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Shelter in Place
Set in the Pacific Northwest in the jittery, jacked-up early 1990s, Shelter in Place, by one of America's most thrillingly defiant contemporary authors, is a stylish literary novel about the hereditary nature of mental illness, the fleeting intensity of youth, the obligations of family, and the dramatic consequences of love.
Joseph March, a twenty-one-year-old working class kid from Seattle, is on top of the world. He has just graduated college and his future beckons, unencumbered, limitless, magnificent. Joe's life implodes when he starts to suffer the symptoms of bipolar disorder, and, not long after, his mother kills a man she's never met with a hammer.
Joe moves to White Pine, Washington, where his mother is serving time and his father has set up house. He is followed by Tess Wolff, a fiercely independent woman with whom he has fallen in love. The lives of Joe, Tess, and Joe's father fall into the slow rhythm of daily prison visits followed by beer and pizza at a local bar. Meanwhile, Anne-Marie March, Joe's mother, is gradually becoming a local heroine as many see her crime as a furious, exasperated act of righteous rebellion. Tess, too, has fallen under her spell. Spurred on by Anne-Marie's example, Tess enlists Joe in a secret, violent plan that will forever change their lives.
Maksik sings of modern America's battered soul and of the lacerating emotions that make us human. Magnetic and masterfully told, Shelter in Place is about the things in life we are willing to die for, and those we're willing to kill for.
Joseph March, a twenty-one-year-old working class kid from Seattle, is on top of the world. He has just graduated college and his future beckons, unencumbered, limitless, magnificent. Joe's life implodes when he starts to suffer the symptoms of bipolar disorder, and, not long after, his mother kills a man she's never met with a hammer.
Joe moves to White Pine, Washington, where his mother is serving time and his father has set up house. He is followed by Tess Wolff, a fiercely independent woman with whom he has fallen in love. The lives of Joe, Tess, and Joe's father fall into the slow rhythm of daily prison visits followed by beer and pizza at a local bar. Meanwhile, Anne-Marie March, Joe's mother, is gradually becoming a local heroine as many see her crime as a furious, exasperated act of righteous rebellion. Tess, too, has fallen under her spell. Spurred on by Anne-Marie's example, Tess enlists Joe in a secret, violent plan that will forever change their lives.
Maksik sings of modern America's battered soul and of the lacerating emotions that make us human. Magnetic and masterfully told, Shelter in Place is about the things in life we are willing to die for, and those we're willing to kill for.
400 pages, Paperback
First published September 13, 2016
77 people are currently reading
3026 people want to read
About the author
Alexander Maksik
10 books150 followersAlexander Maksik is the author of four novels: You Deserve Nothing, a New York Times and IndieBound bestseller; A Marker to Measure Drift, which was a New York Times Notable Book, as well as a finalist for the William Saroyan Prize and Le Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger; Shelter in Place, named one of the best books of the year by the Guardian and the San Francisco Chronicle and The Long Corner, which will be published in 2022.
Maksik’s writing has appeared in many publications including Harper’s, The New Yorker, Tin House, Best American Nonrequired Reading, Sewanee Review, Harvard Review, New York Times Book Review, Condé Nast Traveler (where for several years he was a contributing editor) and The Atlantic, and has been translated into more than a dozen languages.
He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize and the Andrew Lytle Prize, as well as fellowships from the Truman Capote Literary Trust and the Corporation of Yaddo.
Along with French novelist Colombe Schneck, he is the co-artistic director of the Can Cab Literary Residence in Catalonia, Spain.
Maksik’s writing has appeared in many publications including Harper’s, The New Yorker, Tin House, Best American Nonrequired Reading, Sewanee Review, Harvard Review, New York Times Book Review, Condé Nast Traveler (where for several years he was a contributing editor) and The Atlantic, and has been translated into more than a dozen languages.
He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize and the Andrew Lytle Prize, as well as fellowships from the Truman Capote Literary Trust and the Corporation of Yaddo.
Along with French novelist Colombe Schneck, he is the co-artistic director of the Can Cab Literary Residence in Catalonia, Spain.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 145 reviews
September 6, 2016
Alexander Maksik is no stranger to ethical dilemmas and that tenuous bridge that hangs between desire and action. In his debut book, You Deserve Nothing, he crafts the book as a cautionary reminder of what happens when idealism fails. In his next book, A Marker to Measure Drift, he examines that theme from another angle: how does a person keep fighting to live after witnessing the most inhumane acts of barbarism? Where is the line between recollection and madness drawn?
