The Good Remains

Nani Power's The Good Remains tells the story of a bunch of wacky residents of a Virginia town in the days leading up to the local hospital's Christmas party. The main character is Dr. C.R. Ash, a neonatologists who believs he is about to get into a whole heap of trouble for being involved with a young candy striper, and for unwittingly causing the death of that young woman's premature infant. It is also the story of the candy striper, the baby's father, his next door neighbor, and the two local caterers planning the Christmas party, among others. What the novel lacks in cohesiveness it makes up for in amusement and terrific writing. There is one part of the novel in which Ash praises Free Bird (the song) while grousing about the current state of popular music which is among the most brilliant passages I have ever read. So funny and so absolutely on target that it almost hurts. If you can get past the fact that this novel is all over the place and its focus is a little blurry, you will enjoy it immensely. If you like a little more structure, maybe skip this one.

Powers ties together the lives of several different characters, linking them through the story of main character C.R. Ash. Ash, a doctor whose questionable judgment resulted in the death of a premature infant, is under review by the medical board and suffering a sort of mid-life crisis. There's no steady woman in his life, his dog just died, and his career, which may be over, is the only thing of meaning in his life. Ash's secretary Betty, a middle-aged virgin with a crush on him, elects his friend Dr. Pendleton, to help her "rescue" Ash. Then there's Kirsten the teenaged candy-striper, object of Ash's crush and mother of above preemie, along with Todd, devasted father of the child he never even got to see. All these lives share a common theme of existentialist suffering - questioning the meaning of their lives or wrestling with the issue of being alone in the world. I enjoyed Powers' use of language, even though it was at times a little distracting from the act of reading; she writes very well. The story turns a bit surrealistic at times, with characters communicating with the dead (ala Dickens' Christmas Carol, which Powers seeks to invoke here.) But if you're not afraid of an experience that's just slightly out of the mainstream, you'll be rewarded with a compelling and interesting tale. It's worth reading.