Kindling is astonishing.
I had never before read Darren’s work and had no idea what to expect.
It’s both skilled and bold.
Skilled in that it balances, throughout the novel, multiple voices, one of whom belongs to a young man who has autism. As I understand it, Darren has a child who has autism, and perhaps it’s the empathy of a father that drives both the reality and the nuance of that perspective. Darren is also a father, and I wager that informs the voice of the father in this story, who is caring and careful, doting and thoughtful.
And bold like a wildfire. Without spoiling anything, its revelations are like a flame starting, a slow smolder that deepens into a deeper, more solid burn that explodes like a wildfire.