While on vacation in Virginia, I read “Martin Sloane” by Michael Redhill.
From Publishers Weekly via Amazon.Com, here is this plot description:
Martin Sloane, the protagonist of Redhill’s elegant debut, is an Irish-born Canadian who makes dioramas from “found objects.” Among these chanced-upon entities is the book’s narrator herself, Jolene Iolas, a Bard undergrad who happens upon Martin’s work and falls in love with the artist. Their affair lasts several years, until one day Martin purposefully and inexplicably vanishes. Achingly sweet in its execution, the novel explores what it means to love, as we follow a dual narrative: Jolene’s attempt to recover after Martin disappears, and Martin’s own childhood memories of Ireland, as retold by Jolene. “It’s not really safe to love other people, is it?” asks Jolene’s former college roommate Molly, in Ireland years later to help Jolene track Martin down. Redhill’s book reminds us that love can be half imaginary, even Jolene’s recollections of Martin’s childhood must pass through the lens of Martin’s inventiveness: one story that Martin tells Jolene and Molly is proven a lovely fabrication. Then, too, our sense of love is shaped by our own desire. In a surprise ending, Jolene visits someone who asks for information about Martin, to which Jolene responds: “Whatever I tell you about him will just end up being about myself.”
I stumbled upon this book at Amazon.Com. Usually if I see a book that look interesting, I will click on the link and see what it’s about. Sometimes I end up clicking other recommendations that come up with that book, and so on and so on. “Martin Sloane” was one of these. After reading the write-ups about it, something struck me that I should look for it at BookMooch. Sure enough, someone had a copy available.
It was said that it took Redhill twelve years to write the book, with numerous drafts. It shows. It is well edited and put together. Even with only 20 pages left in the book, you are still learning even more of Martin and his family life as a child and what shaped him as an adult. It is a fascinating and haunting read.
The relationships are well played out between Martin, Jolene, and her old college roommate Molly. Especially when Jolene and Molly have a falling out and later on are working together to put the pieces of this mystery together. I think the way Redhill presented the tension was very realistic. Again, a very well thought out book.
Michael Redhill
And something that has always struck me as just wonderful, the prose was excellent. For someone that is known as a poet, he certainly doesn’t start flinging unnecessary words and descriptions around. He uses what he needs to make it a wonderful read not just for the story, and knows when to stop and let the story take over.
Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea, but certainly a book that has slipped under the radar in my opinion.
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