FICTION:NOVEL
The Call by Yannick Murphy (Harper)
Set in rural Vermont, Yannick Murphy’s “The Call” initially sounds like a Robert Frost-lite celebration of old-fashioned virtues, populated by crusty but lovable backwoods cranks. The book gets under your skin, though. Murphy is cunning and thoughtful enough to give her story some unexpected curves, and as it unfolds, it gradually accrues substantial emotional depth.
The protagonist is David Appleton, a small-town veterinarian whose life is upended when his son, Sam, is badly injured in a hunting accident. Obsessed with vengeance, nearly disabled with grief and distracted by visions and omens, Appleton endures a year of turmoil before he and his family miraculously right themselves. Their redemption arrives in an unlikely way that nonetheless feels spiritually hard-won and fitting, deftly closing the circle of the novel’s season-oriented timeline.
The most striking element of “The Call” is its distinctive structure: The story comes to us in a stream of statements and summaries, as in the veterinarian’s medical logbook or journal. This mildly experimental technique takes some getting used to, but over time it imparts a surprising momentum and clarity, as well as allowing for moments of sneaky humor.
What resonates even more deeply than the novel’s unusual form, however, is Murphy’s ability to invoke some very big themes — responsibility, guilt, revenge, the moral order of community — without tipping over into the heavy-handed or obvious. It helps that Appleton and his wife are depicted as two imperfect people capable of surliness, petulance and recrimination, as well as moments of great tenderness.
With its combination of Yankee stoicism and offhand poetry, the book conveys the slightly archaic feel of a biblical parable, a real accomplishment in today’s hyper contemporary fictional landscape. All told, “The Call” is definitely worth answering. Michael Lindgren, Washington Post Writers Group
NONFICTION:PRESIDENTIAL HISTORY
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard (Doubleday)
Author Candice Millard looks back at a forgotten time and president and brings the era and people involved to vivid life in “Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President.” This is the story of James Garfield, who never sought the presidency but became the Republican nominee in 1880. After his election, Garfield had the time-consuming task of dealing with office seekers, who lined up around the block hoping that he would appoint them to a government job.
The White House was accessible to the public at that time, so it was common for a person to walk in and see the president. One familiar person was Charles Guiteau, who was frequently at the White House because he was expecting an ambassador appointment. As he was repeatedly put off, the madness in his mind grew.
Millard takes the reader on a compelling fly-on-the-wall journey with these two men until that fateful day in a train station when Guiteau shot Garfield. The president died 11 weeks later, on Sept. 19, 1881, a little more than six months after taking office.
The entire story of Garfield and Guiteau reads like a fictional tragedy, made more depressing because everything actually happened. Guiteau’s stalker tendencies and the botched medical care that Garfield received after the shooting are both shocking and unbelievable.
“Destiny of the Republic” also introduces Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, into the story. Bell worked around the clock to invent a new device capable of locating the bullet inside Garfield’s body.
Millard takes all of these elements in a forgotten period of history and turns them into living and breathing things.
Comparisons to Erik Larson’s “The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America” are justified, but “Destiny of the Republic” is better.Jeff Ayers, The Associated Press
NON-FICTION:WHISTLE-BLOWING
Blood Feud: The Man Who Blew the Whistle on One of the Deadliest Prescription Drugs Ever by Kathleen Sharp
Author Kathleen Sharp puts a human element on a complicated legal, and corporate, story in “Blood Feud.” Mark Duxbury was a top salesman for Johnson & Johnson. His region was the Pacific Northwest, and he sold a drug called Procrit. Procrit was designed to help patients create red blood cells, a welcome respite for those not wanting a blood transfusion. But the side effects of heavy doses of the drug brought a terrible price.
As Johnson & Johnson fought with another company, Amgen, regarding where the drug could be sold and to which type of patients, Duxbury found himself having to secretly manipulate sales to meet his quota and not cross the corporate line. He eventually lost his job. Vowing to fight back, he decided to become a whistle-blower. He tries to be David fighting Goliath.
The details could prove daunting and unintelligible, but Sharp makes the potentially hard to grasp easy and compelling to follow. Jeff Ayers, The Associated Press
