Engine Summer

Engine Summer follows an adolescent named Rush that Speaks who lives in a warren of "Angel" creation occupied by his small, secluded, and class-based community. Rush finds himself focused on the craft/art of Truth Speaking, and wishes to some day become a saint by effectively relating the experiences of his life in a way in which everybody can take something from his stories. To this end, he leaves the only people he has ever known in search of not only adventure and guidance from other enigmatic saints, but also a lost childhood love.

A decisive sense of melancholy hovers over the entire book. Humanity has lost something special, something we are unlikely to get back. We have changed fundamentally and yet have also learned to cope with that loss and push on in new directions. The post-apocalyptic world of Engine Summer feels alive and realized by comparison to other works in the genre like Station Eleven precisely because Crowley is able to write cultures that balance perfectly between forward and backward looking.

Engine Summer'sslim size belies a shocking density of thematic exploration, world building, and arresting prose work. It's a microscopic yet enormous puzzle box in which Crowley invites you to piece things together for yourself. Sometimes the tangibles of the plot can feel impossibly obtuse and obfuscated, but most of the time Crowley gives precisely enough to get a sense of what's going on without destroying the mystical tone he also cultivates. To top it off, Engine Summer sticks the landing with a resolution that satisfies the plot but also leaves you wanting more in all the right ways.

As an avid reader, I find it difficult to not fall in love with a novel like Engine Summer that's as centered around storytelling and the ways in the stories we tell simultaneously shape our culture and ourselves. If a driving plot or transparent storytelling are things you must have in a book, then it may not be for you, but it happens to be right up my street and I'll sing its praises to anyone who will listen. Like most works of its caliber I fear I'm doing an absolutely horrid job communicating why I think it commands attention and respect. I hope at the very least that my enthusiasm has come across enough to make you curious enough to give it try.