A few pages into this book, I thought, "Finally. Here it is. The book I've been waiting for."
After a string of meatless, mindless books (which I read cover to cover because they held my attention in some superficial, daytime TV kind of way) I stumbled upon a jewel. I found it in the library, intrigued by the description on the book jacket: "Sometimes he sees things before they happen- a man carrying a hatbox will be hit by a bus; Winkler will fall in love with a woman in a supermarket. When David dreams that his infant daughter will drown in a flood as he tries to save her, he comes undone. He travels thousands of miles, fleeing family, home, and the future itself, to deny the dream."
This is the story. A man; a solitary, thoughtful, kind hearted and sometimes gutless man who dreams of the future his whole life and at a pivotal point attempts to alter what he dreams. During his long exodus you are with him in his sea of questions about what he left behind and whether or not his decision made a difference to his fate.
I think we all wonder about destiny- are our lives following a plan, like a streetcar along a track? Is it a rough sketch, with some wiggle room? Is it an open field, one carefully cradling the burden of possibility? Is it true that things happen the way they were meant to? Am I living the life I was intended to live? And to complicate things further, who is doing the intending?
The novel is also beautifully written. Doerr's writing is evocative, sensual, deceptively simple. He doesn't tell you what's happening, he describes it. He doesn't summarize or push a point of view on the reader. It's equally scientific and poetic, stating the details of the events in a way that elevates the mundane to art. The mention of a gesture, a smell, a memory- one or two skillfully worded sentences and you get it. Concise, simple, with worlds of meaning humming underneath.
It's the way I would like to write.
An incredible story, told well. Not often do you get both at once.
