BOTH 😌
I’m just off to look up ‘gitch’ in the dictionary! Smokey look like he’s had a shock – perhaps the grammar got to his inner pedant… 😉
haha oh yes, gitch is an important term to know 🙂
Has your cat always had a mustache, and if he has, where is his top hat and monocle?
Smokey has always had a mustache, and Pearl has a handlebar mustache 🙂
Love the term manly man literary books’. 😂
Yes I hope to find other books in this genre hahha