In Shelter In Place, this talented author returns – in part – to these unsettling themes of the failure of idealism and the line between recollection and madness. Our first-person narrator is Joseph (Joe, Joey) March, a young man from the Seattle area, who is beginning to descend into bipolar disorder. At the same time, his mother, Anne-Marie, beats an abusive father/husband to death with seven hammer strokes and is sentenced to 5-to-25 years.
Joe finds shelter in the arms of Tess Wolff, a free spirit whom he meets while working part-time as a bartender…or does he? The two embark on a tumultuous and adrenaline-fueled relationship that burns brightly but sometimes feels out of control. Anne-Marie’s imprisonment metaphorically imprisons all the characters: Joe’s father, who becomes stuck, Joe and Tess, who react to it in their own ways, and Claire, his older sister, who breaks all ties.
Yet while Alexander Maksik’s first two novels grabbed me at the throat and never let go – until I was almost gasping for air – his latest keeps me at arm’s length. I am primarily a character-based reader, and I struggled to understand their complicated inner lives.
Yes, the novel explores important themes: the delicate dance of damaged family interactions, the legacy of mental illness, the unwillingness of authorities to deal with domestic violence, the consequences of unexamined actions, and the volatility of a self-consuming love. And without giving anything away, the ending is beautifully written and organic in its conclusions. Yet the willful meandering and repetition of a bipolar mind and the arms-length portrayal of Tess and Anne-Marie left me not caring quite enough. I yearned for the emotional adrenaline I received from Mr. Maksik’s first two novels. Still, I would recommend it for the beautiful writing and the powerful themes. 3.5 stars.
In Shelter In Place, this talented author returns – in part – to these unsettling themes of the failure of idealism and the line between recollection and madness. Our first-person narrator is Joseph (Joe, Joey) March, a young man from the Seattle area, who is beginning to descend into bipolar disorder. At the same time, his mother, Anne-Marie, beats an abusive father/husband to death with seven hammer strokes and is sentenced to 5-to-25 years.
Joe finds shelter in the arms of Tess Wolff, a free spirit whom he meets while working part-time as a bartender…or does he? The two embark on a tumultuous and adrenaline-fueled relationship that burns brightly but sometimes feels out of control. Anne-Marie’s imprisonment metaphorically imprisons all the characters: Joe’s father, who becomes stuck, Joe and Tess, who react to it in their own ways, and Claire, his older sister, who breaks all ties.
Yet while Alexander Maksik’s first two novels grabbed me at the throat and never let go – until I was almost gasping for air – his latest keeps me at arm’s length. I am primarily a character-based reader, and I struggled to understand their complicated inner lives.
Yes, the novel explores important themes: the delicate dance of damaged family interactions, the legacy of mental illness, the unwillingness of authorities to deal with domestic violence, the consequences of unexamined actions, and the volatility of a self-consuming love. And without giving anything away, the ending is beautifully written and organic in its conclusions. Yet the willful meandering and repetition of a bipolar mind and the arms-length portrayal of Tess and Anne-Marie left me not caring quite enough. I yearned for the emotional adrenaline I received from Mr. Maksik’s first two novels. Still, I would recommend it for the beautiful writing and the powerful themes. 3.5 stars.
put-aside
October 28, 2016Oh dear, I seem to be having a string of put-asides. Is it me, I wonder? The election…
Maksik can be a fine writer, but this circling-the-drain narrative seems to go nowhere. A family: father, mother, daughter, son. A happy family, with parents always available, in contrast to both parents’ upbringings. The daughter leaves, forever it seems, overseas. The son takes a bar job by a beach, meets a girl, lives happily…until the inner darkness he shares with his mother rears its head.
The mother commits an unspeakable act of horrific violence, and the boy knows that violence is in him as well. The novel has potential, and if we didn’t spend quite so much time on the nothing he does in reaction to this act, it might have been saved. Frankly, he wasn’t engaging enough to hold me.
Sorry, Maksik, for being less of a reader than needed.
Maksik can be a fine writer, but this circling-the-drain narrative seems to go nowhere. A family: father, mother, daughter, son. A happy family, with parents always available, in contrast to both parents’ upbringings. The daughter leaves, forever it seems, overseas. The son takes a bar job by a beach, meets a girl, lives happily…until the inner darkness he shares with his mother rears its head.
The mother commits an unspeakable act of horrific violence, and the boy knows that violence is in him as well. The novel has potential, and if we didn’t spend quite so much time on the nothing he does in reaction to this act, it might have been saved. Frankly, he wasn’t engaging enough to hold me.
