Dege Legg’s Cablog, a five-year account of night shift cab driving in Lafayette, Louisiana, is, quite simply, so good, it’s difficult to put down. See Nathan Stubb’s Q&A with Dege Legg here.
This work of creative nonfiction is told in many short, one-page chapters that puts the reader on the cab’s dashboard like a GoPro, providing a safe distance to observe the interactions between the driver and some characters you’d probably rather not encounter.
While drunks, drug addicts, prostitutes, party people and bandits climb into and out of the taxi, there are a few fares, of course, with functioning, regular folks who just happen to need a ride.
All stories are written with a journalist’s eye; non-judgmental observations of humankind doing what it does when no one is watching — and even when they are.
While Legg’s tales are mostly a look at the seedy side of life that are sometimes tense and sadder than sad, there are humorous and enlightening encounters, too, and interspersed throughout is warm and insightful prose.
Cablog will give you pause as at it brings the hidden, dark reality of the forgotten people of the night into the light of day.
– Dominick Cross