i’m reading Joseph Boyden’s collection titled BOTH WITH A TOOTH and it’s fucking fine writing. the forward propulsion, sentence by sentence, is engrossing. here’s a sample from a story titled “Born With a Tooth”:
It was three months, close to the ice breakup that first winter, before my wolf finally trusted me enough to stay in sight when I came outside. All winter I’d watched from the living-room window after Mom and Lucky had gone to their beds. At first I tried luring him with pieces of chicken or whitefish. I’d sit on the back step with my arm outstretched, waiting. But he wouldn’t leave the shadows. So I’d arrange the scraps in a circle and go inside to my window perch and watch him slink across the yard. He knew I was there but wouldn’t look up. He grew fuller and less jumpy. The night he finally ate from my hand, I knew something was going special. (p.7)
notice the lack of punctuation and the use of but-construction. the voice is true. this story is cooking with gas.
gas or electric?