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What I'm Reading

 "After This" is a novel about trauma. Sources of trauma--for men and women.


John Keane fights in World War II; on a bad day, he finds himself holding a dying young man. The man--Jacob--is a stranger. Keane returns to New York--having lost three toes--and names his own son Jacob. When the son dies in Vietnam, John represses his grief. A useful strategy--until it isn't useful anymore.

In this strange and moving story, John has a "foil"--his other son, Michael. Michael is the opposite of Jacob--impetuous, loud. As a child, Michael finds himself in his family's car during a windstorm--the entire family has bolted from the beach, and the adults are unprepared. As everyone eats sandwiches, Michael realizes that he could easily cause chaos. He just needs to roll down one window of the car. The storm will send all the paperware--the cups, plates, napkins--flying through the air.

As Michael grows older, he is consistently an irritant for John. (This is because Michael *reminds* John of John himself.) When John damages his leg and refuses a visit to the doctor, he is gratified to feel annoyed in Michael's outspoken presence. (Michael bluntly suggests that John is being foolish.) ...By contrast, Jacob's respectful, gentle acquiescence to John's dumb plan is deeply distressing to John.

(When Jacob gets a "bad" result from the draft lottery, a neighbor suggests a proper response that John could choose. "Shoot your son in the foot. Right now. Don't hesitate.")

Alice McDermott's novel--a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize--is boldly unshowy. It's historical fiction about the 1960s--but it's not "Mad Men." We do not read about rape or extramarital affairs. I think "After This" is a kind of dare that McDermott designed for herself--to generate drama from purely ordinary lives. This dare then led to McDermott's career-defining masterpiece, the beloved novel "Someone."

I like "Someone," but I'd also recommend "After This." It's hard to go wrong if you're looking at this particular career.
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