PRESS
FOR WALK THE DARKNESS DOWN
“This book rages like a beautiful tempest. An undaunted chronicle of a family shipwrecked by an indescribable loss, Daniel Magariel's Walk the Darkness Down is a brutal, exquisite, and ultimately unforgettable novel.” ―Hernan Diaz, author of TRUST
“The book's briny geography lies between Florida and Cape May-aboard a scallop-fishing vessel with a near-psychotic crew, in the kitchen of Marlene, derailed by an old and guilty grief, into the thoughts and violent actions of Les, her bedeviled husband. We catch our breath at the impulsive decisions of Josie, a young prostitute whom Marlene has befriended. Magariel is our Virgil, guiding us through this inferno with sentences like burning flags. The characters' chained lives chafe against each other. We work through the difficulties of tenderness, the luxury of hurtful words, the jagged psychologies of male bonding, loneliness, misunderstanding and isolation. We struggle with the characters to reclaim vanished affections, to face self-knowledge, and, finally, to try to repair the fragile cracked-glass splinters of love that lie underfoot. We long for the characters to make the right choices. This is one for readers who appreciate fine writing and can take punches from the shoulder.” ―Annie Proulx, author of BARKSKINS and THE SHIPPING NEWS
“Daniel Magariel has written an astonishing novel about a marriage burdened by a soul-blistering tragedy (among other things). Wide and deep as it is, you enter with joy and leave it with regret. The prose is elegant and unforgettable, and the plot keeps you turning pages. Sleeper hit of the season, I predict. Buy this book!” ―Mary Karr, author of The Liars' Club and Tropic of Squalor
“Alternatively gritty and tender, Daniel Magariel's Walk the Darkness Down leads us through the long dark night of grief toward the possibility of morning. We read on hungrily, immersed and haunted, into the world Magariel has so sharply conjured.” ―Chanelle Benz, author of THE GONE DEAD
“Daniel Magariel's novel–an extraordinary pair of chamber pieces, one nautical, one terrestrial–is courageous and transfixing.” ―Joseph O'Neill, author of NETHERLAND
Daniel Magariel has written an astonishing novel about a marriage burdened by a soul-blistering tragedy (among other things). Wide and deep as it is, you enter with joy and leave it with regret. The prose is elegant and unforgettable, and the plot keeps you turning pages. Sleeper hit of the season, I predict. Buy this book! — Mary Karr, author of The Liars' Club and Tropic of Squalor
FOR ONE OF THE BOYS
“Feral and tender . . . a gorgeously tight tale swelling with wisdom about the self-destructive longing for paternal approval and the devastating consequences of clinging to rotten models of masculinity. . . . Magariel’s gripping and heartfelt debut is a blunt reminder that the boldest assertion of manhood is not violence stemming from fear. It is tenderness stemming from compassion." – The New York Times Book Review
“A knockout debut... A shimmering, heartbreaking portrait of children fiercely devoted to a damaged parent and of the intense sibling bond that helps them through." – People
"A slim, deeply affecting and brutal story, One of the Boys is about the fierce power of a father-son relationship... what Magariel achieves is a novel that makes readers feel what it would be like to live on high alert all the time; to be at the mercy of a father's addictions, crackpot whims and surges of violence. He also makes us feel what it would be like to still love such a father. The subject of One of the Boys is archetypal, but Magariel's novel depicts it with the power of stark revelation. We cannot turn away." – NPR, Fresh Air
"Striking... A novel of short, blunt, often powerful sentences... Musical and painterly." – Boston Globe
"One of the most striking debut novels of the year... one of the most affecting portrayals of the bonds that keep us tied to family... It's [his] compassion and deep understanding of the dynamics of addiction that make Daniel Magariel's slim book an important one." – Rolling Stone
"Brilliant, urgent, darkly funny, heartbreaking—a tour de force with startling new things to say about class, masculinity, addiction, and family. Daniel Magariel is an exciting new presence in American writing." – George Saunders, author of Tenth of December and Lincoln in the Bardo
"Precise and coiled and urgent. Magariel is able--as few writers can--to say so much in so little. A propulsive and intense debut." – Hanya Yanagihara, author of A Little Life
"Remarkably lucid and unsparing... Some passages feel so true, you keep wanting to put the book down to applaud... In one of his many crises, the father challenges his sons, 'Tell me one true thing about life... Either of you. Tell me one true thing.'... Magariel has triumphantly, unforgettably, told us." – The Guardian
"Intense, harrowing and brilliantly written... Brutally honest and lyrically compelling... Shows a mastery of control and a labyrinth of nuance... Stunning." – Providence Journal
“With a charismatic, macho, drug-addicted dad, the young narrator pays an awful price to be One of the Boys in the riveting debut novel by Daniel Magariel. Move over Great Santini, this patriarch is rendered with such artful love, you'll be haunted by his presence long after you close this graceful and heartbreaking book. – Mary Karr, author of Lit and The Liar's Club
"A captivating portrait of a wayward father, brimming with charm and trouble." – Justin Torres, author of We the Animals
"Haunting." – The New Yorker
"A deeply affecting portrait of innocence lost. Like Emma Donoghue’s Room, One of the Boys is impossible to resist as we root for these young men to escape their brutal (yet charismatic) father. We feel the strength of the child through Magariel's precise, understated and unflinching prose, which builds in emotion and suspense by keeping us very close to how each moment leads to the next. A beautiful debut." – Dana Spiotta, author of Innocents and Others
"Daniel Magariel's absolutely brilliant and beautiful novel is that rarest thing: an incredibly mature book about kids. Not since I read Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping have I felt so at once in the presence of the magic-logic terrors of childhood and the too real and consequential realms of adults. The children in this novel act like loving, terrified parents; the parents behave like the most destructive of children. Yet Magariel has managed to tell the story of this failing family with so much love and gentleness that the lasting impression of this novel--full of enraging scenes and calamitous decisions--is of the unknowing courage unique to youth." – Rivka Galchen, author of Atmospheric Disturbances
“Joining Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life in its brilliant picture of a boyhood twisted by abuse and Justin Torres' We the Animals in both its concision and its portrait of the bond between brothers, Magariel's debut is sure, stinging, and deeply etched, like the outlines of a tattoo. Belongs on the short shelf of great books about child abuse." – Kirkus, starred review
"A stunning and tragic portrait of both the joys and limitations of love." – Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Short but haunting... Scenes of paternal neglect under the Southwestern sky call to mind certain chunks of Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch... A stunning discussion of parent-child loyalty, masculinity, and how the only person we can truly save is ourselves." – Booklist
"Slim and sharp as an ice-pick." – Library Journal
“Told in prose that's spare and concise, this is a heartbreaking but compelling portrait of a childhood twisted by a controlling parent, as well as the unbreakable bond between brothers.” – Daily Mail (UK)
“Set in stifling Albuquerque, this debut novel [is] a companion to Breaking Bad… Unflinching… Vivid yet spare.” – Financial Times (UK)
“Spine-chilling... Magariel packs an impressive amount of emotion into his short book. Readers will root for the brothers, whose love for each other comes across on the page as simultaneously heroic and credible.” – Irish Times
“An absolutely standout novel... It left me feeling impressed [and] mournful. A book that you find yourself thinking about weeks later... A stunning writer.” – BBC, Radio 4
"Daniel Magariel is a name to remember... his debut is an accomplished work of dazzling, lyrical prose combined with riveting storytelling. The result is explosive and powerful." – Electric Lit