Skip to main content

A Novel I Loved

 A recent novel I loved was "Standard Deviation," by Katherine Heiny.


Heiny is the real thing--a writer of funny, lively, raunchy fiction, and a writer with an active brain and an active heart.

"Standard Deviation" concerns a couple in Manhattan--today. They're Graham and Audra. They have a son who might show signs of autism (the jury's out). Audra chats with everyone, and she lies easily, so Graham is both besotted and generally just a bit skeptical about Audra's fidelity.

Meanwhile, Graham has reconnected with his ex-wife, the severe Elspeth, and no one knows where this reunion is headed.

Elspeth's reemergence in the world is the main plot in the novel; Graham considers an affair, and also pokes at and investigates old wounds from the first marriage (wounds never previously addressed). Audra seems delighted by Elspeth, but also sometimes startled. For example, Audra's jaw drops when Elspeth declares that she "hates restaurants." Audra can't let this go: "ALL restaurants? Universally.....a restaurant....or at least the *idea* of a restaurant......That's seen as a pleasant thing...."

Graham comes close to sleeping with his ex-wife, but he watches her in the lobby at the hotel they've committed to. As Elspeth chats with the bell boy, the bell boy makes a dumb joke--and Elspeth pointedly refuses to offer a polite laugh. It's this small refusal that cools Graham's ardor--and causes Graham to sneak out of the hotel, back to his actual wife.

Heiny tosses in small, priceless observations. Being a parent means "discovering you know the lyrics to ten to twenty once-forgotten folk-songs." An odd and under-reported part of adult life is the heartbreak you feel when your child loves a playground bully, and the playground bully abruptly, inexplicably decides to stop *giving* love, in turn. There is something special and almost mystical about living in Manhattan--and discovering, after ten or twenty years, that you still don't know the names of each and every street on the Lower East Side.

I thought this book was smart and therapeutic--without being aggressively "heartwarming"--and I'm happy I found it. I'm eager for Heiny's third novel, whenever that arrives.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Host a Baby

-You have assumed responsibility for a mewling, puking ball of life, a yellow-lab pup. He will spit his half-digested kibble all over your shoes, all over your hard-cover edition of Jennifer Haigh's novel  Faith . He will eat your tables, your chairs, your "I {Heart] Montessori" magnet, placed too low on the fridge. When you try to watch Bette Davis in  Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte , on your TV, your dog will bark through the murder-prologue, for no apparent reason. He will whimper through Lena Dunham's  Girls , such that you have to rewind several times to catch every nuance of Andrew Rannells's ad-libbing--and, still, you'll have a nagging suspicion you've missed something. Your dog will poop on the kitchen floor, in the hallway, between the tiny bars of his crate. He'll announce his wakefulness at 5 AM, 2 AM, or while you and another human are mid-coitus. All this, and you get outside, and it's: "Don't let him pee on my tulips!" When...
3 comments
Read more

Joshie

  When I was growing up, a class birthday involved Hostess cupcakes. Often, the cupcakes would come in a shoebox, so you could taste a leathery residue (during the party). Times change. You can't bring a treat into a public school, in 2024, because heaven knows what kind of allergies might lurk, in unseen corners, in the classroom. But Joshua's teacher will allow: a dance party, a pajama day, or a guest reader. I chose to bring a story for Joshua's birthday (observed), but I didn't think through the role that anxiety might play in this interaction. We talk, in this house, quite a bit about anxiety; one game-changer, for J, has been a daily list of activities, so that he knows exactly what to expect. He gets a look of profound satisfaction when he sees the agenda; it doesn't really matter what the specific events happen to be. It's just about knowing, "I can anticipate X, Y, and Z." Joshua struggled with his celebration. He wore his nervousness on his f...
2 comments
Read more

Josh at Five

 Joshie's project is "flexibility"; the goal is to see that a plan is just an idea, not a gospel, not a guarantee. This is difficult. Yesterday, we went to a restaurant--billed as "open," with unlocked doors--and the owner informed us of an "error in advertising." But Joshie couldn't accept the word "closed." He threw himself on the floor, then climbed on the furniture. I felt for the owner, until he nervously made a reference to "the glass windows." He imagined that my child might toss himself through a sealed window, like Mary Katherine Gallagher, or like Bruce Willis, in "Die Hard." Then--thank the Lord!--I was able to laugh. The thing that really has therapeutic value for Joshie is: a firetruck. If we are out in public, and he spots a parked truck, he wants to climb on each surface. He breathlessly alludes to the wheels, the door, the windows. If an actual fire station ("fire ocean," in Joshie's parla...
Post a Comment
Read more