Enon

It is often said that no parent should outlive their child. When Charlie Cosby's daughter, Kate, is killed in a car accident, his life spirals into, first anger, then depression and addiction. His days are spent passed out on the couch and his nights are spent either seeking more drugs or sitting by his daughter's grave.

Enon was not an easy book to read. Author Paul Harding takes us through every drug induced dream, every humiliating encounter as Charlie seeks to deaden his grief. Like an alcoholic, Charlie must hit rock bottom before he can reach acceptance and begin to heal. But, like the addict he has become, there is nothing too low, too embarrassing, too sad he won't do to get his fix. Yet, all the drugs, the alcohol, the show more self-pity, nothing even begins to touch his grief.

I can't say I liked this book. In fact, it's not really the type of book you are supposed to like. I did, however, appreciate author Harding's descriptions of the five stages of grief and how debilitating it can be. He doesn't shy away from the realities of grief; in fact, he makes the reader wallow in it. He makes it clear that grief doesn't create heros and martyrs; it creates emotional cripples and, no matter what face is shown to the public, real grief is soggy and pathetic and more than a little self-involved. Too often, novels about grief show people who bravely soldier on keeping their feelings hidden, sort of like the way we really prefer people to act in real life and, despite our best intentions and if we're being completely honest, we all find open displays of grief a bit embarrassing, kind of like watching a drunk try to eat soup. If you're going to do it, have the courtesy to do it in the privacy of your own home where you are responsible for your own messes. And just like we want grieving people to just get over it and move on, it's hard not to feel like that towards Charlie. The reader quickly loses patience with him, finds him tiresome, selfish, and self-pitying. We want him to move on or at least show some self-restraint for our sake if not for his own.

For the most part, I found Harding's writing beautiful, almost poetic. However, there are times, especially when Charlie imagines his daughter during his many drug-induced musings, when the writing seems overwrought, over-the-top, and overly stylized. Certainly it allows the reader to better experience the effects of Charlie's opium dreams but, after awhile, it was just as mind numbing for me as it was supposed to be for Charlie. I suspect that was the intention but knowing this didn't make it easier to wade through.

Despite this criticism, I found Enon one of the best novels about grief I have ever read. And although this is a fairly short book, it is definitely not an easy read. Grief is a part of our existence, part of what makes us human but it's rare to see it portrayed with such honesty. No, I didn't really like this book but it will be a long time before I forget it. show less

Charlie Crosby lives in a ramshackle house in the small New England town of Enon, along with his wife, Susan, and his strong-willed 13 year old daughter, Kate, who he respects and adores immensely even though he shares none of her positive traits. He dropped out of college soon after Susan became pregnant while they were students, and his meager income as a house painter supplements the money she earns as a teacher. His relationship with Kate is far stronger than the one he shares with his wife, who tolerates his idiosyncrasies and failures for the sake of their daughter.

Charlie's world comes crashing down on an August evening, when Kate is killed by a motorist while riding her bicycle. While Susan tries to cope with her grief and look show more ahead, Charlie is caught in a web of morbid anguish and self pity. Unable to deal with her emotional and physical invalid of a husband, Susan returns to her family in Minnesota, leaving Charlie alone with his ennui and angst.

The novel jumps back and forth to events of Charlie's childhood and adult life, interspersed with his memories of Kate. His life slowly unravels, as he stops working and succumbs to a deep psychological torpor while he isolates himself from his neighbors and wallows in self pity.

Enon was a disjointed patchwork of a book, with unrelated fragments set next to one another like the pieces of a puzzle that have just been dumped onto a table. The snapshots were occasionally interesting in themselves, but the lack of a unified plot and Charlie's unlikable, navel-gazing character made this a tedious and largely unenjoyable read. show less

Charlie grieves over his loss self-destructively. Harding's descriptions of Charlie's rich imaginings and dreams of complex scenarios of Kate are superb. As a parent I felt frightened and stunned by the pain of the tragedy, and uncomfortably voyeuristic witnessing Charlie's continuous plummeting into the deepest wells of grief and destruction.

I couldn't help but wonder how and why he could so quickly write Susan out of his life. Wouldn't it have been better if they grieved together?

