Martin Marten by Brian Doyle

October 31, 2022

Humans and nature and storytelling.

My love for this book breaks the already-questionable star ratings I’ve been using for so long.

Cassidy Randall, author of a gripping piece called “Alone at the Edge of the World”, happened to recommend this novel in an interview about her aforementioned story.

Martin Marten is sort of about a boy and his Oregon mountain community. It’s a small community that feels real and whole, with a diverse cast of characters that includes the landscape’s not-human wilderness. It’s about how all of them—all of us—journey through our lives, and it’s also about storytelling. It’s playful, gentle, sincere, and wildly creative. I fell in love with each of the characters as much as the narrator1.

Martin Marten is beautiful and fun and moving, and leaves me grateful for and curious about the people and stories in my life.

Footnotes

  1. Stephen Fry, could you please read this aloud? 

thestorygraph.com