The South

Review

I enjoyed the way this novel captured the lethargy of summer as a representation of the region's economic stagnation and the tension of what the future might look like. I was disappointed with how the story ended, because it felt like it fizzled out in an unsatisfying way… but maybe that was also the point.

I'm hungry, Jay says. They've had an early dinner, hours ago now, and his body feels hollow, aching. Growing pains, like his parents always say. There are empty spaces inside him that didn't exist before. This emptiness feels like hunger but Jay thinks that it is really a longing, though he doesn't know what he is longing for.