Book Review – The Dead and the Desperate by Dan Denton

Available at Amazon.

I read this book in paperback. This is an unsolicited review.

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The Review:

Having read a review online for Dan Denton’s novel, I was so moved by the reviewer’s words I felt compelled to order the book straightaway. Immediately I was drawn in from the first lines and was unable to put the book aside for several days as I plowed through it, just as desperate as the main character. Not only did the protagonist dig deep into my soul, but his desperation and plight became more real to me with each passing line. Denton describes perfectly the difficulty of the everyday blue-collar workman in America. But more than that, a man addicted. Addicted to the type of self-loathing which leads to alcohol and drug addiction.

What I found really interesting was though the main character hates himself, he still has glimmers of hope to keep going and that those he is around genuinely love him, even if he IS a scoundrel. From his partner to his co-workers to his bosses to the guy at the bookstore. He has a charisma which reaches past the addiction. This just furthers the assertion that beauty, whether it be outward or inward, really IS in the eye of the beholder.

I wanted so much for him to win, to persevere, to make it through, to shine, to rise above and beyond…to see in himself what we see in him.

Not only does Denton create this vivid atmosphere, drenched in Reality, but he carefully pens poetry amidst the lines of prose. He slips it in so cleverly that you don’t realize it until you’ve read it and are pages past it. Then it hits you, what beautifully crafted writing this truly is. I find myself coming back and thinking about the story and the verbiage and the desperation. His descriptions between chapters on the reality of the factory life, of marriage and divorce, of depression and pharmaceutical drugs (and more) is a depressing hit on real life. This isn’t made up. It’s real statistics but in easily swallowed nuggets (which want to be retched back up, due to the disgusting predicament that is America today). He tucks these in so well, it’s seamless and fits the overall story perfectly.

Spoiler: I was upset by the ending of the book. I was so entrenched in his life that I wanted him to be the hero at the end. To lift up and out like a lotus from the mud of despair. Instead, he almost ends where the story began. And that made me upset. But then I let it marinate for a bit and I see that Denton couldn’t have ended it any differently. This is real life. Is there hope at the end? Yes, if you want there to be. Is there death in a gutter? Maybe, if that’s what you want. Again, it points to the clever genius in the writer himself. That he can punish his character so hard, that he can punish his reader so hard, and we keep asking for more. The reality is, not every story is so easily wrapped up. Not everyone finds true love or the perfect job or true-blue friends. But still, you put on your work boots and go work in the cancer dust of the factory and you keep your head up and you struggle, because maybe, in the end, maybe it WILL be worth it.

My Overall Score:

4.75/5 stars – The story, the characters (all of them), the cover, the length, the writing all get 5/5 stars from me. The only place I felt the book lacked was in the editing and mildly in the formatting of the book. The first half of the book or so had very few spelling or punctuation errors. The second half felt like the editor simply gave up. It’s filled with misspellings, punctuation problems, and a couple times the sentence would split right in the middle and start a new paragraph. It was jarring and mildly annoying. The loss of ¼ star comes from that. If those things are unimportant to you, then you can easily dismiss my rating and upgrade it. Highly recommended reading and I’ll be checking out his other writing more.

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Here’s a conversation I had with Dan, after I had read his book:

How long have you been writing?

I wrote my first short story for a young author’s contest when I was in 2nd grade, and won an elementary school poetry competition in 3rd grade, so I’ve been a writer since then, but due to many reasons, homelessness, addiction, mental health, and bad decisions ad nauseam, I didn’t start writing in earnest until I got sober at 27.

When you compare how you wrote when you began versus now, what are the most palpable differences you observe in how that writing has shifted?

Ha. It’s much better now than it was when I began writing everyday years ago. Much, much better. I think that my time spent serving as an elected chief steward in the UAW, and as a constitutional delegate that was part of bringing recent progressive changes to the union, being that involved with labor sharpened my already working class voice over the last few years, too. 

Where do you feel you struggle the most as a writer, in terms of any aspect of the writing experience to you personally?

This is the easiest question I’ve ever answered in an interview, as I’m the typical “own worst critic.” I can’t write fiction in third person, yet. I’ll get there eventually. I work at it all the time. And as an independent author, meaning there’s no money for PR people, or tour managers when I do poetry and book readings, my mental health and general disdain for being a salesman really cripple me in the book sales, and self promotion departments. Remember it took me a few days to get back to you for this interview, that I’m extremely grateful for, it’s always an honor to be asked about one’s art when they’re an aspiring artist, but I’ve missed out on a lot of interviews, readings, publishing offers, etc, the things I need to do to get my work out there, but I just can’t make myself check my phone everyday, I miss important emails and messages constantly and deadlines are impossible when you never know what day today is, ya know? 

If you were describing yourself to someone else who did not know you, what would you want them to know about you?

