Elizabeth Strout faced an enviable challenge after her first novel, “Amy and Isabelle,” debuted to critical and popular acclaim. It’s great to find yourself a comer with the first novel, but those who don’t care to be one-hit wonders have to repeat the feat.
“Abide With Me” sidesteps any preconceived notions of what Strout’s second novel should be. She gives us a work far removed in tone and theme from her debut. She has hardly thrown the baby out with the bathwater; the two novels share keen insight into human motives and action, and a distinctive writing grace.
Strout opens her tale at such a distance that one can imagine a draft that started, “Once upon a time, in the town of West Arnett, there was a minister and he was very sad.” And the story, set in the closing months of 1959, calmly moves on from there.
Tyler Caskey, pastor of the town’s Congregational church, is foundering. His wife is dead, and though he is raising their elder daughter, Katherine, a kindergartener, his younger daughter is in his mother’s care. He is moving in a haze, kept on track in part by Connie, his housekeeper, and by weekly visits from Margaret, his mother.
But what Tyler is missing, or feels that he is missing, is his center of gravity. He is not a man who is willing to settle for cheap grace, he wants to recapture what he thinks of as The Feeling, the sure knowledge that God is alive and present in his world. But, mired in grief and guilt, he can’t.
He receives a call from the school, asking him to come in to talk about his daughter’s behavior. Katherine’s issues are hardly surprising in a girl who has lost her mother, but reaching her is beyond the capacity of her teacher and, for that matter, most of the other adults that surround her.
Tyler realizes he is at a loss but doesn’t begin to know how to recover. He turns to those he is familiar with finding support in, to mixed effect. He trusts Connie but, for many reasons, she is unable to be his strength. Margaret thinks she knows what the best course is, but with Margaret it’s about what’s best for her, not necessarily what is best for her son and his children.
“Abide With Me” is an introspective work in which the characters reflect the stolid hardship of the northern New England town in which they live. It’s a place where the winters are long and dark, and where life is expected to be a struggle to be borne without complaint. It is not a place that is long on empathy and, as is so often the case, it is a place that fills boredom with gossip.
Tyler is a magnet for the gossip. His late wife, Lauren, wasn’t well liked, though the parishioners have the decency to generally avoid speaking ill of the dead. But between Katherine’s behavior and questions about Tyler’s relationship with his housekeeper, the party lines hum. Tyler is, of course, without a clue that there might be problems until the tinderbox is set alight.
Love and loss entwine, and there is ultimately redemption, though it is purchased at great cost. The power of “Abide With Me” is its true reflection of the moments that guide or misdirect a life. These often aren’t the moments of high drama, though the death of a loved one can be a compelling force.
Tyler is heroic in his desire to do the right thing for all those who are part of his life. He is a thoughtful man, struggling against heavy burdens that have caused him to lose sight of the beacon that had once guided him.
“Abide With Me” is about rediscovering that light and for Tyler – and perhaps for all of us – wrapping his hands around how love may best be served.
Robin Vidimos is a freelance writer who reviews books for The Denver Post and Buzz in the ‘Burbs.
ABIDE WITH ME
By Elizabeth Strout
Random House, 294 pages, $24.95
