A Brief History of the Flood

I'm glad to see this book by a first-time author has received so many reviews here. ... I notice that one of my favorite writers, Richard Russo, has written a glowing back-cover blurb: 'Reading Jean Harfenist's stories is like finding a hot slot machine in a casino. One winner after another.' These stories read like a novel because each tale is about members of the same Minnesota family. After finishing it I'd have to say that it ranks right up there with Russo's own recent story collection, 'The Whore's Child.' No small compliment. It has quirkily attractive characters who are complex, inconsistent (like real life) and maddeningly appealing, even though sometimes you want to shout at them. I had to fight to get to read this book. No sooner had it arrived at our house than my wife took it and spent the rest of the day with it, frequently reading passages aloud to me. The next morning I woke to find it at my place at the kitchen table with a Post-It saying 'I liked it a lot. I recommend it. I would buy anything this woman writes. I'm going to put it on our book club's next reading list.' A discerning woman, my wife, and I can't think of a better recommendation.Scott Morrison

Lil Anderson is young, gutsy, brave, naive, quirky, fast-talking, quick-witted, and totally affecting. She is also the memorable debut creation of California writer Jean Harfenist. Presented as a series of short stories, which segue easily from one to another very much like chapters, "A Brief History of the Flood" traces the life of Lil from 1950 through 1979, between the ages of eight and 18. She shares a usually flooded, much in need of repair lakefront home outside of Acorn Lake, Minnesota with older brother and sister, Randy and Mitzy, younger brother, Davey, and a black Lab, Happy. Mother Marion in tiny shorts with a wide belt encircling her tiny waist has a world view determined by the words of every love song she has ever heard. She sees only what she wishes and wishes for the impossible. If she's awake, "she's working on something," weaving a rug from panty hose or even building a floating wedding cake for the Fourth of July Float contest. Dad Jack is an intrepid hunter who built their home then dubbed it "Jack's Hunting Lodge." He delivers dictates and diatribes in equal measure as he clinks ice cubes in his glass of Old Heaven Hill. Lil learned early in life to avoid him because as her Mom explains the young girl has "a talent for saying the one thing that'll launch him. Like good morning or hello." As an eight-year-old Lil enjoys carefree days on the water, drifting in the family's pontoon or flipping over a rowboat to make breathing room underneath. Harsh reality strikes with 1965 as Randy is of draft age. Mitzi has a busy social life, having "dated every other boy who comes to school without manure on his shoes," and Lil surrenders her virginity to a teacher, Mr. C. At the age of 15, along with five friends, Lil finds work putting together salads for airline passengers at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. It's driving 62 miles each way but that night shift duty pays $1.73 an hour, even though they're overseen by a hefty supervisor who "fills the cafeteria door like a new refrigerator." Noting that her Mom knows Lil can run her own life and "Dad doesn't care," the teenager moves quickly into shop lifting with best pal Irene who pierces Lil's ears in the basement restroom of a shopping center. Being caught doesn't stem their taste for further adventure. A teacher mentions that Lil's Mom has "bursts of vigor," little knowing that these spasms may be due to the Dexedrine she pops, and generously shares with her daughter. This drug induced energy enables Lil to whip through her high school classes, and land a job as a typist at an insurance company in St. Paul. Keeping the pounds off, Lil finds, is another benefit of her "speed system." Growing up has not been easy for Lil, but reading this masterfully crafted coming-of-age tale is pure pleasure. Jean Harfenist is definitely a writer to watch with her knack for presenting an arresting narrative voice that lingers in readers' minds. In precise, pene

I know a lot of people don't enjoy short story collections; they prefer to get to know a character and stay with them. All of the stories in this collection happen chronologically and focus on the same family. Maybe the chapters stand alone - I didn't notice. But they certainly flow together as a narrative, which can be read in one (long) sitting. I just finished "The Miss America Family" which also deals with dysfunction, but I didn't believe in those people. You'll believe in these people - you know them - you've met some of them. This has been a great summer for new novelists, and I think Jean Harfenist ranks right up there. If you like Lee Smith or Kaye Gibbons, you may want to seek this out.

If you are going to read one book this year, read, A Brief History Of The Flood, by Jean Harfenist. The voise of this author captures you from the very first sentence and resonates well after you have finished the last page. The book, which is a series of linked stories, reads like a novel and follows the life story of Lillian Anderson from the age of eight until twenty when she decides to leave her family and home in Acorn Lake Minnesota. Set during the 60's and early 70's Ms. Harfenist shows an extremely deft eye for character and relationships and how the parents of this first person narrator, Lillian, effect each of their children as they prepare or rather fail to prepare them for the world. It is written with humor and pathos and a hard cold eye for truth, while never sacrificing its sense of compassion and understanding for the people the narrator seems, despite everything, to truly love. As Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times reveiw of books said; Ms. Harfenist "has made an auspicious and stirring debut."

This book is much more than that. The characters are wonderful, one gets to know them, to live next door to them and after the page has been turned, the reader is saddened that these wild and interesting neighbors have moved away. Harfenist is a master at with holding, at understating. When Lillian first encounters sex, so much more is left unsaid than appears on the page. It shows the ability of Harfenist to tell all without telling everthing. This holds true as well when Lillian's mother sells the contents of the garage. After this chapter ends, we fill in the blank spaces and know (yes, know, not guess) how the father will react. It is a marvellous read, as well as a work of great minimalist literature. The style is brittle and "right on," never maudlin, never sweet, as so many coming of age stories tend to be. One hopes to hear soon from this first time novelist again.