I have mixed feelings on this one. I know quite a bit about Emily Dickinson but not much about Herman Melville. I was curious to know if they had ever met and, having read a number of well-researched non-fiction works suggesting that the reclusive spinster had fallen in love with several men in her life, curious to know if, as in other cases, there had been a correspondence that suggested a "literary romance."

So let me begin by saying that if you choose to read this book, you will need to suspend your disbelief--and then some. The story begins in 1851 when Melville, restless after months at home with a pregnant wife, toddler son, and several unmarried sisters and frustrated with the progress of his novel (The White Whale, aka Moby Dick), calls on his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne and persuades him to take a short trip to Boston and New York. On the way, they stop in Amherst to visit Hawthorne's friend, Edward Dickinson. Mr. Dickinson is away from home, but 20-year old Emily and her older brother Austin invite them in for tea. After a lively conversation, Melville invites the two to join them on their journey. Various adventures ensure, including meeting up with the poet Walt Whitman and Willliam, a homosexual preacher/runaway slave, and a glamorous party where Austin is charmed by a beautiful Spanish duchess. Of course, the center of the story is the frank conversations that result in Emily and Herman falling in love. He finds her refreshing compared to his wife, and she finds him exciting due in large part to his travels in the South Seas, but his intellect is also appealing.

I found a lot of this stretched the imagination a bit too far. First, although Austin Dickinson was quite the philanderer, he was very protective of his sisters. I doubt that, even for an assignation with his mistress, he would have left Emily alone for several days in a strange city in the company of two men that he barely knew. Hawthorne, at least, had his principles: according to the story, he intuited the romance blossoming between Herman and Emily and tried to convince Melville to nip it in the bud, but he deserts them when he sees that his moral pleas are hopeless. Emily knowingly abandons her values and sneaks into Herman's hotel room at night, and what follows is a rather painfully written sex scene (well, everything you can imagine but penile penetration). Once the journey ends, the novel turns epistolary, Emily writing of her devotion and Melville complaining about his unfortunate married state. Of course, we can't leave this affair unfulfilled, can we? One last overnight meeting is arranged, with Emily's sister Lavinia as the (unlikely) abettor. In the end, we are supposed to be persuaded that Emily remains devoted to her one true love, which is why she remains happily single for the rest of her life.

What I liked about this book: It gave a fairly interesting view of society at the time and some intriguing background information on the persons represented. I enjoyed the abolitionist elements as Whitman and his companions attempt to help William on his way to Canada. I was less sympathetic to Austin and Herman, both of whom wanted to be considered upstanding citizens while also defying the morals of the day. Austin is engaged to the woman he will eventually marry but is in a passionate affair with an Irish coworker he knows would be an unacceptable wife, and Melville--well, he just wants Massachusetts to be Polynesia. I could ask what kind of man abandons his wife who is in the midst of a very difficult pregnancy and about to give birth to run off on a lark and seduce a young woman of good reputations--but then, of course, we have Donald and Stormy and Karen. I'm sorry, I did not see him as an unfortunate victim of social norms, and I'm really not sure what enthralled Emily, aside from the oft-mentioned dark, curly chest hair. As to the sex scenes, I could have done without all the groping, moisture, and gasping.

I'm not posting this review on Goodreads because the author has gone in to every review to leave comments--mostly asking people to push the book because it has "long been off the radar." Most of the reviewers have been favorable, so I'm sure he wouldn't be happy with mine.

(I don't know what book the other two reviewers were reading, but it wasn't this one!) ( )

Following the suicide of his son, a man is plunged into a depression, self-doubt and the conviction that he should divorce. A chaotic, disturbed novel. I could not make much of it, and lost interest after about 80 pages. ( )

a page turning frantic journey half-driven by with the inability to urinate. ( )