Apparently, Wells Tower is famous. Before reading his debut collection of short stories, bearing the weighty title, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, I had never heard his (unique) name. He divides his time between journalism and short stories and has written for The New Yorker, The Washington Post and Harper’s Magazine. Writers and critics alike (see novelist Michael Chabon, and Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times) only had glowing things to say about Tower, so I decided to take a chance on this new writer. After all, the name Wells Tower screams “esteemed literary career!” and it’s a great fit.

Tower’s first book is a collection of short stories about the quintessential, rag-tag misfits of America. A total of nine stories make up a collection which features characters ranging from middle-aged men to adolescents and Vikings. What makes Tower’s work stand out is his ability to take scenes of what might otherwise be seen as average, every day life and give them stunning literary quality. The stories are set along a beach or in a forest, at a restaurant, or by the end of a gravel driveway. Tower writes with such skill that even the most banal locations become the background for great art. He could drop his characters on the head of a pin and get a compelling story out of them.

There is nothing super-natural or paranormal about the conflicts in the stories, but they are shocking and unexpected, even so. They range from the end of a marriage to attempts at abduction and the pillaging of an island by a band of Vikings. Perhaps it is not always the conflicts themselves that are unexpected—marital separation has played out on paper many times—perhaps it is the way that Tower’s characters react to their lot and scramble for a resolution that makes this collection so compelling.

Tower’s use of detail is pitch-perfect every time. He gives enough information to set the scene, but still leaves room for the reader to flesh out the scenes for herself. Small crimps in the main action hold enough power to change the direction of the narrative, and leave the reader unsettled, already eager to start again from the beginning.

While the characters’ situations may often seem severe, there are moments to chuckle. The humor is quick, balanced nicely alongside each character’s plight. Tower’s particular bits of humor and wit are expert. He has his readers smirking one moment, only to pull the rug out from under them the next.

Tower’s narratives are believable and gritty without being too self-conscious. They showcase an incredible talent and a carefully honed craft. With Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, Wells Tower, one of the most celebrated writers of 2009, has debuted a crackling collection of short stories that continues to smoke in the mind of a reader long after the final sentence.

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned
By Wells Tower
256 pp. Picador. $14.00

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