Indies Introduce

Fiction

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  The Graybar Hotel, Curtis Dawkins
  Scribner, 9781501162299, July 4, 2017 (Fiction)
  

  “Curtis Dawkins is a flat-out great writer who is also incarcerated for life in a Michigan prison for a drug-related homicide. The stories he tells in The Graybar Hotel are small masterpieces of the daily drama of prison life, reminiscent of John Cheever or Raymond Carver. In deceptively simple sentences, Dawkins pries into the inmates’ complex relationships with each other, their coping mechanisms, and their lives on the outside that brought them to where they have ended up. A transformative reading experience.”

  Sarah Goddin, Quail Ridge Books (Raleigh, NC)
  
  

  "Throw out the thought that the Curtis Dawkins is serving a life sentence and insert the thought that this is an amazing short story collection by a debut author. Each and every story builds The Graybar Hotel, as we glimpse the emotional lives of the inmates of Kalamazoo Prison. These inmates are cut off from the world; time moves and sounds different than before. One character calls random numbers just so he can hear a voice or any noise for his 15 minutes, anything to connect him to the outside world again. It reminded me of reading early Denis Johnson, in the way that the writing is sparse and so I fell right into the stories and suffered along with the inmates. A captivating read that allowed me a glimpse of the humane side of prison life."

  Jason Kennedy, Boswell Book Company (Milwaukee, WI)
  

  "These stories were raw, eloquent, and captivating. The writing was sharp and clear and dives directly into the complicated and human realm of prison life."

  Courtney Flynn, Trident Booksellers & Cafe (Boston, MA)