Finding life after a "disaster," as described by protagonist Ben Benjamin, is no easy feat. It requires losing just about everything but one's hope that things will get better, that one can even become a better person. Some parts were difficult to read, given the number of obstacles Ben and his "...
By that time, active aggression had ceased between Big Bill and Willow. They stayed for the most part in neutral corners. But it wasn’t exactly an armistice—more like Willow retreated, just walked off the battlefield and put it all behind her. With Lulu out of the house, there was nothing left to...
August 20, 2015 (HARRIET AT SEVENTY-EIGHT) Harriet is awakened rudely at 9:40 a.m. by the shrill crackle of the public address speaker heralding the Zuiderdam’s imminent arrival in the port of Juneau. Mired in a state of throbbing paralysis, Harriet is surprised to find herself sprawled atop the ...
In spite of Lord Jim’s entreaties, the boy would not sleep on the mattress and refused to sleep with anything but a goatskin rug, a state of affairs for which Lila chastised the boy endlessly. Some nights, early in spring, when the wind howling off the bay sliced through the thin walls and rattle...