“Believe in what” by Richard Krawiec, when you have lost everything – Libération

The American author delivers a masterful noir novel which tells of this white America which feels abandoned by the megacities, the same one which, among other things, fueled the vote for Trump.

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It's a punchy novel, which says a lot about the divisions in American society and the anger of a large part of the population. Each word, each sentence of Richard Krawiec tells of this broken society where life expectancy continues to decline. We are in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the end of the 1980s. The local factory has closed, leaving hundreds of workers unemployed, with no hope of finding enough to feed their families. Timmy is one of them. He finds himself on the floor even though he was already struggling to make ends meet. Pat, his wife, devotes her days to their eldest daughter, Katie, who has been seriously handicapped since she was struck by a concussion when she was forced to go out to play in the snow; she feels vaguely responsible. She not only devotes her days to Katie, but also the household money which goes towards medical care. And Ellen, the youngest, despairs of receiving even a look from her mother.