Dirt

David Vann returns with a new novel about dysfunctional families and disaffected men. This time he has relocated the action from the bleak climes of Alaska to sun-drenched California, warm and empty all at once.

We're introduced to Galen, who fleets between an otherworldly wisdom and childishness at 22. His mother controls a large family fortune and when Galen's aunt and cousin come to visit and reap some of the benefits of the estate, a hideous trail of events erupt around Galen as sisters fight, lines are drawn in the sand and he is drawn into a dangerous relationship with his cousin, Jessica. For all his seeking of enlightenment, Galen is prone to acts of the flesh, impulses coursing through his developing mind and body and this will lead him to some dark places.

David Vann's new novel takes us to the heart of human desire and its propensity towards greed despite our best intentions. Passages are horrid, sections are uncomfortable, characters are barely likeable - this is a difficult book to love, but it's an easy one to admire because Vann's observations are drenched in a truth we daren't acknowledge.