CLOSE-UP by Michelle Herman

“Fans of both Ann Patchett and Anne Tyler are likely to enjoy this satisfying, unhurried novel.”

close-up

the metronome always used to, marking the top of her piano like an emblem marks the hood of a car.” The raw intensity of Juliet’s feelings for Jenry, the fear and desire his arrival brings into her life, and her desperation not to make the same mistakes again offer real stakes and drive the narrative forward pleasurably. Some of the sections feel less necessary. The story of Jasper is lovely but ultimately distracting from the main arc. Even Jenry’s section, the theoretical raison d’être of the novel, is sluggish and overdetermined. Twists and turns introduced in the historical sections complicate the facts of Jenry’s birth and move the plot forward without illuminating the deeper, more interesting conflicts between characters in the present—or creating space for unexpected revelations in the future.

A novel about the families we inherit and the ones we make for ourselves.

CLOSE-UP

Herman, Michelle Columbus State University Press (376 pp.) $24.95 paper | March 15, 2022 978-0-57890-528-0

Good things can happen to lonely hearts and wounded families. Here’s how. Herman’s latest novel assembles an accomplished cast of characters: a successful stage magician, a major American novelist, a published poet, a talented student poet and her world-wise single mother, a cockatiel, and, eventually, a precocious baby. As gifted as they may be, at the outset, things aren’t going particularly well for most of them. The famous novelist, Martin Lieberman, is hit the hardest. Shortly before Thanksgiving he is abruptly abandoned by his wife; hearing this news, his teenage magician son, Jacob, decides not to come home from college. This means Jacob’s cockatiel, Dolores, who was being cared for by his mother, is abandoned as well, and in fact Martin has no more idea than the bird of why all this has happened to him. The published poet, Jill Rosen—the protagonist of Herman’s Dog (2005)—is less drastically miserable, but her life is not turning out quite as she might have hoped: She’s aging, still single, and less successful than some of her friends. She does enjoy teaching, particularly when the student is as gifted (and worshipful) as Caroline Forester. The Kokosing State campus, where Jill teaches, where Jacob and Caroline are students, where Martin is a guest lecturer, turns out to be a fortuitous locale, as the characters cross paths there and begin to become part of each other’s lives. Herman, who’s noted for her writing about relationships, takes the time to bring every corner of this fictional world to life, including excerpts of all the writers’ writings (they’re good!), the evolution of Jacob’s magic act, details about Martin’s post-divorce linen closet, and the ongoing (and unexpectedly central) role of the pet bird. Almost all the characters change in interesting ways, but the depiction of Martin’s transformation, as unlikely as it may be for a great man like him, is particularly generous and moving.

Fans of both Ann Patchett and Anne Tyler are likely to enjoy this satisfying, unhurried novel.

THE GAMEKEEPER

Hines, Barry And Other Stories (224 pp.) $18.00 paper | April 26, 2022 978-1-91350-530-1

A portrait of rural working-class life in late-20th-century England. First published in 1975, this British blue-collar novel follows a year in the life of gamekeeper George Purse, who left a big city steel mill to work at a duke’s expansive country estate in hopes of creating a better life for

his wife and young children. Purse’s primary duty is to prepare his assigned 5,000 acres for a once-yearly pheasant hunt, requiring him to raise the fowl while protecting them from poacher and predator. The gamekeeper pursues his duties with stoic dedication throughout the seasons, often putting himself and his eldest son at odds with neighbors who question his dogged commitment to restricting access to lands of abundance the nobleman rarely visits. Written in a biographical style that is light on plot, the narrative unravels as a linear series of vignettes that document the gamekeeper’s daily life: his routines, tools, and practices. Hines has a keen eye for nature, and his prose is at its finest when describing Purse’s adventures on the lush landscapes, especially his interactions with animals. Though disparities of class and privilege cast a persistent shadow across the pages, they are more a snapshot in time than a challenge, much like the antiquated depiction of gender roles in this nearly half-century-old novel. The storytelling is engaging, with sincere moments of humor and introspection, but the limited scope of the story makes arrival at the final pages a little less rewarding, an additional stop rather than a destination.

Like an afternoon stroll on a familiar trail; nature documentary lovers will enjoy this journey the most.

31 PARADISO

Huffey, Rhoda Delphinium (275 pp.) $27.99 | May 10, 2022 978-1-953002-09-9

A woman moves to Venice Beach to escape her controlling family. For a book that opens with an event dubbed “the Great Duck Massacre of 1993,” Huffey’s novel ventures into surprisingly imposing emotional territory. At its center is Francine Ephesians Didwell, a woman who’s recently moved to Venice Beach. (And, in fact, that year did see dozens of ducks hunted and killed to keep a virus from spreading.) Francine’s reasons for moving there have to do with grief: