In this gutsy folktale of a novel, author and singer-songwriter Josh Ritter (Bright's Passage) takes readers into treacherous forests and lawless towns to witness the last days of the era of the lumberjacks.
At 99, retired lumberjack Weldon Applegate lies in a hospital bed, though not for reasons of old age. He was "in my prime, full of Rainier and vinegar, fixing to live forever" until his mortal enemy, the son of a clear-cutting sawmill tycoon, had other ideas. In what may be his last words, Weldon relates the exploits of his youth in the Prohibition-era timber town of Cordelia, Idaho, where the dream of logging a dangerous strip called the Lost Lot lured his father to his death. Orphaned, 13-year-old Weldon has little choice but to pick up an ax and join the loggers on his father's claim. Standing in his way is Linden Laughlin, a giant of a woods boss with a reputation to rival Paul Bunyan's and the sadistic streak of a demon, who wants the Lost Lot. Laughlin leaves a trail of dead jacks in his wake, and Weldon must grow up quickly to survive.
Filled with memorable characters and told by a charmingly irascible narrator, Ritter's folkloric tale raises the spirit of a lost age. Bootleggers, witches and legends walk the town of Cordelia, and Ritter builds a fierce and hungry forest primeval that captures the imagination. Infused with song and history, The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All feels like the seed of a new mythology. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads