The Realm of Last Chances

Live from Stoneham, MA is this plaintive book, long on the tribulations of human error and on believable characters. The husband and wife move from California due to job loss and settle into their block in the Boston suburbs where the carpenter husband marvels at the seeming permanence of each different home in the neighborhood. He's the son of a crooked developer and the old Capes and Queen Annes seem the very antithesis of the ill made cardboard mansions created by his cheating father. A neighbor loses his wife and family due to thieving to support his cocaine habit, which comes about in his quest to impress visiting writers at the Harvard Sq bookstore where he worked before getting caught. A wife is confronted with a plagiarism show more scandal at her new job (Salem State, obvi). So all is local and all is so very plaintively real. This is Steve Yarborough's first novel set outside the South and he just nails it. show less

Are there any “literary” novels that aren’t grim and depressing? If so, I haven’t found any yet. My takeaway from this one is that everybody is hiding something, the only people who aren’t judgmental assholes aren’t interesting enough for character exploration but instead are simply receptacles for the interesting people, and since everyone is guilty of violating at least one rule of ethics or someone’s trust, then we shouldn’t judge each other for that kind of stuff, only for having tacky or popular tastes in entertainment and/or conservative politics. Oh, and all sins are fairly equivalent: academic dishonesty, cheating on your spouse, embezzling from your employer, giving someone a (deserved or undeserved) beating show more that hospitalizes them, armed robbery, or being a swinger.

In spite of these flaws, this is a well-written story with interesting characters and plot.

Hardcover, purchased from Half Price Books on the recommendation of the now-defunct podcast Books On The Nightstand.

Previous Updates:
7/22 – 27/288pg
Lately, he felt insubstantial, weightless, as if he were merely the idea of a person rather than the real thing. People weren't just a past or a present or a set of extinguished expectations. They had to have a future, too, and for himself he failed to see one. He felt as if he could readily be brushed off, as if right now, should he choose to, Nowicki could swat him aside as if he were no more momentous than a fly or a gnat.

7/24 – 82/288pg
So this guy is an embezzler who asked his elderly mother to borrow the money to pay back his employer, is a snob about books & music (a girl who "never read anything serious" and listened to Cyndi Lauper is only interesting because she's beautiful) and thinks of dogs only as "props".
I hope I'm not expected to find him either likable or sympathetic, but he's clearly one of the story's protagonists. I believe I'll be cheering for him to experience more misery and loss, regardless.

7/25 – 96/288pg
Nope, still no empathy. But have to credit the author with really vivid character creation, even the most minor of them. Although I think as each character is introduced, we are learning more about whichever of the three main characters that is interacting with them. They sure are a judgmental bunch of assholes.

7/28 – 199/288pg
Now she was lying in bed, in a musty room where the accumulated dust of the coverlet made her sneeze each time she crawled under it, and a man who could have gone to jail for embezzlement was asking her if she could possibly overlook academic mischief. show less

SY does a wonderful job with this quiet novel. Characters I expected not to like were made fully reaized and quite sympathetic. Not a lot of action, but much about the inner lives of three characters who are hurt by the 2008 economic collapse. And a good story about different economic and social strata colliding. Really quite a beauty.

A gritty and grim look at midlife in which one believes nothing surprising can happen only to discover it does. An astonishing look at how what we imagine is always worse than what actually occurs and how even our worst mistakes can be forgiven.

The Short of It:

An unraveling marriage, an illicit affair with a younger man and an online book club is what prompted me to read this one.

The Rest of It:

Earlier this month, Gayle hosted a book club for The Realm of Last Chances and seeing that it had all the finer points of what I look for in a novel (a crumbling marriage, dysfunction, dishonesty and secrets) I jumped on board.

Kristen, a fifty-something, loses her high paid administrative job at a California university. She, along with her husband Cal, move to Boston so she can accept a position at one of the smaller colleges in town. Still recovering from the shock of losing her job, they are both forced to make a new life for themselves, where neighbors seem to know your every move. show more But the move itself is a last chance of sorts. Their marriage has hit a dead-end. Communication is at an all time low. When Kristen takes up with a younger man, the situation is further complicated.

This was an interesting read and made for a good discussion, but it wasn’t a fave of mine. I think the most interesting aspect of this novel is that Yarbrough catches these people at the worst point of their lives. They are tired of having to hold it together. This is most evident in Cal’s actions. He’s the brooding type whereas Kristen is sort of cold fish. She’s more calculated and because of that, I liked her the least.

My main problem with this novel is that I just didn’t buy Kristen’s affair with Matt. He seems consumed by Kristen but between you and me, she wasn’t all that. She was so closed off that I had a hard time believing anyone could love her, much less a younger guy. Sure, a lot can be said for a physical attraction but I didn’t see much of that either. Had Yarbrough gone a bit deeper with Kristen’s character, everything might have been a little more believable.

However, Yarbrough’s take of a marriage on the rocks is pretty accurate. The distance between each other while lying in bed, the long silences and the quiet observation all add to the tension between Kristen and Cal. As a reader, you know something is about to happen but you aren’t quite sure what, and that is what kept me reading.

Overall, some gorgeous passages that stuck with me but I needed a little more character development for me to really get into the story.

For more reviews, visit my blog: Book Chatter. show less

The Realm Of Last Chances
by
Steve Yarbrough

My "in a nutshell" summary...a couple in their fifties has to relocate...we see what this experience does to a marriage...

My thoughts after reading this book...

This is the kind of book that I normally enjoy reading. Flawed characters who invariably make really questionable decisions make for really interesting reading. This book doesn't really fall away from that. The only problem with books like this is that I, personally, wince and cringe at their choices and want to shake them for making them...

This is the case with Kristin and Cal. Released from her California university high paying position...budget cuts...she and Cal are forced to relocate. They do so all the way across the country. They show more buy an older home that Cal is restoring and Kristin gets a lower paying lower "statussy" job in a not so prestigious university. I am not quite sure what Cal is going to do other than work on the house. He owns a ton of instruments but doesn't feel as though he is a musician. He...frankly...comes off as kind of odd...but so does Kristin. They don't seem that close...and they seem to be growing even more apart.

Then there are the neighbors...friends...coworkers...all rather annoying. And there is lots of background info about them and everyone's earlier lives...seriously...no one in this town seems normal. They are not weird...they just seem to have issues that make them people that you don't want to spend time with.

And then something happens...real events happen and Cal and Kristin become real and fragile and I was cheering for them and really enjoying this book!

What I loved about this book...

The small town, the situations, the drama...that's what I loved.

What I did not love...

I didn't feel for these people at first...but when I did...the book was very rewarding to me.

Final thoughts...

I finally realized what lovely writing this was. These characters were flawed but were able to change. That's what I liked the most. show less