Whenever I meet strangers in public, in line at the grocery store, or at random coffee shops or what have you, you know how us Americans always ask “What do you do?” because we define ourselves too much by our jobs? Well, strangers are always shocked to learn I’m a writer. I get it. I’ve worked in factories my whole life, and I look like a redneck biker, or a hippie stoner (that part is true actually) but yeah, I’m a writer. My books, my poetry and my words have already traveled to more countries around the world than I ever will.

Do you, or have you in the past, written other styles than the novel? What drew you to creating your novel, The Dead and the Desperate?

I wrote poetry and short stories for years until my first novel $100-A-Week Motel was published by Punk Hostage Press in 2021. In fact, I’ve traveled and toured as a spoken word artist for years. I wrote The Dead and the Desperate because I wanted to write a fictional tale, steeped from my own real life experiences, to show an honest portrayal of life lived under the poverty line in working class America. To show what life is like for an addict with mental health issues, and to show how people wind up living like that in the first place. 

What factors come into play when you write? Anything at all. 

Time and energy are my biggest factors. I’m bipolar, with C-PTSD and ADHD, so writing a single paragraph is sometimes a war for me. This is why I love poetry. I struggle to even read for long periods, so poetry and short stories will always be special to my heart. I’ve learned to write in fits, then pace, go do chores, read a little, then write for another 30 minutes, but that style makes writing a 250 page novel like The Dead and the Desperate a one year long exhausting rabbit hole. And I’m proud that I wrote my three published books all while working 60 hour weeks at the Toledo Jeep Plant, but since I took an early retirement buyout from Chrysler last year to focus on my writing for the first time in life, and since I refuse to work overtime anymore, I’ve got more time to spend doing that manic pinball writing routine. 

Are there other writers (or artists) who inspire you? Who and how so?

Oh, man. So so many. Amongst the writers and artists I know? I know so many of the best underground and independent artists. S.A. Griffin. Iris Berry. Richard Modiano. Catfish McDaris. Michele McDannold. Bob Phillips a local poet in Toledo. I was fortunate to recently meet, read poetry with and spend time with Mark Lipman, the new National Beat Poet Laureate, Ron Whitehead the International Beat Poet Lifetime Emeritus, and talk about two amazing artists to sit and learn from. My pals Michael Grover, Ezhno Martin, Nettie Zan, A.S. Coomer and Patrick McGee have all traveled lots and lots of miles on the road and in life chasing art with me and they all inspire me, encourage me, and support me in ways I’m forever grateful for. 

Artists that are gone or too famous to know yet? Tom Morello is my working class hero. My favorite writers all have and continue to inspire me. Steinbeck, Richard Brautigan, James Baldwin, Bukowski, Bob Kaufman, Alice Walker, David Lerner the San Francisco Poet, Lydia Yuknavitch, Hunter S. Thompson.  Artists like Marina Ambrovich, Ai Wei Wei. Jello Biafra. Woody Guthrie. 

How do you envision your artistic journey in, say, five years? What do you hope in terms of where you will find yourself?

I’ve got some good opportunities upcoming over the next several months: a publishing offer for my first poetry collection, I’m working on a UAW memoir, and after writing the Dead and the Desperate, I’m working on a novel about life living and recovering in a men’s halfway house. I’ve got some readings coming up in November, then we’ll see. I’m working on getting the money and application together to finally apply for my passport, and hopefully I keep getting opportunities to take my work new places. 

Is there anything you’d like to share with your readers?

Last year I was voted the best writer and author in Toledo by readers of the Toledo City Paper, the biggest honor I’ve ever received probably, and something I keep forgetting to add to my author bio. Told you I was bad at self promotion. But an award like that means so much to me because I’m a community college dropout. A factory worker that survived some impossible conditions so far down the human scale that those that knew me were shocked I made it to 30 years of age. Surviving all that, and becoming a sober, productive member in society was miracle enough on its own, and beyond that my only daydream was to someday write a novel and get it published. That was it. And after three books and more to come, to be voted the best in my city made me proud and emotional in ways that I’m uncomfortable even expressing. 

Beyond that, I’m most proud of the articles and poems I’ve gotten published with Toledo Streets Newspaper, a non-profit newspaper that provides no question employment and aid to the area’s housing unstable population. How cool is it to overcome all those obstacles and to make it as a writer, and to get to write for a paper that helps the people living through the things I was lucky to survive? 

Do you have any advice you’d like to share with other writers?

Study the other writers and artists and learn as much as you can from all of them, but always work to find the process that fits you. I love Stephen King, even though I’m not much a fan of horror. He’s one of the very best writers of our generation, and his book on writing is one of the best books for writers, but his recommendation to sit in your chair for hours at a time in the morning and write, before you do anything else, that didn’t work for me. Plus, I do most of my best writing late at night when the world around me is sleeping. Who was it, Hemingway I think, that said write drunk, edit sober? I’ve changed that to write late, edit early. I’m a better critic and editor in the morning than I am at 2am. But that’s just what works for me. 

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Connect with Dan on his Instagram @porkchop78 or his Substack “The Factory Poet”.