Lost, wounded and alone, Jesse Bartos wanders the wilderness with no memory of how he came to be there. He only knows that he is in danger, and that the suitcase in his hand is worth more than his life. At the point of death, he happens upon the abandoned railroad station of Dawn’s Holt, run by an enigmatic family who assure him—despite appearances—that the train will arrive any day. Jesse is desperate to escape, until he meets Reo, the family’s eldest son . . . As the days pass, Jesse falls deeper under the spell of Dawn’s Holt, until he’s caught in a battle between past and future, memory and reckoning and fiercest of all, between his conscience and his own heart.
For the Road is a fantastical Acid Western about life, death and the power of love as a force of redemption, perfect for fans of Hadestown, Alix Harrow and Catherynne M. Valente.
Dark bleatings, my travelling tribe! I’m reviewing a novella today, which I enjoyed, but was also mildly confused by.
The last thing Jesse remembers is being told to run, and having a suitcase in his hand. He needs to get the train to Jackson, but he finds himself in a dusty wasteland with a small group (a family) of people, who keep telling him that the train will come through today or tomorrow. Things are dusty and baron, and he’s very concerned with getting that train. Initially, at least.
I have some pros and one con, so I’ll start with the thing that wasn’t my cup of tea. In terms of what wasn’t ideal for me as a reader, I found myself a bit confused quite often. This actually gave me a bit of an epiphany about myself and my comprehension when it comes to stepping outside of what kind of fiction I normally read.
99% of the time, I read horror, and of all that horror, it is almost always set in the “real” world, so I tend to understand the settings and how things work. This story feels both like it’s set in the real world, and like it isn’t, and I struggled a little bit. What I noticed is that my wires are very easily crossed when it occurs to me that I don’t know the rules of the world, and because I wasn’t sure here, it grated on me a little bit. This isn’t a criticism of the author’s writing style or world-building at all, more an irritated realisation that the scope of my own imagination is narrower than I thought it was. I feel inspired to step out of my comfort zone and pick up some different kinds of books because of this.
Now, onto the things I enjoyed!
Despite what seems like a traditional Western setting, there is something otherworldly about the way the characters behave, and how our protagonist’s memory seems to work. It’s fairly obvious that there’s more to his story than him just needing to get a train, and it was very intriguing. I did have an early inclination about what was happening and was interested to see if I’d worked it out (I did so I won’t tell you what it was, because spoilers!).
What I really loved were the characters. For a short read (around 50 pages or so), I think the author did a fantastic job of establishing them, their relationships, their general temperaments and levels of compassion, etc. I’m all about character and thoroughly enjoyed the ones in this novella.
Though this wasn’t quite for me, I’d give it a 3.5/5 (which means I liked it quite a bit but didn’t love it). I do think that more imaginative readers than me would love it, particularly if you’re a fan of Westerns! If you’d like to check out the book or the author, I’ve popped some links below for you:
Bleeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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