Early Review: Then Came the Evening
Now that my LibraryThing Early Reviewer backlog is at last cleared out, I can finally get back to the business of posting early reviews that are, in fact, early. Well, kind of.
My selection from the November batch was Then Came the Evening, the debut novel by Brian Hart. The book was actually released on this very day, December 22, 2009, and is available in bookstores everywhere. It is written in a very stripped-down bare-bones style, very reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy, so if you are interested in such titles, you will probably be very interested in my review of the book, which I've reproduced here as is my custom.
------------------------
You can tell that Brian Hart wants really badly to be the next incarnation of Cormac McCarthy. From the very first pages of Then Came the Evening, all the trademark moves are present: a grizzled, rough-edged protagonist, a violent encounter, scorched-earth imagery, and family strife. The first chapter of the novel sets up something that feels both familiar yet new, something truly promising. Unfortunately, the novel, while passable, fails to really live up to those expectations, and ends up feeling more like an imitator than an innovator.
The novel opens with Bandy Dorner, a Vietnam vet with a host of unnamed problems on his mind, awaking in a ditch, piss-drunk and having driven his car through a fence. As his father and two police officers try to wrangle him, one of the cops ends up dead, and Bandy ends up in prison for twenty years. In the meantime, his wife Iona, pregnant with his son, leaves him to live with another man. By the time Bandy gets out, Iona is a widower and a drug addict, Tracy is a grown man, and Bandy is a shell of his former self. All three reconvene on the old family farm, each hoping to find redemption in their new family unit, but the past refuses to die.
The McCarthyian influence that infuses the work is perhaps best seen in Hart's descriptions of the land, which are painstakingly detailed and as vivid as the brilliant cover image on the book jacket. The Idaho setting, familiar to the author, truly comes alive as Hart portrays a hard, unyielding environment that is dirty but hearty, tough but alive. It's clear he wants the land to be a character, and it is, particularly since the landscape plays a powerful role in some of the most important scenes in the novel. However (and I will concede it may be a personal thing, because I have the same criticism of McCarthy), the oppressiveness of the land imagery seems to cast a layer of grime and filth over the novel, as if the whole thing is tainted with dirt. The consistency of that dirtiness, in my mind, gives an unwelcome uniformity to the novel: though things change, everything feels the same.
In much the same way, the characterization throughout the novel is strong, but there's an unwelcome flatness to even the main characters that grows to become exceptionally frustrating. As an openly flawed protagonist, one should probably expect that Bandy will have a very difficult time fostering any kind of change, and much of the tension of the middle of the novel is in wondering whether or not he will. But at the start of the third act, Bandy partakes in something that he knows is wrong, that will ultimately destroy the good faith he has built, and the lack of remorse (or, frankly, of any kind of reaction from him) is maddening and unrealistic. And while Iona and Tracy do end up being reasonably well-balanced characters in the end, Iona's detox from her drug addiction is dealt with so minimally--particularly when compared to the treatment of Bandy's jail time--that it feels almost too forced to seem genuine.
In addition, Hart's attempts to create a convincing portrait of small-town America is, by fits and starts, compelling and unrealistic. While the town of Lake Fork is real, and Hart knows all the landmarks of the area that give it a sense of realism, the relationships between the various people in town don't always ring true. Rather than creating figures that struggle with their ability to accept Bandy when he leaves prison, Hart seems content to rely on types, figures that are static in their responses but that, in summation, give the sense of complexity. Few of the secondary characters, even Wilhelm, the most substantial one, make a powerful impact. And at the end of the novel, when one of the secondary characters is revealed to have done something that resonates with events earlier in the plot, the idea that no one else in the town knew it until then feels awfully contrived.
By the end, the novel feels like it has been an incredible trial, but rather than coming off as redemptive and renewing, it leaves the reader exhausted and overwhelmed. There is a nice cyclicality to the conclusion--one that does, in fairness, feel a little forced, but at least it's forgivable--but the toll it has taken to reach that point doesn't really seem worth it. It's as if Hart wants to beat the roughness into our heads, and sure, by the end, we get it, but when I reached the end of Then Came the Evening, I was almost glad to see it finished. And despite its successes here and there, when a novel leaves you with that feeling, that can't help but give you pause.
My selection from the November batch was Then Came the Evening, the debut novel by Brian Hart. The book was actually released on this very day, December 22, 2009, and is available in bookstores everywhere. It is written in a very stripped-down bare-bones style, very reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy, so if you are interested in such titles, you will probably be very interested in my review of the book, which I've reproduced here as is my custom.
------------------------
You can tell that Brian Hart wants really badly to be the next incarnation of Cormac McCarthy. From the very first pages of Then Came the Evening, all the trademark moves are present: a grizzled, rough-edged protagonist, a violent encounter, scorched-earth imagery, and family strife. The first chapter of the novel sets up something that feels both familiar yet new, something truly promising. Unfortunately, the novel, while passable, fails to really live up to those expectations, and ends up feeling more like an imitator than an innovator.
