The Underworld

January 30, 2017
Set in the 1970s, this stunning and deeply moving novel follows a disparate cast of characters in the mining town of Silverton, Idaho, before and after a disastrous fire in the mine that changes their lives. Hope isn’t easy to keep alive in this hard-drinking, hard-living town, and everyone secretly dreams of somehow getting out, even when so few of them actually manage to do so. The story is anchored by David, a college freshman living not far from where he grew up, whose father and brother both work in the mine and who constantly feels the pull of his hometown, and Ann, a frustrated and lost young woman who fantasizes about another life that she believes will always elude her. The two are drawn together following overwhelming personal losses after the accident. What follows is a complex portrayal of trauma, grief, and how to find light in the darkness—quite literally, in fact, in the case of Lyle, an older miner trapped underground after the accident, who is forced to confront the meaning of his life and what might come next if he is saved. The voices of these characters are as memorable as their struggle to keep going in the face of tragedy.

Starred review from January 1, 2017
Drawing on a true disaster, this brittle, compassionate story tells of a mine fire that devastates a small Idaho town.The silver mine dominates the lives of families in and around Silverton, paying them well and tying them to a life of harsh labor, coarse camaraderie, and heavy drinking. Lyle retired a few years ago but returned to mining, even with $280,000 in the bank and Social Security in the monthly mail. David attends college in Montana, trying to escape, but he's pulled back, feels "the past reaching out to claim him." Ann has tired of the compulsory sex of married life, and the trips to the fertility clinic haven't brought the baby that might improve matters. Canty (Everything, 2010, etc.) focuses on these three lives and touches on several others enduring terrible loss. "The things that have bound the family together are all cut." The mine fire kills 91 men, spares 80, and leaves Lyle and another trapped a mile below the surface of Silverton. It's a small working-class town, where people are stuck and secrets always get out, where the collars are blue and college is rare. Canty has a keen eye for details in this setting and suitably dry, spare prose. A just-rescued miner thinks: "Somebody takes his picture, somebody takes his pulse." A neighborhood is captured with its "cracked sidewalks and chain-link fences." Ann, chasing a new life, a new identity, twice mentions "her name stitched onto the breast" of the blue smock she wears for work in a grocery store. One nit: the quantity of booze consumed may be realistic--"Go to the bar and drink. That's what we do"--but it's also dispiriting, no pun intended, and may sap a reader's sympathy. Canty does a fine job of showing how disaster can lacerate a place or people without utterly destroying hope.

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October 1, 2017

Loosely inspired by a real-life tragedy in 1972 Idaho, the novel follows several characters who dream of escaping life in a small town where men are expected to work in the mine and women to marry miners and have children. When a fire devastates the town, the characters grapple with change and loss. David, a young man obtaining a degree in a nearby city, is drawn back home even as he attempts to break free, and must find a way to support his parents while also realizing his dreams. Canty adroitly conveys the various perspectives and mental anguish of the richly drawn cast of characters. Teens will identify with David's longing to carve out his own path. VERDICT Fans of emotional, character-driven stories will appreciate this powerful read.-April Sanders, Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2017
The 1972 Sunshine Mine fire that claimed the lives of 91 men and touched the lives of everyone in a small Idaho mining community is the basis for Canty's (Everything, 2010) polished, deeply empathetic treatment. College student David hopes to escape the mining life shared by his brother, Ray, and their taciturn father, while Ray's restless young wife, Jordan, a mother of year-old twins, is also feeling trapped. Newlywed Ann dreams of starting a family with her high-school sweetheart, Malloy. Twice-divorced Lyle has spent a career in the mine, his life one of joyless routine. Each of these lives will be profoundly changed when tragedy strikes. They must deal with unbearable grief and survivor's guilt. Canty's controlled, spare prose provides an ideal vehicle for excavating these emotional depths, for unearthing what lies buried and dusting off what is allowed to surface. His sculpted, lapidarian cadence deftly navigates the terrain separating numbness and pain, second guesses and second chances, to illuminate the fragility and preciousness of life. For fans of Kent Haruf and Russell Banks.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

October 1, 2016

Once again plumbing the heartbreak of ordinary lives, Canty takes us to a remote silver-mining town in 1970s Idaho beset by tragedy. A terrible fire has swept through the mine, taking many lives, and the town's hard-working, hard-drinking townsfolk cannot ignore their collective pain. Following Everything, which won the 2010 Montana Book Award.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2017

Set in 1972 and based on a true incident, Canty's tale is a poignant look at the hardworking, hard-living folks in a small Idaho town. They stay despite the poisonous dirt because working at the silver mine is the only good paying job around. Just when David Wright thinks he has escaped by going to college in Montana, he is pulled back to fight the demons he thought he had left behind. A fire in the main mine shaft has unmoored the fragile lives of the town's residents, with over 80 men dead, including David's brother Ray. In her grief, Ray's young widow ignores her children, turns to drink, and throws herself at strange men. David's father, Pat, a mine safety officer, is among the survivors, but now he sits in a daze in his garage listening to the radio. David feels trapped by the accident and by his feelings for a woman named Ann, whose husband was among those killed. Nothing good will come of living here for any of them, but, strangely, the mine disaster gives some a chance to break free. VERDICT In his sixth novel (after Everything), Montana Book Award winner Canty offers a masterly story of heartbreak and struggle against fate and bad luck while heroic themes of love and forgiveness carry this memorable novel. [See Prepub Alert, 10/1/16.]--Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2017

Set in 1972 and based on a true incident, Canty's tale is a poignant look at the hardworking, hard-living folks in a small Idaho town. They stay despite the poisonous dirt because working at the silver mine is the only good paying job around. Just when David Wright thinks he has escaped by going to college in Montana, he is pulled back to fight the demons he thought he had left behind. A fire in the main mine shaft has unmoored the fragile lives of the town's residents, with over 80 men dead, including David's brother Ray. In her grief, Ray's young widow ignores her children, turns to drink, and throws herself at strange men. David's father, Pat, a mine safety officer, is among the survivors, but now he sits in a daze in his garage listening to the radio. David feels trapped by the accident and by his feelings for a woman named Ann, whose husband was among those killed. Nothing good will come of living here for any of them, but, strangely, the mine disaster gives some a chance to break free. VERDICT In his sixth novel (after Everything), Montana Book Award winner Canty offers a masterly story of heartbreak and struggle against fate and bad luck while heroic themes of love and forgiveness carry this memorable novel. [See Prepub Alert, 10/1/16.]--Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.