David Vann’s ‘Dirt’ follows the deterioration of a young, spiritual slacker and his family Slacker has spirit, but not enough to escape ‘Dirt’ - Books

Beware the terrible meek. That could be the moral, if there were one, of David Vann’s “Dirt.” A domestic tragedy played out in small, but inexorable steps, this novel chronicles the downfall of one already quite dysfunctional family, through the actions of its protagonist, the 22-year-old Galen.