Jim Kalin's Reviews > Tom's Crossing

Mark Danielewski envies you. He envies me. Think about it. He will NEVER get the opportunity to read Tom’s Crossing, this century’s greatest novel to date, as a new experience, because he wrote it. He won’t encounter the heart-bruise a first read-through generates. I was in constant wonder (TC took me 29 days to read; 42.38 pages per day) and the characters’ desires and struggles infested my waking hours. MZD obviously loves great literature, and there’s nothing better than stumbling across an unknown gem. Tom’s Crossing is one of the great novels of modern literature he’ll never discover.

Westerns are about retribution, and Tom’s Crossing stays true to the genre. This book includes just about every element of the classic Western, from gunfights to poker games, but it’s so much more. After all, this is a work by Mark Danielewski.

A warning: This is an absolutely crushing, triumphant, melancholy thing he’s done. I’ll never read another book like this again, ever, and that leaves me somewhat stranded. What to read next? Tom’s Crossing has set me up for disappointment. What could ever follow such a book? The literary landscape suddenly looks so desolate.

I envy Mark Danielewski.