Harry, Revised

As a regular reader of Mark Sarvas's litblog, I snapped this up as soon as it came out but was afraid to let me expectations rise too much. A first novel can be a tricky thing, and reading someone's voice in fiction for the first time is nothing like reading his essays.

But by the end of the first chapter, I was very optimistic--though still a bit cautious. Harry, a forty-something widower lusting after a young waitress, was perfectly drawn to be just the right combination of pathetic and dirty-minded, charming and neurotic, and relatable. The third-person narrator has access to much of Harry's internal monologue, which is smart, funny, and somewhat depressing--a microcosm of the novel as a whole, really.

In less talented hands, the show more characters could easily have become unbearable. A young, sexy, full-of-herself grad student/waitress with a bad boyfriend could have ruined a story single-handedly, with no help from an exercise-addicted, über-motivated career woman (the dead wife), but instead we completely understand why Harry loves these women and accept him with all his flaws. Too often I am left wondering in vain at the inexplicable actions of a character who has "grown" emotionally in the course of a novel, but the changes Harry goes through felt genuine and understandable. His resolution, though as imperfect and open-ended as reality demands, was still comprehensible and satisfying.

I have not been this excited about a book by an author not previously known as "safe" since I can remember, and I can only hope that Mr. Sarvas has more of the same waiting in the wings. show less

I found this book got better and better toward the end, bringing each of its subplots to closure. Harry’s coming of middle age is believable and sympathetic. I found the novel all the more impressive because its structure is non-linear, and details are regularly withheld then revealed. Yet the story unfolds easily, even with the back and forward shifts in time.

This is a sweet, sad well-written book with a redemptive, earned ending. It wasn’t always easy to read, but the whole made me feel well-rewarded for engaging with it.

This might actually be closer to 3.5 stars. It was well-written, and I laughed out loud on several occasions, but I'm not sure how well the book would hold up under further scrutiny. There's a sort of episodic sameyness to the plot (Harry tells a lie, things get hilariously awkward, lather, rinse repeat), and I'm still not sure if I'm really satisfied with the ending. Still, the book made me cackle like an idiot at five in the morning in a crowded airport departure lounge. That's enough to merit giving it the benefit of the doubt.

This might actually be closer to 3.5 stars. It was well-written, and I laughed out loud on several occasions, but I'm not sure how well the book would hold up under further scrutiny. There's a sort of episodic sameyness to the plot (Harry tells a lie, things get hilariously awkward, lather, rinse repeat), and I'm still not sure if I'm really satisfied with the ending. Still, the book made me cackle like an idiot at five in the morning in a crowded airport departure lounge. That's enough to merit giving it the benefit of the doubt.

This might actually be closer to 3.5 stars. It was well-written, and I laughed out loud on several occasions, but I'm not sure how well the book would hold up under further scrutiny. There's a sort of episodic sameyness to the plot (Harry tells a lie, things get hilariously awkward, lather, rinse repeat), and I'm still not sure if I'm really satisfied with the ending. Still, the book made me cackle like an idiot at five in the morning in a crowded airport departure lounge. That's enough to merit giving it the benefit of the doubt.

Harry is a great character, flawed in a way that we would only admit was oh so familiar to ourselves. It all untangles spectacularly and there but for the grace of God go many of us!