Sorry, Maksik, for being less of a reader than needed.
February 15, 2017
this book was so good but sad at the same because of all the deaths this book also made me want to at times.
November 8, 2016
2 stars - Meh. Just ok.
An interesting synopsis and fascinating first sentence, but the writing style did not work for me – slow moving, verbose, an abundance of short sentences and repetitive. It is set in my favorite locale for novels, the Pacific Northwest, but there was no real sense of atmosphere and you only knew the location because the author mentioned it intermittently. On the other hand, again, the plot was a fascinating idea and I did care just enough to see it through to the end. I do not see myself picking up another work by the author in the future though.
Writing sample:
No. Have is the wrong word.
There is nothing I would not do to be in contact with her. I would do anything to see her move, to listen to her speak. I would do anything to be near her.
Whatever she asks. Whatever she wants. No matter what.
There is nothing I would not do. Do you understand me? There is nothing.
I have given up.
We went to bed and I did not want anything else.
I did not want to know where she had been.
I did not want to know how long she would stay.
I wanted nothing else.
I have given in. I have given up.
We went to bed and I did not want anything more.
-------------------------------------------
Favorite Quote: “You know where to find me,” she said.
I don’t know what she meant.
Invitation or statement of regret.
First Sentence: In the summer of 1991 my mother beat a man to death with a twenty-two ounce Estwing framing hammer and I fell in love with Tess Wolff.
An interesting synopsis and fascinating first sentence, but the writing style did not work for me – slow moving, verbose, an abundance of short sentences and repetitive. It is set in my favorite locale for novels, the Pacific Northwest, but there was no real sense of atmosphere and you only knew the location because the author mentioned it intermittently. On the other hand, again, the plot was a fascinating idea and I did care just enough to see it through to the end. I do not see myself picking up another work by the author in the future though.
Writing sample:
No. Have is the wrong word.
There is nothing I would not do to be in contact with her. I would do anything to see her move, to listen to her speak. I would do anything to be near her.
Whatever she asks. Whatever she wants. No matter what.
There is nothing I would not do. Do you understand me? There is nothing.
I have given up.
We went to bed and I did not want anything else.
I did not want to know where she had been.
I did not want to know how long she would stay.
I wanted nothing else.
I have given in. I have given up.
We went to bed and I did not want anything more.
-------------------------------------------
Favorite Quote: “You know where to find me,” she said.
I don’t know what she meant.
Invitation or statement of regret.
First Sentence: In the summer of 1991 my mother beat a man to death with a twenty-two ounce Estwing framing hammer and I fell in love with Tess Wolff.
November 28, 2025
This book didn’t go anywhere or do much? Save yourself 400 pages and just read the synopsis as that is pretty much the entire book! 2 Stars ⭐️⭐️!
September 13, 2016
The first page begins thus:
“In the summer of 1991 my mother beat a man to death with a twenty-two ounce Estwing framing hammer and I fell in love with Tess Wolff.
Now, many years later, they have both disappeared and I am alone here on this pretty clearing in the woods.
Alone, save for the tar and the bird and the other thing, for which I have no name.”
Every once in a while I read a novel that refuses to be pinned down, with a unique formation of voice, character, story, and themes. SHELTER IN PLACE is just such a novel. Softly spoken, narrated by the protagonist, “Joe, Joey, Joseph,” but turbulent in thought; undisguised in action, but complicated in meaning; transparently frank, but inscrutably murky.
“I’m not going to tell you everything. You should know that from the start. I won’t answer all of your questions. This is not every single thing. It is only one version. Please remember that.
Also, there will be no continuous rhythm.
We the erratic keep terrible time.”
It is the grunge era in Seattle, where music strives for authenticity, singing from an angst-filled heart and tortured soul. That’s a good way to describe Joey. His mother, Anne-Marie, with untreated bipolar disorder, is now in prison for life. Joey was twenty at the time, and discovering the hereditary menace of bipolar disorder overcoming him, also. It arrived suddenly, a physical force, “thick tar inching through my body…creeping tar, blue-black bird, talons.”
As time went on, Joey developed battle plans to deal with the onslaught, but its dark wings still spread, unannounced. Tess was the only person who knew about it. She was his shelter, like their home in the clearing in the woods, and their inseparable lives.
