The Book of Speculation

Summary (from the publisher): Simon Watson, a young librarian on the verge of losing his job, lives alone on the Long Island Sound in his family home, a house perched on the edge of a bluff that is slowly crumbling toward the sea. His parents are long dead, his mother having drowned in the water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, works for a traveling carnival reading tarot cards and seldom calls.

On a day in late June, Simon receives a mysterious package from an antiquarian bookseller. The book tells the story of Amos and Evangeline, doomed lovers who lived and worked in a traveling circus more than two hundred years ago. The paper crackles with age as Simon turns the yellowed pages filled with notes, sketches, and whimsical flourishes, and his best friend and fellow librarian, Alice, looks on in increasing alarm. Why does his grandmother's name, Verona Bonn, appear in this book? Why do so many women in his family drown on July 24? Could there possibly be some kind of curse on his family, and could Enola, who has suddenly turned up at home for the first time in six years, risk the same fate in just a few weeks? In order to save her--and perhaps himself--Simon must try urgently to decode his family history while moving on from the past.

 

Review: I received an advance copy of this novel from NetGalley.

 

This novel is told in dual narratives. In the present day, Simon Watson is a young librarian about to lose his job, his house is slowly falling back into the ocean, his parents are both dead, and his sister Enola is rarely in communication while off working for a traveling carnival reading tarot cards. Simon receives an antique book in the mail from a stranger, and slowly begins to uncover his own family history within its pages - it seems that in addition to a long history of working for carnivals, all the women in his family drown on July 24th. Yet how could women famous for their ability to hold their breath for astounding lengths of time all drown?

 

The other storyline is the third person story of Amos, born mute in the 1780s, who eventually joins a traveling circus, learns to read tarot cards, and falls for a woman who cannot be drowned and who seems to carry a curse within her. As Simon learns more about his family history in the present day, he slowly uncovers the family tree that connects him to Amos.

 

I had a hard time connecting to Simon as the narrator, which hindered my enjoyment of this book. He seems disinterested in most aspects of his life - his house that is falling down around his feet, his job, the woman he's sleeping with, his sister's whereabouts, his neighbor's concern, his family history before the advent of the  mysterious book. Amos, although without a voice, is much more relatable and easier to identify with - he is seeking a home, a family, a place to belong.

 

I was intrigued to see how the author would tie up the seemingly cursed family story laid out in this novel. However, I was disappointed in how the latter half of the novel seems to simply heap confusion and mystery - the bookseller and neighbor Frank may be relatives, great storms and horseshoe crabs foreshadow the births and deaths of the women in the family, the tarot cards reveal something bad is on the horizon - without offering any real concrete resolutions. The narrative never quite added up for me, and I felt like a lot of loose ends were left hanging with the end of the story, not least of all was an explanation for what caused the curse in the first place.

 

Stars: 3