A father attempts to cope with the accidental death of his 13-year-old daughter by roaming the fields, streets and cemeteries of his home town, fueled almost entirely by caffeine, nicotine and a vicious cocktail of painkillers, muscle relaxants, Valium and unnamed stuff scrounged from various sources. He suffers hangovers, blackouts, strange dreams/visions, and unrelenting guilt as he pushes himself ever closer to the boundary between the living and the dead, but he also remembers vividly his daughter's joyful life, his own untroubled childhood and the satisfaction of jobs well done. His brief and infrequent interactions with other human beings in the classic New England town of Enon keep him from teetering over the edge until he can show more get a grip and choose to go on living. As the friend who sent this book to me said, "Sad, but not depressing". show less

Enon by Paul Harding is set in the same New England town as his Pulitzer Prize winning Tinkers. In Enon Charlie Crosby's life slowly spirals downward and falls apart after his thirteen year old daughter, Kate, is accidentally struck and killed by a van. Five days after Kate's funeral, Charlie punches a wall and breaks his hand. After taking Charlie to the emergency room, his wife, Susan, goes to stay with her family in Minnesota - and never returns. Charlie soon becomes addicted to the painkillers he has obtained for his broken hand. He is chasing his pain killers with copious amounts of whiskey in order to deal with the emotional pain and grief.

As we are privy to Charlie's thoughts, the descriptions of the world around him, the scenes show more he recalls, the reminiscences of past memories make the world in Charlie's mind the more tangible existence. Charlie is not just grieving. He is overwhelmed by grief. His grief has become the one reason for his existence. Even while he recalls memories from his childhood, and his life with Susan and Kate, all the memories are tinted with the anguish he feels over Kate's death. He is a man who is sacrificing himself to atone for his daughter's death. Kate was his hope for the future.

While a man's life falling apart after the tragic death of a child is a sombre subject matter, Harding's writing is exquisitely wrought and wonderfully eloquent. We can see and hear and feel everything Charlie is describing. Even while we know that his approach to mourning is self-destructive, Harding has imbibed Charlie with such articulation in his grieving. As he walks the streets and fields of Enon at night, he shares his stories. As he runs out of legal painkillers and turns to illegally obtained drugs, his behavior becomes more erratic. He is crying for help and it seems no one is listening or trying to reach him, to bring him back, to help him mourn and grieve and, hopefully, heal in a safe way.

Emotionally, Enon is not an easy novel to read. Some readers may have a hard time sympathizing with Charlie's overwhelming grief due to the dangerous choices he makes and how it overtakes his whole life. Others may tire of his self-reflection and stories. But I think that if you decide to commit to reading Enon, you will not regret it. It's not going to be light-hearted fluff, but it will open up to your scrutiny a man slowing being consumed by his grief.

Very Highly Recommended


Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Random House via Netgalley for review purposes. show less

ENON is a tragic story that speaks to its reader on a visceral level. The first-person narrative weaves in and out of straightforward prose and drug-induced hallucinatory imagery. The author uses this and other thematic elements to symbolize the depth of the protagonist's (Charlie Crosby's) emotional pain and his increasing inability to deal with his grief.

Crosby's eventual healing is closely connected to the small hometown he loves so much - Enon. This is where Paul Harding's skill as an author shines. Harding understands the unseen inner workings of small town life - the compassion, humanity and bond that exists between people who have shared generations of their lives together. He illustrates this relationship eloquently.

I was not show more entirely affected by Harding's dreamscape phraseology. Stylistically, it lacked what it was trying to achieve - poetry. Some of the descriptions felt too long and drawn out, and somewhat forced. I found myself racing through these sections - restless. Likewise, despite the magnitude of the subject matter, I felt the story was ordinary. I waited for that moment when the author levels you with a significantly profound and revelatory thought. Unfortunately, it never happened. Despite this, I found the author's insights and sense of humanity compelling. His treatment of the subject matter was sensitive and intuitive. Where Enon is not a magnificent read, it is certainly a good one. show less

A gut- wrenching portrayal of bottomless, capsizing and overwhelming grief and self-loathing, suffered by Charlie Crosby upon the senseless death of his young daughter. On the surface a tale of a yearlong descent into drug addiction and petty crime. Threading throughout are mystical ruminations on ghosts, family, his ancestry, the history of Enon, and cherished memories of his childhood and his daughter. I liked that the narrative swept from topic to another in never ending streams of consciousness and hallucinatory reality. Deep grief is rarely well organized or rational, so this rang true to me. Multiple generations of Crosbys (familiar to readers of "Tinkers") have populated the mythical New England town of Enon. Charlie has spent show more his entire life there. That no one stepped in to help was less convincing. Wonderful characterizations, particularly of Charlie's grandfather and the widow in the large house. Mine was an audiobook narrated by the author. Perhaps a professional actor would have rescued this from the one note dirge of grief. show less