Cindy Harrison loves books. As a review for Publishers Weekly, she read about 20 books per month, and still finds time to teach at her local community college."I am also deeply loyal to writers whose work changed my life in significant ways, even if I have not read them in ages. Plus, all kinds of books have marked meaningful moments in my life." Visit her at
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The Keep
J
ennifer Egan is one of those writers with the entire package: she tells a great story in language that kicks the imagination into overdrive. Her words and images continue to play out in my head long after the book's been closed. Such is the case with The Keep, which I read last week and still cannot get out of my mind.
The novel starts with Danny looking at a crumbling medieval castle his rich eccentric cousin Howie wants to turn into a luxury destination resort. Danny and Howie have a hiccup in their history they've never talked about, and it haunts Danny, since he pulled the cruel prank and Howie was the victim. But Howie seems to hold no grudges, and his life has turned out better than Danny's has. He's got a child and a wife and money and vision, while Danny has an edgy Big City lifestyle, starting to fray with age. Danny thinks this might be his chance to do something, but looking at the castle, he has his doubts. Still, he needed to get away, and this nameless European place seems as good as any.
Different sections of the book flow back and forth through time and voice: Danny's story is being written by a prison inmate and read by a writing teacher. What they all have in common is regrettable pasts, and something more, something I didn't see coming until it was there and obvious. I love when that happens.
So that's the bare bones of the plot, but the story is so much richer. Egan is a writer of ideas, particuarly early 21st century ideas, and the ways she finds to convey them are stunning and beautiful even when the stories behind the words are not. There's a redemptive quality to her work even as she shows us all on the cusp of Apocalypse. Entertaining and admirable is hard to do at the same time but Egan makes it look easy.
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