LUCY DREAMS

In Pierpoint’s free-wheeling and episodic novel, an old man reviews his “unremarkable" life.

Seventy-seven-year-old Jeremy Moore has fallen off his roof while cleaning the gutters and now faces a long stay in a hospital. This sets the stage for a series of reflections on his long life. For comfort, he has his lifelong friends, Bartholomew Cross, Lyle Strawberry, and Arnold “Junior” Pocketmaster, together known by a wonderful malapropism as “The Four Horsemen of the Acropolis.” While recuperating at Mt. Saint Anne Hospital in rural Indiana, Jeremy waxes philosophical with his pals and recalls the many embarrassing and poignant adventures they shared. In that hospital are his outwardly tough-as-nails physical therapist, Tasha, and a dynamo of a little girl named Samantha and her single mother, Monica Bradshaw. Samantha, who’s wise beyond her years, has a rare, incurable cancer, and she and Jeremy develop a strong bond—one that brings out the best in Jeremy, who was a mensch to begin with. Pierpoint is a remarkably talented writer who’s obviously having fun; he’s capable of lyricism as well as humor (“I looked around like maybe the car was just playing hide-and-seek,” he narrates when his automobile isn’t where he expects it to be). The last scenes of the book are a fantasy that’s surreal and poetic as he exults in “Lucy dreams” (his term for lucid dreams). His portrayal of Samantha walks a tightrope between moving and maudlin, but Pierpoint ably makes it to the other side without falling. Opinions may differ about whether the ending is too pat, but there’s no doubt that Pierpoint is in total command of his story’s emotions; he takes good care of his readers. It’s no spoiler to report that Jeremy, a desperate romantic, did indeed live a remarkable life.

A magical and moving work.