Joey’s family hangs in a precarious balance. His father, who was once aloof, has made loving overtures to Joey and Tess. His sister, Claire, has disappeared from their lives, into a posh part of London, with her London husband and their upscale, London life. His mother’s act of violence betrayed Joey, and he pities her, and loves her, but doesn’t accept what she’s done. However, she has become a heroine for didactic feminists.
When Tess is enticed and magnetized by Anne-Marie’s charisma, Joey’s tranquility becomes unmoored. He feels ambivalent, equivocal, weakened by Tess’s newfound cause. The tender empathy is pierced with uncertainty, shaken with vigilante bias. And Stuart, Tess and Joey’s friend, a guard at Anne-Marie’s prison, is caught in the middle of Tess’s heightened activism. The delicate bonds of love and loyalty are fraught with commotion that threatens their stability.
By turns generous, ethereal, and merciless, Maksik’s new novel mines the highs and lows of constancy and the fidelity to those we love. It is told in recursive prose at intervals, like a ballad. The cost of devotion is immeasurable and absolute; the price of life is humanity, the champion of mortality.
Thank you to Europa for sending me a copy.
“In the summer of 1991 my mother beat a man to death with a twenty-two ounce Estwing framing hammer and I fell in love with Tess Wolff.
Now, many years later, they have both disappeared and I am alone here on this pretty clearing in the woods.
Alone, save for the tar and the bird and the other thing, for which I have no name.”
Every once in a while I read a novel that refuses to be pinned down, with a unique formation of voice, character, story, and themes. SHELTER IN PLACE is just such a novel. Softly spoken, narrated by the protagonist, “Joe, Joey, Joseph,” but turbulent in thought; undisguised in action, but complicated in meaning; transparently frank, but inscrutably murky.
“I’m not going to tell you everything. You should know that from the start. I won’t answer all of your questions. This is not every single thing. It is only one version. Please remember that.
Also, there will be no continuous rhythm.
We the erratic keep terrible time.”
It is the grunge era in Seattle, where music strives for authenticity, singing from an angst-filled heart and tortured soul. That’s a good way to describe Joey. His mother, Anne-Marie, with untreated bipolar disorder, is now in prison for life. Joey was twenty at the time, and discovering the hereditary menace of bipolar disorder overcoming him, also. It arrived suddenly, a physical force, “thick tar inching through my body…creeping tar, blue-black bird, talons.”
As time went on, Joey developed battle plans to deal with the onslaught, but its dark wings still spread, unannounced. Tess was the only person who knew about it. She was his shelter, like their home in the clearing in the woods, and their inseparable lives.
Joey’s family hangs in a precarious balance. His father, who was once aloof, has made loving overtures to Joey and Tess. His sister, Claire, has disappeared from their lives, into a posh part of London, with her London husband and their upscale, London life. His mother’s act of violence betrayed Joey, and he pities her, and loves her, but doesn’t accept what she’s done. However, she has become a heroine for didactic feminists.
When Tess is enticed and magnetized by Anne-Marie’s charisma, Joey’s tranquility becomes unmoored. He feels ambivalent, equivocal, weakened by Tess’s newfound cause. The tender empathy is pierced with uncertainty, shaken with vigilante bias. And Stuart, Tess and Joey’s friend, a guard at Anne-Marie’s prison, is caught in the middle of Tess’s heightened activism. The delicate bonds of love and loyalty are fraught with commotion that threatens their stability.
By turns generous, ethereal, and merciless, Maksik’s new novel mines the highs and lows of constancy and the fidelity to those we love. It is told in recursive prose at intervals, like a ballad. The cost of devotion is immeasurable and absolute; the price of life is humanity, the champion of mortality.
Thank you to Europa for sending me a copy.
Read
December 1, 2016I liked Maksik’s book when I was reading it but, since finishing it early in October, I really can’t stop thinking about it. This book has a slow burn and has crept into my conversations over and over in the last couple of weeks. Shelter in Place subverts the Manic Pixie Dream Girl by taking her to her extreme conclusion. The narrator, Joe March, tells the story of the summer 20 or so years ago that his mother beat a man to death with a hammer and became a feminist icon. It’s the same summer he met the love of his life, Tess, and first struggled with mental illness. This is a book about the women in Joe’s life– mothers and lovers, sisters and strangers– but it manages to be feminist, angry, and deeply moving. I was impressed with how well Maksik wrote the different women in this book and also how he charted Joe’s own personal, feminist, and familial awakenings. Plus, the Pacific Northwest setting is a character in its own right and makes it perfect reading for cool, rainy autumn nights.
–Ashley Bowen-Murphy
from The Best Books We Read In October 2016: http://bookriot.com/2016/10/31/riot-r...
