An extended riff on deathbed scenes that doesn’t transcend its static premise.
Slavitt (Day Sailing, 2018, etc.) chronicles the final days of a dying man in this metafictional novel.
The Vidui, the author explains, is Judaism’s final prayer, to be recited in moments of imminent death. It’s “not so much a confession, although that is the usual translation of the Hebrew word, as an acknowledgment,” the narrator notes. The dying person, in this case, is Vernon Dewey (or “V. Dewey”). He lies in bed, surrounded by family, although both the room and the family are vaguely described, at first. At one point, he pretends to be asleep, so that he can hear what his relatives might say about him; he moves his left foot slightly, just to see if anyone will notice. He later considers how he feels about the people who have wronged him over the course of his life. As Vernon lies in the bed, the narrator ruminates on all things relating to death: religions, medicine, the concept of legacy, literature, grief, regret, boredom, humiliation. As loquacious as the narrator is, Vernon is the opposite. In fact, he’s having trouble thinking of things to say to those around him—or even deciding if he wants to say anything at all. (At one point, when his grandson Jacob tells him that it’s okay that they aren’t saying much to each other, Vernon says, relieved, “I was worried that you might ask me something stupid, like ‘Did you like your life?’ ”) But can he think of a worthwhile statement before the end comes? Or maybe even a prayer? The isolation of death, and the inability of language or action or sentiment to remedy that isolation, is the main theme of this novel. As a result, there’s little in the way of a traditional plot. Slavitt—or the godlike narrator, whoever he may be—admits as much several times, even applauding the reader for continuing on despite that fact. Indeed, the narrator is the main presence in the novel, and readers are asked to consider his thoughts on wordplay, Schrödinger’s cat, and famous fictional frogs before being introduced to Vernon. Thereafter, the prose is mostly clever and engaging: “Lately, Vernon has not bothered to read the obituaries, the section of the paper to which (until recently) he turned first, because that was the only real news. He was like one of those noblemen who has a chart on the wall and with each death gets closer to inheriting the throne.” Slavitt does, however, enjoy puns to a degree that may offend a certain portion of his potential readership: “Is there a plot? Actually, yes. Vernon’s parents bought a plot with room for four graves.” The novel is rather short at 125 pages, but even so, readers must work to get to the end, and despite Slavitt’s obvious gifts as a writer and thinker, it isn’t quite as satisfying as conceptual anti-novels by other writers, such as the late David Markson.
An extended riff on deathbed scenes that doesn’t transcend its static premise.Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-60489-232-1
Page Count: 125
Publisher: Livingston Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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