25 years ago, Mark Z. Danielewski made himself somewhat of a cult figure in the world of fiction with the complex, non-linear and typographical adventure of House of Leaves. While it was certainly difficult to navigate, it was some definitely an intriguing challenge, and even more so as something to study during my own venture into the world of words, with a focus on contemporary writing and the use of language in such works, with all its unexpected structure and purposefully misaligned textual exploration.

Out now, Danielewski’s new 1,200-page novel Tom’s Crossing looks set to ruffles the paper feathers of the industry once again with an epic, sprawling piece of work which takes us into the mythical American West, a world you can visualise so specifically, also helped if you love those classic films. The language and style instantly puts into a frame of mind, the drawl, humour and reality of all kinds of personalities, and introduced characters, is so intriguing, that it does feel like you’re in an epic ride.

The story takes us where memories of the past, or the what if, live alongside realities of violence and grief, all combine to guide you through this saga of characters on an odyssey, while enveloping us in the vital bond between humans and animals – with more than a hint of that epic filmic touch of the Coen Brothers or Darren Aronofsky, and more than a hit of the dust of John Ford, as you’re offered a sense of involuntarily existing within it as you immerse. While I have not had the time *tips hat* to conclude, I felt it deserved a preview, and also a wider synopsis to give you a flavour:

Set in a mythic version of Utah in 1982, Tom’s Crossing begins with a promise: before he dies of cancer, a teenage boy named Tom Gatestone makes his friend Kalin swear to rescue two ponies—Navidad and Mouse—from slaughter and set them free in the high Isatch mountains. After Tom’s death, Kalin keeps that promise. That simple act detonates everything.

What follows is part rescue mission, part ghost story, part frontier manhunt, and part cosmology. There’s a blood feud between two powerful local families. There’s federal land theft and the fallout of the Sagebrush Rebellion. There’s Old Porch, a brutal patriarch out of Cormac McCarthy’s nightmares. There’s Landry Gatestone, Tom’s sister, fearless and unignorable. There’s Tom himself—who may not be done speaking.

As Kalin flees into the canyons with the ponies, chased by men with guns and by history itself, the novel widens into something enormous: a Western that’s also about memory, power, death, land, and who gets to tell the story of America. 

Tom’s Crossing is out now, order it here: https://amzn.to/3WplqcD