By Seth Robinson
Publication Date: 2026-04-07 18:16:00
The terms of Russell “Rusty” Wilson’s life were determined by a die roll. After his parents announced their divorce, Rusty and his twin sister Bonnie were separated in a way reminiscent of The Parent Trap: They were assigned to their respective parents. If they roll one to six, Rusty goes with his mother; seven to twelve, with his father.
Coincidental, yes, but still the chances seem good. You can’t roll a one with two dice.
Review: A Rising of the Lights – Steve Toltz (Penguin)
Forty years later, we witness the breakdown of Rusty’s marriage, the obsolescence of his career as he loses his job to an AI system, and a sense of fear that seems to permeate his being at a molecular level.
For the next 300 pages, the question of the dice remains: What in his life is the result of circumstance or chaos – and when were the odds against him? Meanwhile, Rusty ponders and simultaneously rejects questions of human connection and our place…
