When honesty is present in one's writing it almost seems to transcend the fact that what we are participating in is merely the decoding and envisioning of those words in our head. The reader feels let in on a secret and in essence feels loved, trusted to the point that he or she is worthy of knowing what it is that is leaving the author's mouth. When honesty isn't there, however, or when the tale feels forced and lacking in truth the reader feels jibbed. Sometimes the lack of truth is intentional but it's generally made clear as to why the author has chosen that path. What then does one make of an author's work when it spans the gamut of truthfulness to the point where one cannot seem to find the desire to finish parts of it but at the same time wants to rewind and return to lines of brilliance mere pages before?
Well, in the case of Wells Towers' collection of short stories, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, one forgives and ultimately forgets remembering the shivers that made their way down one's arms during the discovery of the dying fish, or the realisation that the moose was already dead, or the fact that Dwayne came back, or the fact that Barry and Marie disappeared. For at times in the likes of Wild America or On The Show he missteps and falls foul of his characters sounding judgmental and mean-spirited, bringing into question his motivation for his entire collection. For what was the purpose of his borderline carciatures of the carney folk? Or his intentions when presenting the life of a teenage girl in all its grotesqueness?
It may be that Tower writes best when speaking in the voice of a man but one could argue that it simply comes down to the fact that he writes best when his intentions are pure and when he lets the truth will out. For that is truly what readers want is it not? What better than to bathe in the world of beautiful words? In Tower's own words, "Listen. Don't answer. Be still."
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