Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith

Back in September I read a book in one day, enjoyed it, did not take notes, or write a review.  When I started playing catch up with my writing, I realized I could not remember much about this little gem on my shelf.  Exactly six months later, I read it for the second time, took some notes, and now am able to tell you about a wonderful first novel: Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith.
This novel was one of those selected for World Book Night 2013, and when I went to pick up the books I was distributing, this one caught my eye.  This second time around, having just finished reading two novels written on a grand scope of time, I was mesmerized by a limited omniscient third person point of view telling the story of one day in the life of Isabel, a 22-year old woman residing in Portland, Oregon.  Isabel repairs books at the library and is fascinated by the past.  We travel through her day while learning about her past through a series of flashbacks.  Seamlessly written, the world of Isabel is poignant, thoughtful, exquisitely precise, and visceral.
Isabel loves vintage clothes – vintage everything.  Growing up in a small town in Alaska, she has dreamed of traveling to other cities since her first visit, as a child, to Seattle.  She has not visited them but collects postcards and dreams. She finds a postcard from Amsterdam in her favorite junk store:  
The postmark is dated 14 Sept 1965 and there is a message, carefully inscribed:  Dear L---  Fell asleep in a park.  Started to rain.  Woke up with my hat full of leaves.  You are all I see when I open or close a book.  Yours, M...She imagines the young woman (Miss L. Bertram, 2580 N. Ivanhoe St., Portland, Ore) who received the postcard, and how much she must have read between those few lines, how much she must have longed for him to say more. (11-12)
And thus begins our 24 hours with Isabel.  Her imagination is always at work.  She has a crush on a co-worker with whom she silently shares morning coffee on a daily basis, “It pleases her to see him like this, sitting at the kitchenette table first thing in the morning, his black glasses fogged with coffee steam.  It is as close as she has been to waking up with him” (42-43).  But her life lived in the imagination does not disappoint or keep her from experiencing life.
I look forward to more novels by Alexis M. Smith and will also be on the lookout for other books published by Tin House Books.

Smith, Alexis M. Glaciers. Portland, Oregon: Tin House Books, 2012. Print.

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