Monday brings another in a too
rapidly dwindling supply of reviews from Kaye George. Apparently that whole
writing books thing she does hurts review production. Who would have thought?
Anyway, for now she is still here making Mondays a little bit better…
The Fates Will Find Their Way by Hannah Pittard
This is the most unusual book I’ve read
in awhile, being in first person plural with lots of verb tenses that would be
awkward for many writers. Not for Pittard, though. The story pursues the
mystery of the elusive and enigmatic Nora through what-ifs, maybes and might
have beens. Possible pasts are explored and
discarded, though some are held
onto by the group of boys as they progress through high school into adulthood.
It starts as an angst-ridden drama of
newly hormonal teenagers. When one of their group, Nora, goes missing, the
group considers alternate scenarios to explain to themselves, collectively,
what happened to her. It’s an elitist bunch of boys who permit one “public
schooler” into their midst, but only on the outskirts. In spite of this, we
come to appreciate them and sympathize with their difficulties. Nora disappears
on Halloween, and subsequent Halloweens are never again normal events for them.
One of their female classmates is raped by a big brother of another classmate
and they are tenderly protective of her. Nora’s younger sister, Sissy, is
perhaps the mostly profoundly affected by her sister’s disappearance and
unresolved fate. The boys close solicitous ranks around her, too, as much as they
can.
The reader watches in fascination as the
boys mature and become the men that their teenage years laid foundations for.
And, always running through their lives, even as they marry and have children,
are the questions surrounding Nora. The fantasies they form are fed by
sightings over the years that may or may not have really been Nora. They create
alternate lives she might have, would probably have or could have led.
There are some hilarious scenes, but
most are serious and give the reader plenty of fodder for speculation and
thought.
I hope you’ll enjoy this book as much as
I did. In spite of the unusual literary style, it’s readable, even flowing and
my interest never ever flagged.
Reviewed by Kaye George, Author of A Patchwork of Stories, for Suspense Magazine
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