Talker is a lyrical story filled with pain, anguish and love. Talker is a short story by Amy Lane about two unlikely friends: Tate “Talker” Walker and Brian Cooper. The two young college men meet during a track team bus ride and become fast friends and why not? They are both hiding secrets from each other and themselves. Tate is a talker with a quip for every situation, thus his nickname. Behind his bad boy rocker facade, he is hiding a lot of personal pain and fear of rejection. Brian is hiding too, but he’s hiding behind a facade of “normality”. He has a stream of faceless girlfriends who come in and out of his life, but don’t mean anything to him. It takes one of those girlfriends to wake him up to some realities about himself.
Amy Lane’s Talker touched me with its fluid language, which is almost poetical at times. While reading the book, I had the feeling that I was listening to a poet. Reading Talker was my first experience with Amy Lane’s writing. I plan to enjoy listening to this voice in the future. I read constantly and it’s been a while since a book warmed me as this one did. This one is definitely 5 stars. I can’t wait to read the sequel.
Stars: [rating=5]
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Images courtesy of Dreamspinner Press