The first thing to be clear about is that this is not a murder mystery. If you think that the sad, conflicted young black detective is going to don his deerstalker and pull out his Meerschaum pipe and, with sad, conflicted middle-school teacher Susanna as his Watson, solve the murder of Susanna's sister, Ronnie, and there's actually some clever, implausible twist in the tail, then you are going to be sadly disappointed.
Because -- ok, is this too spoiler-ish? -- this isn't that kind of novel. First of all, Susanna has to convince most everyone in her hometown of Roma, Kentucky that something nasty has befallen Ronnie who, as the long time screw-up and not-so-good time girl of Roma, is assumed to have merely taken off with her latest "friend with benefits" or is sleeping off the mother of all hangovers somewhere, and will, any moment now, stumble back into the light, with half-hearted apologies, and pleas for bail money or a lift home from the local ER. Or possibly both. The Next Time You See Me is more about the impact of Ronnie's disappearance (and her ultimate fate) on Susanna, Tony (the detective), Wyatt, a factory worker who knows that life has passed him by in the worst possible way, and a couple of 13-year-olds who become intertwined with Ronnie's disappearance.
In a very thoughtful and insightful Afterword, Goddard Jones talks about what she thinks the novel is "for" -- and, no surprise, it isn't solving a mystery, or revealing a killer, but about story telling. The stories we tell ourselves, the way we interpret and reconstruct and organize events into a narrative (with a logic, of sorts), to allow us to live with ourselves -- and to live with others, both those who are near and supposed to be dear to us, and those we bump into and rub up against in the course of our days, the course of our lives. And how sometimes, the story can go horribly wrong, and no matter how hard we try, it's impossible to edit it to get a happy outcome.
And, that, Dear Reader, is a whole 'nother story ...
It took me a while to get into this -- I am sorry to say that it almost fell victim to my "50 page rule," and I almost gave up on it -- it seemed, at the beginning, a little too "creative writerly," a little too well-manicured, with its painstaking descriptions of small. telling details. But then, quite suddenly, I realized that I was committed. That, although I guessed that there were going to be no Big Reveals, no surprises, I I wanted to be there with the characters for the journey, wherever it took them, and me.
I wanted to see the story through. Can't say better than that.
Because -- ok, is this too spoiler-ish? -- this isn't that kind of novel. First of all, Susanna has to convince most everyone in her hometown of Roma, Kentucky that something nasty has befallen Ronnie who, as the long time screw-up and not-so-good time girl of Roma, is assumed to have merely taken off with her latest "friend with benefits" or is sleeping off the mother of all hangovers somewhere, and will, any moment now, stumble back into the light, with half-hearted apologies, and pleas for bail money or a lift home from the local ER. Or possibly both. The Next Time You See Me is more about the impact of Ronnie's disappearance (and her ultimate fate) on Susanna, Tony (the detective), Wyatt, a factory worker who knows that life has passed him by in the worst possible way, and a couple of 13-year-olds who become intertwined with Ronnie's disappearance.
In a very thoughtful and insightful Afterword, Goddard Jones talks about what she thinks the novel is "for" -- and, no surprise, it isn't solving a mystery, or revealing a killer, but about story telling. The stories we tell ourselves, the way we interpret and reconstruct and organize events into a narrative (with a logic, of sorts), to allow us to live with ourselves -- and to live with others, both those who are near and supposed to be dear to us, and those we bump into and rub up against in the course of our days, the course of our lives. And how sometimes, the story can go horribly wrong, and no matter how hard we try, it's impossible to edit it to get a happy outcome.
And, that, Dear Reader, is a whole 'nother story ...
It took me a while to get into this -- I am sorry to say that it almost fell victim to my "50 page rule," and I almost gave up on it -- it seemed, at the beginning, a little too "creative writerly," a little too well-manicured, with its painstaking descriptions of small. telling details. But then, quite suddenly, I realized that I was committed. That, although I guessed that there were going to be no Big Reveals, no surprises, I I wanted to be there with the characters for the journey, wherever it took them, and me.
I wanted to see the story through. Can't say better than that.
