Anvil Press, 256 pages, paperback, $19.00

Great fiction comes from authors who can make readers believe what they’re reading is true. With enough talent, suspension of disbelief is achievable even when dealing with supernatural elements, impossible occurrences, aliens, or new galaxies. However, when an author decides to unabashedly present his or her fiction as a blatant imitation of reality, which puts suspension of disbelief in peril, the odds of being successful diminish drastically. In the case of Savage 1986-2011, author Nathaniel G. Moore uses first-person narration via journal entries to explore the tumultuous life of a young man, and the result is a novel that feels as real as any biography out there.

Savage 1986-2011 chronicles 25 years in the life of Nate, a middle-class kid who loves wrestling and hockey and has to deal with the uncomfortable and ever-changing dynamics between himself and his mother, father, and sister, as well as those between themselves. The narrative is bracketed by a bizarre celebrity, wrestler Randy “Macho Man” Savage. The story begins in July 1986, when Nate sees Macho Man live for the first time, and May 2011, when the larger-than-life character suddenly died. In between, Nate struggles with sexuality, a stormy and often violent relationship with his father, and more or less fails at coping with the loss of innocence and other array of problems that comes with growing up.

The beauty of this narrative comes from its duality. On one hand, there’s nothing special about Nate or his family and nothing disastrous or earth-shattering happens to him, so his life could be called unremarkable. On the other hand, Moore has enough writing chops to make the reader feel the immensity of each situation as it relates to the main character. There’s nothing special about most of our troubles, but they’re ours and that makes them big, and that feeling of significance is exactly what the author achieves here. Also, the feeling of inertia mixed with anger makes for a potent cocktail that pours from almost every page in the novel and keeps readers turning the pages in search of a resolution.

Savage 1986-2011 lures in readers with a bit of nostalgia as Nate pedals around on his bike, but soon it takes a dark turn and things just spiral downward from there. While this is a very appealing narrative packed with top-notch writing and a wonderful touch of black humor, it’s also the kind of book that deserves to be read because it’s not afraid to touch on subjects that other don’t. Sure, there’s food, pop culture, wrestling, movies, and a bit of fun here and there, but there’s also homosexuality, violence, sickness, financial struggles, and even suicide in here, and this second batch of elements is what makes the novel special.

Moore is a talented writer, and Savage 1986-2011 showcases his writing very well because it’s at once sharp, strange, and powerful. There are some exciting things happening in Canadian fiction right now, and Moore, along with this novel, is a great place to start for anyone who’s interested in what’s being written right above us, or just for anyone who enjoys good writing.

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Gabino Iglesias is writer, journalist, and book reviewer living in Austin, TX. He’s the author of Gutmouth and a few other things no one will ever read. You can find him on Twitter at @Gabino_Iglesias.