A HOUSE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
by Bob Mustin
A novel about the history of a North Carolina subdivision combined with a present-day marital drama set against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Warren and Angieare an older married couple, both divorced in the past, who settle down in the lush Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. It’s a scenic location, with “denim skies” and aged ridges, but disrupted by constant building in the developing neighborhood. Enter Willard, an archaeologist digging in an as-yet-undeveloped plot of land connected to a Native American settlement. Willard’s activity exhumes a history of a Colonial encounter in the Appalachian wilderness: a romance between an English Colonialman named Hiram and his Catawba wife, Hannah, and their struggle for survival. The author strategically parallels this account with present-day events, as conversations between husband and wife hide unspoken truths. Mustin, the author of The Blue Bicycle (2017), deftly writes dialogue that seems just a little off-kilter; a character claiming that nothing is wrong but going to bed early because she’s “really, really tired” cuts through what would seem to be pleasant chatter. He’s also adept at suggesting darker undercurrents beneath an idyllic neighborhood veneer. As secrets are revealed, the world reckons with the novel coronavirus. However, as the drama escalates, encompassing such elements as police violence, domestic abuse, and devastating rumors of infidelity, the novel’s believability wavers. Angie’s backstory proves to be the most troubling to read; a psychiatry session early in the book reveals, in perhaps gratuitous detail, child abuse, incest, and rape. However, the fact that the novel is written from Warren’s perspective makes Angie’s trauma seem to exist in the story merely to assist his character development. She ultimately comes across as a passive character until, as the opening line of the book suggests (“Angie’s gone now”), she poignantly leaves the story.
A clever back and forth between two narratives that ultimately slides into melodrama.