A witty and engaging read for those who savor quirky mysteries and likable characters.
There are strange goings-on in the little Hudson River town of Arnold Falls, where many of the denizens are also a bit odd.
In Suisman’s second novel about Arnold Falls, the first characters readers meet are Jeebie Walker and Will Shaffer, a gay couple who exude good will and curiosity. The audience views the story mostly through Jeebie’s eyes. Readers are quickly introduced to some other players, such as the curmudgeonly Judge Harschly (the author loves puns); Marvin the Hobo, hired as the town’s resident hermit; Bridget Roberts; Mayor Jenny and her adopted Haitian son, Wilky; Fayette de la Nouille; the ancient but still active Aunt Doozy; and a raft of others. And a plot—make that the main plot—slowly emerges. Objects around town have disappeared. This includes Bridget’s Martha Washington mobcap, the illuminated Schlitz sign from the Elks Club, Judge Harschly’s gavel, a vintage Princess phone, and the statue of the town’s “founder,” Hezekiah Hesper. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for these heists; most of the items have only sentimental value, if that. There is also a crew in town filming a TV series called Merryvale(that’s where Fayette comes in), a search for the rules of gumball, a slightly downsized version of baseball, and a demonstration of kulning,the ancient Swedish technique for calling the cows home. Oh, and in a desperate bid for fame—and money—the town agrees to change its name to Emollimax for six months. But the thief is eventually outed, an embezzlement scheme at the local hospital is unearthed and the culprits arrested, and serenity returns to Emollimax or, rather, Arnold Falls (which, by the way, does not have any waterfalls).
Suisman is clearly enjoying himself in this very leisurely paced and sprawling novel. Technically, the entertaining tale is probably a mystery, but instead of the standard fare of violence and dread, the best the author can come up with is low-level anxiety and befuddlement. No one even suffers a scratch. What will also strike readers is all the dialogue. Suisman’s characters just love to talk, whether it is gossip or ruminations on some perplexing mystery over a glass of wine or a stein of Clagger, the local brew. These are very laid-back people, but they’re also ecologically and socially conscious, whether it be looking out for friends—how is Wilky adjusting to his new life and his new mother? Just fine, thank you. Or searching for endangered species, like the northern cricket frog. Jeebie even turns a farm into an animal sanctuary called Fridstöck. And the author loves the odd fact. Readers will tie themselves to Wikipedia to verify things like lightning splitter architecture, Pepper’s Ghost, and a witch’s staircase. (Kulningis a real thing, incidentally.) The writing is clever, and readers get vivid character details, whether it be the cranky but good-hearted Judge Harschly or the sensitive Jeebie, who falls half in love with a cow and is always a bit on edge over his relatively new relationship with Will (he needn’t be). In this sequel, Suisman has again staked out Arnold Falls and a delightful cast. It is a safe bet that readers will be returning soon to the colorful town.
A witty and engaging read for those who savor quirky mysteries and likable characters.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-578-99328-7
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.
A falsely accused Black man goes into hiding in this masterful novella by Wright (1908-1960), finally published in full.
Written in 1941 and '42, between Wright’s classics Native Son and Black Boy, this short novel concerns Fred Daniels, a modest laborer who’s arrested by police officers and bullied into signing a false confession that he killed the residents of a house near where he was working. In a brief unsupervised moment, he escapes through a manhole and goes into hiding in a sewer. A series of allegorical, surrealistic set pieces ensues as Fred explores the nether reaches of a church, a real estate firm, and a jewelry store. Each stop is an opportunity for Wright to explore themes of hope, greed, and exploitation; the real estate firm, Wright notes, “collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent from poor colored folks.” But Fred’s deepening existential crisis and growing distance from society keep the scenes from feeling like potted commentaries. As he wallpapers his underground warren with cash, mocking and invalidating the currency, he registers a surrealistic but engrossing protest against divisive social norms. The novel, rejected by Wright’s publisher, has only appeared as a substantially truncated short story until now, without the opening setup and with a different ending. Wright's take on racial injustice seems to have unsettled his publisher: A note reveals that an editor found reading about Fred’s treatment by the police “unbearable.” That may explain why Wright, in an essay included here, says its focus on race is “rather muted,” emphasizing broader existential themes. Regardless, as an afterword by Wright’s grandson Malcolm attests, the story now serves as an allegory both of Wright (he moved to France, an “exile beyond the reach of Jim Crow and American bigotry”) and American life. Today, it resonates deeply as a story about race and the struggle to envision a different, better world.
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-59853-676-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Library of America
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
BOOK TO SCREEN
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