I don’t know what to make of this book, even after slogging to the end. The Astral is a Brooklyn apartment building where poet Harry Quirk (the name is a give-away) and his Mexican-born wife, Luz, have lived their married life and raised two children, Karina, now a lesbian “freegan,” and Hector, who has recently joined a religious group, the Children of Hashem. Luz, convinced erroneously, from poems that she has found that Harry is having an affair with long-time friend Marion, has thrown Harry out. Harry still loves Luz and regrets the actual affair he had with someone named Samantha ten years earlier. Karina, who despite her alternative lifestyle seems the most grounded of the group, both tries to mediate between Luz and Harry and save her brother from the cult he has joined. Luz mostly acts hysterical. Harry, unable to write and mourning the poems Luz has destroyed, gets a real job in a Hasidic lumberyard so he can afford to move back into a tiny Astral apartment several floors below his wife. An intervention is planned to save Hector, who by now is seen as the second coming of Jesus and is being tested by walking on water, which he seemingly does. Has Luz been oppressed all these years by working hard both at her job as a nurse and caring for their home? Is Hector the Messiah, or just a duped kid set to marry the cult’s founder, a 48 year-old lapsed Mormon and former stripper? These and other questions are raised and left unanswered as the book coasts to a stop, divorce papers signed, on page 311.
No comments:
Post a Comment