I saw Wingwalkers on the table at Barnes and Noble and it piqued my curiosity. I’m writing a novel which takes place in the 1920s, so of course, I had to have it. This is the first novel I’ve read by Taylor Brown, even though this is his fifth to be published.
First, Brown’s voice is incredible. His lyrical prose is meant to be read slowly, savored, like a spoonful of ice cream you let melt in your mouth and drip down your throat. He has a large vocabulary and uses it well. So, if you want to relax and sink into sentences which circle around in your brain, you will love his writing.
As for the storyline in Wingwalkers, there are actually two alternating stories in the book. One is about a pilot and his wing walker. The other is about William Faulkner. Before reading the book, I thought I’d love the pilot story but not the Faulkner portion. That’s not what happened.
I started enthralled with the story of the pilot and his wing walker, but over the course of the book, grew to love the Faulkner sections more. I found the facts of Faulkner’s story so interesting, his life could have been fiction in itself. The timelines are different, too, manipulated so the characters would meet up close to the end of the book.
Brown uses numerous POVs which jarred me out of the story every so often, making it hard for me to immerse myself into the characters. However, if you want to dive deep into the beauty of words, you won’t be able to find many more books written with such mastery of wordsmithing.
Wingwalkers has a 2022 copyright and is published by St. Martin’s Press. I purchased the hardcover edition. Taylor Brown’s website is: http://www.taylorbrownfiction.com.
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