comment on language / style

Talty’s narrators are usually not particularly verbose or formal, and this serves as a reflection of their educational background and attitude about the world. David is quiet and contemplative but not a particularly good student; Dee, meanwhile, is observant but unpretentious, and often frightened of engaging too deeply with his own emotional landscape. Thus, the language that Talty chooses is straightforward and intimate without being confessional or overly emotional—with the possible exception being the stuttering narration of “The Name Means Thunder,” which finds an aging David recounting a particularly painful memory from his childhood.