A SHOUT FROM COPENHAGEN, THOMAS E. KENNEDY

A DEMOCRACY OF GHOSTS

Every bit as powerful as Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle and, as Bob Shacochis says, “evocative of the indelible storytelling of Dos Passos, Frank Norris and Upton Sinclair,” and closely informed by historical records of an actual series of events, John Griswold’s first novel, A Democracy of Ghosts, tells the story of both sides – rather, all sides – in an early 1920s coal mine strike in southern Illinois. It is a gripping tale – rippling with horror, humor, passion, and irony.

William H. Gass tells us there are no people in fiction, only words, but the words here are clear windows on the complex souls of human beings – no heroes, just men and women in all of their weakness and some of their strength. Though less than 200 pages, the novel has a large presence, giving a sense of a whole community and its many and varied inhabitants. Here we see the quotidian treacheries, small and large, of human beings at home and on the job, the terrible organism of a mob run amok (one of the scariest chapters I’ve seen in a novel in some time), the sad fragility and egotism of human dreams but also the determination to help keep things going, albeit usurped by a shocker of a surprise in the penultimate chapter.

I don’t want to be a spoiler, cheating potential readers by revealing details of this novel’s secrets and surprises. I would only like to recommend it strongly – and to quote a passage toward the end of this powerful story that sums up the fate of the strongest character in it, and perhaps the ironic fate that most of us who wish to be a part of something larger than ourselves are powerless against:

“He’d trapped himself in a system… He was no longer free to omit one part he hated; it would be like omitting nails from a house. A man might choose which system he wanted to help build, but once built, it became his fate.”

Master novelist Duff Brenna sums it all up beautifully – so let me second his words about the book: “At times disturbing and tragically violent, always insightful, poignant and uncompromising, Griswold’s riveting narrative is filled with complex men and women bursting with life. Fast-paced and powerful, A Democracy of Ghosts is an original ride told by a masterful writer.” Hear, hear!

Greetings from this ancient kingdom!
Thomas E. Kennedy (www.thomasekennedy.com)