I have admired Ann
Hood for quite a few years – way back to the early 80s. For some reason, she fell out of my
radar. But I resumed my love for her
work with The Obituary Writer and
now, her latest novel, The Book That
Matters Most. I really enjoy novels
set in libraries and bookstores or stories which revolve around a book
club. This novel has all that and
suspense, as well.
Ava and Jim have
recently separated, Ava is naturally angry and distraught. They have a daughter, Maggie, who is on a
year-long adventure to Florence, Italy to study art. Her father financed the entire trip. Ava teaches French at a local college. Cate is a friend of Ava’s, and she has
promised Ava a seat in her book club as soon as one opens. A seat becomes available, and Ava joins the
club.
Ava recalls Ted, a
former partner. Hood writes, “Ted didn’t
like books very much. Any books,
never mind one about a philosophical seagull.
Over a decade ago, when they lived in Manhattan and she was working at
the Strand bookstore on Broadway and Twelfth, she would come home excited, a
bag full of review copies and hard-to-find used books. She would lay them out on their enamel-topped
kitchen table as if they were precious things.
They were precious things, she reminded herself now. How she hated the way he shoved them aside to
make room for his own textbooks; he was getting an MBA then, poring over facts
and figures at that table long into the night” (96). I am glad that “book shover” was quickly out
of the picture.
The frame for the
novel is, of course, the book club. The
annual picking books for the next year occurs, and they do something
unusual. Cate, the coordinator of the
club announces a theme for the next year.
Ann writes, “‘Last year our theme was ‘The Classics,’ and Paula’s pick
was Remembrance of Things Past. Can you believe that?” // Ah. Proust.
Ava thought, remembering that he was the writer whose words her
mother had repeated. There are perhaps no days of our childhood
we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book. She considered reciting the quote to the
woman staring up at here to prove herself worthy to be here, in Paula’s shoes”
(14). Now that is an interesting idea,
and I might propose we try it as our next book selection event nears.
Meanwhile, Maggie
has grown bored with Florence, and she travels to Paris. She meets an older man, and Maggie’s world
begins to fragment. She occasionally
emails her mother, lying about her whereabouts and her health. Hood writes, “Maggie stood, her knees weak,
and made her slow way outside. It was
early morning, and the sky was streaked with pink and red. It would be a hot day, she thought. She looked around, searching for something to
orient her. A landmark or a street
sign. But nothing looked familiar. She walked to the corner, stopped again to
look around, still saw nothing familiar, and kept walking, until finally in the
distance she saw the green pipes and blue ducts of the Pompidou Center. Relieved, she walked toward it. Nearby was the café where she had seen Noah,
and the bookstore with the beanbag chairs.
She would have a big café au lait and an omelet and bread and then she
would go into the bookstore and sink down in a beanbag chair, and read” (223).
At this point the
story comes together with a teary and satisfying ending. Ann Hood is a wonderful writer with lots of
talent for drawing her characters, describing their settings, and exploring
their anxieties and fears. Part of the
story involves the death of Ava’s sister when they barely more than
toddlers. Some might call this
“chicklit,” but I prefer to call Ann Hood’s marvelous story, The Book the Matters Most a first-rate
read for all adults. 5 stars.
--Chiron, 9/15/17
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