Book 215: The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel
Book 215: The Solace of Leaving Early.
Author: Haven Kimmel, 2002.
Genre: Contemporary Relationship Drama. Religion and Philosophy.
Other Details: Paperback. 315 pages.
In May 1998 Langston Braverman returns home to Haddington, Indiana after walking out on the oral exam for her PhD. She is in a fragile state and retreats to her parent's attic and refuses to engage with anyone, though has vague plans to write the Great American Novel. Even the news of the recent death of Alice, her childhood friend, fails to rouse her from her insular state.
Down the street the local preacher, Amos Townsend, is in the grips of a crisis of faith, uncertain if he can continue in his role of spiritual leader for his community. He has been deeply affected by Alice's violent death and feels a responsibility towards Alice's orphaned daughters. Frustrated by her daughter's ennui, AnnaLee Braverman, pressures Langston into the role of carer, along with Amos and herself, to the orphaned girls.
It takes some time for AnnaLee to actually accomplish this. For most of the novel Langston is being a complete pain in the bum; self-absorbed and moody, providing no explanation as to why she left her academic studies when on the brink of completing her PhD. Thankfully the author doesn't pull any fancy post-modern nonsense leaving us hanging with uncertainty and we do learn the answers to various questions; including why Langston left university, the mystery surrounding her brother Taos, and the details of Alice's death.
This was Kimmel's début novel and there is no doubt that it provides an interesting portrait of life in small town America at the end of the 20th Century. While near contemporary in its setting, the novel isn't defined by its period and could easily take place any time in the latter part of the 20th century. The problem though is that it gets rather bogged down in complex philosophical and religious contemplation, which drags the narrative to an almost standstill and this tends to go on a bit. Musings about death and sin, the seriousness with which Amos considers the tenets of his conservative Anabaptist ministry and Langston's more philosophical questioning about her relation to God isn't the most riveting material for a secular or agnostic reader, who may not have expected to enter such heavy waters.
It was also very hard to feel much empathy for Langston, especially early on, and this was echoed by the rest of our reading group. Collectively we agreed with the critical reviews that it captured small town USA but that it was just too heavy going on the religion and philosophy debates, which is fine if you want to engage with these issues in fictional format. However, it did encourage discussion in the group, which is always a good thing.