The novel opens with Bandy Dorner, a Vietnam vet with a host of unnamed problems on his mind, awaking in a ditch, piss-drunk and having driven his car through a fence. As his father and two police officers try to wrangle him, one of the cops ends up dead, and Bandy ends up in prison for twenty years. In the meantime, his wife Iona, pregnant with his son, leaves him to live with another man. By the time Bandy gets out, Iona is a widower and a drug addict, Tracy is a grown man, and Bandy is a shell of his former self. All three reconvene on the old family farm, each hoping to find redemption in their new family unit, but the past refuses to die.
The McCarthyian influence that infuses the work is perhaps best seen in Hart's descriptions of the land, which are painstakingly detailed and as vivid as the brilliant cover image on the book jacket. The Idaho setting, familiar to the author, truly comes alive as Hart portrays a hard, unyielding environment that is dirty but hearty, tough but alive. It's clear he wants the land to be a character, and it is, particularly since the landscape plays a powerful role in some of the most important scenes in the novel. However (and I will concede it may be a personal thing, because I have the same criticism of McCarthy), the oppressiveness of the land imagery seems to cast a layer of grime and filth over the novel, as if the whole thing is tainted with dirt. The consistency of that dirtiness, in my mind, gives an unwelcome uniformity to the novel: though things change, everything feels the same.
In much the same way, the characterization throughout the novel is strong, but there's an unwelcome flatness to even the main characters that grows to become exceptionally frustrating. As an openly flawed protagonist, one should probably expect that Bandy will have a very difficult time fostering any kind of change, and much of the tension of the middle of the novel is in wondering whether or not he will. But at the start of the third act, Bandy partakes in something that he knows is wrong, that will ultimately destroy the good faith he has built, and the lack of remorse (or, frankly, of any kind of reaction from him) is maddening and unrealistic. And while Iona and Tracy do end up being reasonably well-balanced characters in the end, Iona's detox from her drug addiction is dealt with so minimally--particularly when compared to the treatment of Bandy's jail time--that it feels almost too forced to seem genuine.
In addition, Hart's attempts to create a convincing portrait of small-town America is, by fits and starts, compelling and unrealistic. While the town of Lake Fork is real, and Hart knows all the landmarks of the area that give it a sense of realism, the relationships between the various people in town don't always ring true. Rather than creating figures that struggle with their ability to accept Bandy when he leaves prison, Hart seems content to rely on types, figures that are static in their responses but that, in summation, give the sense of complexity. Few of the secondary characters, even Wilhelm, the most substantial one, make a powerful impact. And at the end of the novel, when one of the secondary characters is revealed to have done something that resonates with events earlier in the plot, the idea that no one else in the town knew it until then feels awfully contrived.
By the end, the novel feels like it has been an incredible trial, but rather than coming off as redemptive and renewing, it leaves the reader exhausted and overwhelmed. There is a nice cyclicality to the conclusion--one that does, in fairness, feel a little forced, but at least it's forgivable--but the toll it has taken to reach that point doesn't really seem worth it. It's as if Hart wants to beat the roughness into our heads, and sure, by the end, we get it, but when I reached the end of Then Came the Evening, I was almost glad to see it finished. And despite its successes here and there, when a novel leaves you with that feeling, that can't help but give you pause.
posted by Dave at 12/22/2009 10:42:00 PM
5 Comments:
[url=http://www.ganar-dinero-ya.com][img]http://www.ganar-dinero-ya.com/ganardinero.jpg[/img][/url]
[b]Estas necesitando informacion sobre como ganar dinero[/b]
Nosotros hemos hallado la mejor guia en internet de como ganar dinero desde casa. Como nos ha sido de utilidad a nosotros, tambien les puede ser de interes para ustedes. No son unicamente metodos de ganar dinero con su pagina web, hay todo tipo de metodos de ganar dinero en internet...
[b][url=http://www.ganar-dinero-ya.com][img]http://www.ganar-dinero-ya.com/dinero.jpg[/img][/url]Te recomendamos entrar a [url=http://www.ganar-dinero-ya.com/]Ganar-dinero-ya.com[/url][url=http://www.ganar-dinero-ya.com][img]http://www.ganar-dinero-ya.com/dinero.jpg[/img][/url][/b]
good evening friends. I'm actually into shoes and I was searching for the sake of that exact model. The prices due to the fact that the sneakers are around 340 pounds everwhere. But definitively I found this location selling them for the benefit of half price. I in reality love these [url=http://www.shoesempire.com]prada sneakers[/url]. I will definetly buy them. what do you think?
Hello. And Bye.
good afternoon ppl. I'm honestly into shoes and I have been looking for that particular brand. The prices due to the fact that the velcros were around 300 bucks on every site. But completely I base this area selling them for the benefit of half price. I exceptionally love these [url=http://www.shoesempire.com]gucci sneakers[/url]. I will absolutely purchase them. what do you think?
hello friends. I'm actually into shoes and I have been searching for the sake of that meticulous brand. The prices for the velcros were approximately 320 bucks on every site. But definitively I bring about this location selling them as a remedy for half price. I exceptionally want those [url=http://www.shoesempire.com]gucci sneakers[/url]. I will probably buy those. what can you say about it?
Post a Comment
<< Home