Float Up, Sing Down

Hunt’s amiable collection of 14 interconnected character studies (after Zorrie) is set over the course of one day in the early 1980s. The connective tissue of the stories, each of which is titled after its protagonist, is the characters’ Indiana hamlet, friendly on the surface but riven with subterranean traumas. Candy, an older woman who hosts the monthly bingo club, was close with Irma, who has recently died by suicide. Horace, a bachelor, is a WWII veteran and retired farmer who mows the lawn and goes for a walk to avoid dwelling on his combat experiences on D-Day. Della is a high school student training for the track team who secretly meets classmate Sugar Henry in his parents’ barn, where she trades him kisses for Kraft Cheese Singles. A young man named Toby, whom Hunt implies is neurodivergent, derives satisfaction from the people who honk at the signs he holds on the side of the road (“Honk If You Love the Gipper”; “Honk If You Love Jesus”). Though Hunt’s portraits don’t quite cohere into a narrative, they do convincingly capture the era and a sense of place. Fans of Hunt’s previous small-town studies will appreciate these lovingly drawn portraits. (Feb.)