Memories of a Year Well-Read

by Timothy Cahill, November 30, 2007

Edward Schwarzschild:


Eat the Document
Dana Spiotta (Scribner, 2006)

The Woman in the Woods
Ann Joslin Williams (Eastern Washington University Press, 2007)

These two books are compelling, insightful, and original from start to finish; they’re beautifully written, thought-provoking page-turners. As a writer and a reader, I was particularly enthralled and inspired by the ways in which Williams and Spiotta structured their books. Neither book is built like a traditional novel. Eat the Document is divided into almost 40 sections, and the sections can be anywhere from 20 pages to a single sentence long. The Woman in the Woods is a collection of 12 linked stories that revolve around one central, terrible accident. In both cases, the structural decisions, original as they are, make perfect and immediate sense, strengthening the stunning storytelling and creating the cumulative, symphonic sensation we expect from novels of the highest order.

I was also deeply moved by the stories themselves. Eat the Document shifts between the 1970s and the late 1990s, offering a fascinating look at how two individuals live on after a political protest goes tragically wrong. Spiotta lets us see not only the immediate aftermath of a horrible mistake, but also how lives are affected for decades, into the next generation. The Woman in the Woods also has a tragedy at its center—a car is washed off a bridge during a flood—and the book shows us how that loss haunts the driver’s wife and children throughout their lives.

We often hear that there are only so many stories in the world. That might be true in a general sense, but not when we get down to specifics. Here are two new and powerful stories, and provocative, inspiring examples of how to tell stories.

Edward Schwarzschild’s most recent novel is The Family Diamond (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2007).