Katie Arnold-Ratliff's debut novel Bright Before Us, just out from Tin House, proves conclusively that there are, in fact, interesting stories to be told about disaffected white people in their 20s.

No, seriously.

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[Ratliff's] 23-year-old protagonist, Francis, is not particularly sympathetic—he's callow, selfish, cruel to those who care about him, and probably a little bit crazy. Yet somehow, from Francis' floundering attempts to accept the terms of adulthood, Arnold-Ratliff has drawn a beautifully compelling and utterly original novel.

"It has been my particular curse to watch the only two meaningful things in my life fail utterly," Francis tells us. The first, his teaching career: In his early days as a teacher, he'd taken his responsibilities seriously, pleased to help usher his students into adulthood. But all of that changes the day he sees a parent hit her daughter in the face—the day he realized that children "weren't enigmatic little wonders. They were miniature adults. They were just as bedraggled by their own shitty impediments, their same painful burdens, as their grown counterparts. I was watching them become people, yes—I was watching them become people they someday would not want to be."

So when Francis takes his class on a field trip to the beach to catalog flora and fauna, he's already stopped caring about his work. He's reading the newspaper while his kids patrol the beach—and when the class discovers a dead body, Francis is the one who falls apart. He's soon popping pills before class while parents and administrators circle, lobbying to have him fired. As his mental state deteriorates, so too does his regard for his students.

Ratliff's book is almost painfully insightful—it's rare to encounter a character so honestly, accurately flawed. And she writes beautifully. Read my whole review if you'd like to hear in greater detail how good this book is.

Arnold-Ratliff is reading tonight at Powell's on Hawthorne, 7:30 pm.