Strong Tale Will Expose What Kind Of Reader You Are. In Gwaltney’s debut, The Cicada Tree, you got a tale that could work commercially, but was never really going to be a *huge* hit in the most general circles – it was great, but there was enough there that would throw off more casual readers that are the bread and butter of the industry as a whole.
This book is that to a whole new level. It will expose you as a reader.
Here’s what I mean by that last: This is a “LITERATURE” book, the kind of book that is destined to be in the “Best Georgia Books of the 2020s” if not “Best American Books of the 21st Century” conversations among the New York Times book critics, librarians, English teachers, professors… that crowd. The one that likes high discussions with a bottle of wine. The crowd that debates to this day the intricacies of Fitzgerald and Hemingway and Steinbeck. The crowd that praises Cormac McCarthy as among the greatest writers of the early 21st century. The crowd that debates every single word choice, that finds significance in every rain drop, in every leaf placement. That crowd is going to DEVOUR this book.
And then there is the more casual crowd. The crowd that just wants a fun beach read that doesn’t make them think at all. Where they can enjoy a fun romcom in the sun or maybe a pulse pounding action thriller where somehow John Rambo, Superman, a Predator, Wolverine, and Jack None Reacher are all fighting each other. The crowd that would rather drink a Budweiser at a local minor league baseball game (Go Jax Jumbo Shrimp!) than even think to recognize that a leaf placement in a book could be significant. That crowd… probably isn’t going to enjoy this book too much.
Me, I’ve always been a creature of two worlds, always trapped in both, never really fitting in within either – not fully.
So I can absolutely appreciate what Gwaltney has done here. As the wine-sippers will tell you, it truly is a magnificent story and is truly masterfully told. It is absolutely one that is going to have you thinking, that isn’t going to give its answers easily. One you’re going to have to sit and ponder and dream of and come up with your own interpretations that may or may not be what Gwaltney actually intended… but that very thinking is clearly *exactly* what he intended you to do.
And yet my other nature can absolutely tell you that if you’re looking for that more straightforward or simplistic tale – and there is *nothing* wrong with that, to be crystal clear – this really isn’t that kind of tale. At all. Indeed, it is more of a mindfuck than anything Fitzgerald or Hemingway or Steinbeck or even McCarthy ever wrote. It is like Thomas Kincaid painted a stunning lowcountry scene… and then Jackson Pollack, Dali, and Kre8 all interpreted that scene in succession, one after the other. You eventually get something that still is clearly this stunning lowcountry scene… in a very mind bending version of it that really makes you think hard and get a touch creative yourself to see what is really happening.
A truly stunning work for what it is, just make sure you as a reader are ready for the experience.
Very much recommended.
This review of Sing Down The Moon by Robert Gwaltney was originally written on March 2, 2026.
