Why Did I Ever

Mary Robison's Why Did I Ever is far greater than the sum of its parts which is quite a feat as the parts are amazing on their own. The novel consists of very short, often hilarious, sections consisting of one woman's demented, off-kilter thoughts as she copes, or doesn't, with what flows around her. As wonderful as these ideas and often vague notions are, the novel also subtley grows and packs an emotional wallop by the time the last page is turned. The writing may be beautifully minimal but the impact is not. It is one of the richer novels I have read lately and I never thought I would say that I was laughing my way through the first few pages.

Don't be fooled by the short seqences and the fast pace of Mary Robison's wry and tragic novel, "Why Did I Ever", into thinking that this is a "light" or an "easy" book. Quite the contrary; each section, however brief, is finely crafted and perfectly in tune. The pathos that runs through the story - and we get it in increasing doses as the novel unfolds - is as heartbreaking as the humor is "laugh out loud" funny. This novel is a gem, and one that I will certainly read a second and third time in case I missed anything as I was gulping it down.Brava, Ms. Robison.

You know that it's a good book when you are in the grocery store, think of a line from it, and cannot help quoting it, and snickering to yourself. Or maybe even out loud! These beautifully crafted sentences with stick with you, and you'll try to work them into your mind and conversation whenever you can.

To use a cliche like "I couldn't put it down" would insult the razor sharp, intense style of this book, but I actually kept reading it while having a mammogram! I sat in the parking lot of the imaging clinic until I'd finished the last page, then drove home and discovered I'd put my shirt on insideout. Guess that pretty much says it all. I truly hope this book gets the attention it richly deserves.

Do you remember, back in the mid-eighties, when the world seemed to be overflowing with short fiction, and you read your first Raymond Carver short story? And you thought "Oh my God, this is wonderful, perfect, classic. His work will stand the test of time and then some."? Well, that is exactly how I felt when I read "Why Did I Ever." Each sentence, each empty space between sentences resonates with depth and meaning. Each word is exactly right, and placed perfectly. The entire novel is like a poem in its precision -- you feel like you can taste the words, they sit just perfectly on your tongue. And then, if all of that isn't enough, the book is hysterical. Laugh-out-loud, follow-people-around-quoting-it, unbelievably funny. In the humor category it reminded me of Carrie Fisher, but it is more like if Carrie Fisher wrote like T.S. Eliot, Fisher with something to say, Fisher with the ability to write like an angel, albeit a dark angel. This book was by far the best book I've read this year, if not in the last several years. If I could give it 10 stars, I would.Mary Robison is an author that will withstand the test of time and I can't wait, really cannot wait to see what she does next.