Bark On - by Mason Boyles (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Bark On follows triathlete Ezra Fogerty, who is training under the guidance of recently disgraced Olympic coach Benji Newton. They live on the barrier island of Kure, North Carolina, where a growing coyote population is displacing locals and tourists alike. Benji combats the coyotes and structures Ezra's training with a system of superstitions that Ezra finds dubious. When Benji invites teenaged orphan Casper Swayze to live and train with them, Ezra begins to question Benji's motives as well as his methods: does Benji see Ezra as a potential champion or a couch to crash on until he finds his next prodigy?

Review Quotes

"Bark On is one of the strongest debut novels I've read in years. There's nothing weak about it, in fact: from the sentences to the story to the beating heart of it all, this book has an extraordinary musculature. I really enjoyed this novel."

"Every sentence, every paragraph, is dense with inventive language. [...] Driven by uncanny energy and imagination, Bark On is a gripping and insightful novel..."

"Bark On is a novel squarely and worthily in the tradition of such high-style masters of Southern vernacular as Barry Hannah and Cormac McCarthy. It immerses you in the coastal-Carolina low country, where the streets are 'named for the nearest water threatening to sink them, ' where 'thunderheads anvil down' and the language is a flood of startling invention that somehow feels both ancient and inevitable. It takes you both inside the world of elite triathlon training and to the extreme edge of that already-extreme sport, exposing the 'meticulously random' cycle-of-abuse training methods of a charismatic, celebrated coach and two young, uncelebrated prospects he's grinding down and grooming. This is an outstanding and even breathtaking debut by Mason Boyles-a novelist who's here for the long haul."

"Boyle's novel is an intense, hectic work with a terrific premise and lifelike, earthy characters that all easily express what drives them. The narrative shows a fervor for language and boundless energy..."

"Mason Boyles is an electrifying writer, pushing language to its limits in this propulsive novel, as remarkable and uncompromising as the ultra-endurance athletes he conjures here indelibly. Sentences crackle with vitality and surprise. Characters brim with fierce convictions. Every detail of this world-the coastal South, the Ironman subculture-proves impossible to forget. This book marks the introduction of a new and important American voice."