On the surface, Kevin Brockmeier’s new novel might seem a bit weird and “out there”, but as the days pass since I turned the last page a few days ago, I am left with the warm, if rather unexpected, feeling that this is a love story, not presented in traditional form, but in Brockmeier’s original, unique structure. This is the first Brockmeier which I have read. Now, I’m thinking that I need to back up and read A Brief History of the Dead, the 2006 popular release.
Based around a journal, which was compiled from the contents of sticky notes, which were short love phrases and thoughts written daily by a husband to his wife, the short novel upholds the idea of keeping the love alive. However, tragically, the love is cut short by the wife’s untimely and young death from an auto accident.
The love journal switches hands throughout the novel many times, even once being stolen by a young child who takes it home, never telling his parents about his special treasure. Later, after the 10-year-old gives it to a door to door Christian evangelist, the journal serves as a way to remind him of his beloved deceased sister. Finally, the journal falls into the hands of the most unlikely bearer, a street person who makes his living selling used books off the street. While the reader is let into the lives of the diverse owners, he is all the while trying to find the meaning of the novel, essentially the thesis.
Kevin Brockmeier (Photo: Ben Krain)
As I said earlier, this novel has captured my attention more now, a few days later, than it did while I was reading. If someone were to ask me, “What is that novel about?, I would have to say “love”. What becomes clearer and clearer is the even the most distraught, even the most socially unaccepted people, even the most unexpected people have the need to love and be loved, for the novel’s characters are captivated and mesmerized by reading the love journal over and over.
The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier (Vintage, 2011)
-Nan
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