Fire Exit

By: Morgan Talty

Narrated by: Darrell Dennis

“Fire Exit, Morgan Talty’s debut novel, is utterly consuming. The novel absolutely smolders.”—Tommy Orange

Does she remember this day? Does she remember it at all? Does she know this history—this story—her body holds secret from her?

From the porch of his home, Charles Lamosway has watched the life he might have had unfold across the river on Maine’s Penobscot Reservation. On the far bank, he caught brief moments of Roger and Mary raising their only child, Elizabeth from the day she came home from the hospital to her early twenties. But there’s always been something deeper and more dangerous than the river that divides him from this family and the rest of the tribal community. It’s the secret that Elizabeth is his daughter, a secret Charles is no longer willing to keep.

Now it’s been weeks since he’s seen Elizabeth and Charles is worried. As he attempts to hold on and care for what he can: his home and property, his alcoholic, quick-tempered and big-hearted friend Bobby, and his mother, Louise, who is slipping ever-deeper into dementia—he becomes increasingly haunted by his past. Forced to confront a lost childhood on the reservation, a love affair cut short, and the death of his beloved stepfather, Fredrick, in a hunting accident—death that he and Louise cannot agree where to lay the blame—Charles contends with questions he’s long been afraid to ask. Is it his secret to share? And would his daughter want to know the truth?

From award-winning author of Night of the Living Rez, Morgan Talty’s debut novel, Fire Exit, is a masterful and unforgettable story of family, legacy, bloodlines, culture and inheritance, and what, if anything, we owe one another.

©2024 Morgan Talty (P)2024 Recorded Books

Interesting

A good listen, but perhaps could have been a few more characters or ones there more fleshed out?

slice of life and depression and dementia

The narrative meandered away from drama into melancholy. Quite enjoyable.

It's a cautionary tale about being more thoughtful and proactive about your decisions.

Incredible, as expected

Morgan is an incredible story teller, and the performance of this book is masterful. We need more literature that captures the reality if daily life while also touching on deeper themes of humanity. Beautiful and compelling work.

Wanted to love it as much as his first book but...

I struggled to like this book. I was hoping for the more propulsive narrative of his first book, which I adored, but this book seemed like it was wandering in the weeds a little bit. I gave up near the end.

Wonderful story about love, family , truth and deception and identity

This is well written and delivered really well by the narrator. The protagonist is a man who was brought up culturally as a Penobscot Indian on their reservation but his birth father is not Penobscot and neither is his mother. He is connected to the tribe through the stepfather who raised him and when he comes of age, he has to leave the reservation because he’s not a member of the Penobscot tribe, but his stepfather builds a house just across the river from the reservation. It turns out he can look across the river to the house on the reservation lived in by a former girlfriend, her husband and their daughter who, in turns out is actually his daughter but being raised as not his daughter so she can claim Penobscot tribal membership. The writing starts out describing his life in evocative day to day detail, and this sort of careful granular detail is really what I loved about this book.I grew fond of the characters in it through the sort of casual everyday conversation that os often pared down in fiction. Emotions are often understated but still strongly conveyed through the circumstances. Ans the storyline does move along to what is actually quite a dramatic moment towards the end. It’s a great book to make you think about what children who have parents who were not involved in raising then need to know or want to know or deserve to know about that parent and their connection to that part of their family. My extended family has a few international adoptees in the millennial and gen Z generation and it made me think of their hidden birth parent heritage and how it has or has not affected them.