the beads

The Beads by David McConnell (Itna Press, 2024)

I was amazed and delighted by David’s new book. It’s an ambitious and almost entirely successful novel about the coming of age of a young man in late 20th-century America and the simultaneous dissolution of his family and culture. David’s writing is brilliant; the book is ambitiously conceived and masterfully executed, and its satisfactions are rich and rewarding.

It’s one of the best contemporary American novels I’ve read since Atticus Lish’s Preparation for the Next Life. I was sorry The Beads did not receive the attention and acclaim it deserves.