Critic Reviews
Great
Based on 9 reviews on
Hailed by George Saunders as "a true original--a wise and wildly talented writer," Lee Durkee takes readers on a high-stakes cab ride through an unforgettable shift. Meet Lou--a lapsed novelist, struggling Buddhist, and UFO fan--who drives for a ramshackle taxi company that operates on the outskirts of a north Mississippi college town. With Uber moving into town and his way of life vanishing, his girlfriend moving out, and his archenemy dispatcher suddenly returning to town on the lam, Lou must finish his bedlam shift by aiding and abetting the host of criminal misfits haunting the back seat of his disintegrating Town Car. Lou is forced to decide how much he can take as a driver, and whether keeping his job is worth madness and heartbreak.
Shedding nuts and bolts, The Last Taxi Driver careens through highways and back roads, from Mississippi to Memphis, as Lou becomes increasingly somnambulant and his fares increasingly eccentric. Equal parts Bukowski and Portis, Durkee's darkly comic novel is a feverish, hilarious, and gritty look at a forgotten America and a man at life's crossroads.
Matt Smith is a writer and podcast host.
@ItsMarkYall @BamaWriter @JamesDFHannah My thought: Skip Faulkner and listen to @lee_durkee ‘s THE LAST TAXI DRIVER. It’s modern Oxford, brilliantly written, and funny as hell.
Maud Newton is an author and critic.
@SonofBaldwin @andrehenry @lee_durkee (I started THE LAST TAXI DRIVER on the plane home and, well, I don't want to spoil all the surprises in store for you! I'm gonna polish it off here soon. And ALL THE WHITE FRIENDS I COULDN'T KEEP is one I need to pick up.)
🚕Pulling up soon!🚕 This afternoon @OxConfBook, Tin House publisher Craig Popelars & author @lee_durkee will be discussing The Last Taxi Driver and celebrating its forthcoming paperback release on 4/6! The festivities begin at 5pm CT- register here! https://t.co/9w2A1PsvAr https://t.co/6SIvky9Aso