Friday, February 20, 2009

The Keep


Have you ever tried getting your hands on a book that isn’t very long, that you essentially find thrilling and well written, but somehow it takes you way more time to read it, than a book of its size normally would? Just such a book was The Keep by Jennifer Egan. I read about it several years ago, but just got around to reading it now. The book is divided into sections. In one we follow Danny, a troubled young man who flees New York. What sends him on the run is vague, but he accepts his cousin Howard’s offer to come work on a castle in Europe that Howard wants to turn into a resort. A big part of the resort is that no communication devices are to be allowed. This causes Danny great concern since a big part of his personality is upheld by feeling linked in with all of his friends. His life is mainly spent making money through menial jobs, and then hanging out with his New York friends hoping to become someone great one day. Once Danny arrives he realizes that something strange is taking place in the castle. Danny starts seeing things and has a strange encounter with the old lady who has barricaded herself in the keep of the castle. The other section of the book takes place in a prison, where an inmate is taking a writer’s course, and the story that he tells is the one we hear about Danny. The book shifts between the sections throughout the book. Weaving a pattern that slowly builds up a convergence between the two stories. This is the first book I’ve read by Jennifer Egan, and boy is she talented. I think the reason it took me so long (more than a week), to read the book, is that I simply savored the language. Egan’s style is elegant and very beautiful. She uses words in unique ways that open doors in the mind, shut for way too long. The story also kept me guessing and I was surprised several times by the directions Egan chooses for her characters. The level of originality is really high, and I have no doubt that I’ll read this book again, and there find details that I didn’t pick up on in my first reading. The story is in several places very violent (not necessarily physically) and actually created discomfort; therefore I will give a small warning to readers that are impressionable. Other than that I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I look forward to reading more by this very talented author.