Trenton Makes

November 20, 2017
In this taut debut, Koelb takes on manhood and the rise and fall of the American Century as Trenton, N.J., evolves from a booming postwar factory town to a place full of closed factories and dope-smoking, draft-dodging hippies. The protagonist, Abe Kunstler, is a watchful, angry man whose life is predicated on keeping his secret: he is no man at all, but a woman who killed her traumatized veteran husband in a marital fight, cut her hair, and, physically built up from wartime factory work, went out into the world. For Abe, power lies in manliness, not the weak body of a disrespected female. For a while he achieves that power: he acquires the suit that makes him feel like a “real man”; a marriage of sorts with Inez, a dancehall girl with a taste for alcohol; and even a son. But the son intended as the final proof and future of Abe’s masculinity comes of age when America is riven by generational divides and mired in a senseless war. Koelb is insightful, if not always subtle, about how short the era of triumphant white American manhood was and its tendency to fight a rear-guard action that hurts men and those they love. Agent: Anna Stein, ICM Partners.

Mozhan Marno proves to be the ideal choice to narrate Koelb's historical fiction about a transgender man in a mid-century working- class world. The story depicts the large and small concerns faced by Abe Kunstler as he negotiates factory work, a complicated love life, and injuries to body and mind. Marno sustains the tones and pacing that give each issue, and Kunstler's response to it, credibility. Her New Jersey accent gives Kunstler and his co-workers authenticity in dialogue, especially in scenes in which characters are drunk. Koelb's debut novel seamlessly intertwines artful language with a clear social examination, and Marno brings it alive at the mic. F.M.R.G. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine