American Rust by Philipp Meyer

Rust-belt lit. Two young men, trapped by the collapse of the steel industry and their own reluctance to move on, are caught up in the murder of a vagrant. The writing is good, the subject matter depressing. The setting is somewhere in the coal and steel belt of Pennsylvania, as well as a prison since one of the characters does end up in prison.

Meyer does an excellent job examining the motives and passions of his characters. Each is faced with difficult decisions, each acts according to their wants and desires. The young men each have their chance to escape, and each fails to take advantage of their opportunities.

The author is also successful in bringing the novel to a close satisfactorily, something that can be difficult to do in character-based literary fiction. The ending is dark and sombre, but satisfying.

If I had a complaint it would be with the two female characters - they both seem to find sex the only way to relate to the men in their lives.

Overall it is well worth reading, even though it is dark and depressing.

Link to Amazon: American Rust: A Novel