Mule Boy by Andrew Krivak

I read this for a recent book club. It’s a great read that is evocative in terms of tone and overall vibes of works like John Williams’ Stoner and Dennis Johnson’s Train Dreams.

It focuses on a Slovak immigrant man who in his youth survived a coal mine accident in Pennsylvania in 1929 and goes on to deal with the trauma and survivor’s guilt over the next several decades. It’s written in a stream of consciousness writing that after a few pages, you get used to it and feel the emotional state of the main character. Worth a read especially in its emphasis on the interior life of this man and and his journey.