Crux / Gabriel Tallent.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"Insanely big-hearted." -- The Washington Post

"Electric." -- The New York Times

"Tender, immersive, and thrilling." --Gabrielle Zevin, author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

"One of the best novels I've ever read about friendship." --Stephen King, #1 bestselling author

In this story of intense friendship and grit, two down-and-out teens escape their lives and chase a different future through rock-climbing -- from the New York Times bestselling author of My Absolute Darling .

Dan and Tamma are two teenagers in their last year of high school in the southern Mojave Desert. One is a gifted golden child, the other a mouthy burnout. Climbing boulders in trash-strewn parking lots during cold desert nights, they seal their unique bond and dream of a life of adventure.

As the year progresses and adult reality looms, they are rocked by change and pulled apart by irreconcilable obligations. Differences of class, talent, and prospects take on new importance; options dwindle, and their decisions grow ever more consequential and perilous. It feels inevitable, finally, that something must give.

With a magnificent gift for nature writing and a joyful appreciation for the redemptive power of friendship, Gabriel Tallent gives readers a rollicking, adrenaline-filled, and soul-searching novel about risking everything to change your life.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

This tense and staggering tale of rock climbing and family demons from Tallent (My Absolute Darling) explores the cost of following one's dreams. Best friends and high school seniors Daniel Redburn and Tamma Callahan steal every spare moment to climb the rock formations of Joshua Tree National Park. Dan is a straight-A golden child under enormous pressure from his family to shed burnout Tamma and become the first of the Redburns to attend college. Tamma, a lesbian, is a social outcast and troublemaker. Uninterested in school, she dreams of becoming the world's best rock climber. But in a landscape where everything feels "luminous with meaning" to these California desert rats, their families' entwined past bears down hard. Dan's mother, Alexandra, a runaway writer once taken in by Tamma's working-class mother, Kendra, has a congenital heart defect, but the money that could save her life has been set aside for Dan's future. Meanwhile, Tamma's chaotic home life is rife with alcoholism, neglect, and sexual assault, and further complicated by Kendra's long-held bitterness at never doing anything with her own life. As Tamma becomes increasingly reckless in her climbs and Dan contemplates a future without the one person who really understands him, each wonders if there is any "version of oneself other than the self one already finds oneself to be." The answer is in Tallent's novel, a brutal portrait of finding hope in an unforgiving landscape. It's a towering coming-of-age saga packed with muscle and heart. Agent: Joy Harris, Joy Harris Literary. (Jan.)

Booklist Review

Tallent (My Absolute Darling, 2017) is a passionate climber who clearly understands the intricacies of the sport and the unique challenges of the setting and population he depicts. Tamma and Dan, two young teens living in the unforgiving California desert, dream of escaping their stagnant lives of abject poverty. They pin all their hopes on becoming hardcore rock climbers festooned with lucrative sponsorships and glory. The indefatigable Tamma pushes Dan with her boundless optimism, and he grounds her with his steady, pensive diligence. Their symbiotic friendship enables them to survive--both literally and figuratively--as they hold each other's lives in their hands. With no family support or money for safety equipment, the risks they take are not only physically harrowing but psychologically and emotionally treacherous as well. Tallent's portrayal of his characters' emotional states is heartbreakingly realistic given the insurmountable disadvantages they are forced to endure. His meticulous description of each climb builds excruciating tension, rewarding the reader with vicarious thrills and breathless catharsis. Necessary fiction for climbers, Crux would also appeal to thriller fans and armchair adventurers.

Kirkus Book Review

Two young climbers seek the footholds that will allow them to escape their families. Tallent's thrilling, well-turned second novel--followingMy Absolute Darling (2017)--concerns Dan Redburn and Tamma Callahan, high-school seniors united by their love for rock climbing in the Mojave Desert. The children of low-income families, they lack the funds for fancy gear, but the excitement of "sending" (completing) a climb is too hard to resist. They both fantasize about heading to Utah and living together off the grid. (Platonically; Dan is straight, Tamma a lesbian.) But multiple forces weigh on that ambition. Dan is in line for a college scholarship, and Tamma also aspires to join the competitive climbing circuit. Family proves the steepest challenge, though: Dan's mother, a one-time successful novelist, has a serious heart ailment, while Tamma is often recruited to support her sister's children. Moreover, their mothers, once best friends, are estranged, placing their friendship under further scrutiny. Though in some ways a conventional bildungsroman, the novel is lifted by Tallent's gift for surprising and lively language, from the peculiar names climbers give to sites (one challenging climb is called Fingerbang Princess), to Tamma's robust and profane rants, to the lingo used to describe climbs themselves. (A "crux" is a difficult portion of a climb.) Even if you don't climb, the language is rich and resonant: "The hand crack was juicy. It was outrageously casual for crack climbing. Not even a boulder problem." Tallent delivers excellent set pieces, particularly Tamma's introduction to the competitive climbing world, but he consistently has his eye on the existential questions that climbing metaphorizes, such as how to balance independence with responsibility and what constitutes a meaningful life goal. "How should I conduct my life? Do you trust yourself, or do you not?" Dan asks himself, and this adventure tale invites the reader to consider the same questions. A sharp novel about youth in conflict with dreams, nature, and reality. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.