–Ashley Bowen-Murphy
from The Best Books We Read In October 2016: http://bookriot.com/2016/10/31/riot-r...
February 5, 2017
I went into reading this one with no expectations, but being intrigued by the synopsis and relating to the mental illness aspect. I finally got around to finishing Shelter in Place by Alexander Maksik, and it was a fascinating story. It was a slow burn for me. It started off strong, but dwindled midway through. It did take me a little longer to get through this because Maksik's writing style and narrative, and at times it wasn't the smoothest story-telling--other times, I just lost patience. It was a complex and demanding read, but it was also intense and engaging. When it comes to the mental illness aspect of this novel, it was written carefully and thought-provoking. There was so much more to this novel that was touched on, and done well, that being living with mental illness, the consequences to actions, violence, coping, and family. It certainly is not for everyone, and it is a challenging read, but it is a powerful one.
I received a copy in exchange for an unbiased review from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
I received a copy in exchange for an unbiased review from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
February 26, 2017
Frankly, I do not understand how this flew so far under the radar. Released in September 2016, it had some venerable competition (Commonwealth, The Underground Railroad, Springsteen's memoir), but this has simply got to be one of the best books published last year.
SHELTER IN PLACE follows the story of twenty-something Joe March, born in Washington state, raised there, likely to die there. In the book's opening pages we are informed that 1991 was the year Joe fell in love with Tess Wolff, and the year his mother beat a man to death with a hammer. We also soon thereafter discover that it is in his twenties that Joe begins to suffer the symptoms of bi-polar disorder.
March's mother, Ann-Marie, goes on to become something of a cult figure: her murder was committed in defense of the woman and children her victim was publicly assaulting in a parking lot, and Mrs. March becomes something of a feminist hero. The aforementioned Tess, Joe's lover, becomes one of Ann-Marie's followers: Tess is inspired by Joe's mother to become a defender of battered women. The novel's main plot revolves around the question of how far Tess will go to act on that inspiration.
Whatever controversy surrounds the author, both his debut novel, YOU DESERVE NOTHING, and his latest, SHELTER IN PLACE, are exquisitely written, and the latter work shows real growth as an author. Maksik has developed a firm grasp on the moral stickiness we come to literary fiction for an understanding of. This is to say, more tritely, that SHELTER is about the human condition.
SHELTER is written from the disjointed, manic-depressive perspective of Joe, and the voice works to drive the plot. This book is that rare thing: a literary page-turner, a piece of literature that manages to be at once ruminative and thrilling. A book that takes you by the collar, shake you violently, and does not let you go until it is finished with you.
As readers, we all screwed up in 2016: we left SHELTER off our "Best Of" lists. Still, given the sheer amount talent at work in Maksik's oeuvre, I expect him to sooner or later join the ranks of Franzen, Patchett, and Zadie Smith.
SHELTER IN PLACE follows the story of twenty-something Joe March, born in Washington state, raised there, likely to die there. In the book's opening pages we are informed that 1991 was the year Joe fell in love with Tess Wolff, and the year his mother beat a man to death with a hammer. We also soon thereafter discover that it is in his twenties that Joe begins to suffer the symptoms of bi-polar disorder.
March's mother, Ann-Marie, goes on to become something of a cult figure: her murder was committed in defense of the woman and children her victim was publicly assaulting in a parking lot, and Mrs. March becomes something of a feminist hero. The aforementioned Tess, Joe's lover, becomes one of Ann-Marie's followers: Tess is inspired by Joe's mother to become a defender of battered women. The novel's main plot revolves around the question of how far Tess will go to act on that inspiration.
Whatever controversy surrounds the author, both his debut novel, YOU DESERVE NOTHING, and his latest, SHELTER IN PLACE, are exquisitely written, and the latter work shows real growth as an author. Maksik has developed a firm grasp on the moral stickiness we come to literary fiction for an understanding of. This is to say, more tritely, that SHELTER is about the human condition.
SHELTER is written from the disjointed, manic-depressive perspective of Joe, and the voice works to drive the plot. This book is that rare thing: a literary page-turner, a piece of literature that manages to be at once ruminative and thrilling. A book that takes you by the collar, shake you violently, and does not let you go until it is finished with you.
As readers, we all screwed up in 2016: we left SHELTER off our "Best Of" lists. Still, given the sheer amount talent at work in Maksik's oeuvre, I expect him to sooner or later join the ranks of Franzen, Patchett, and Zadie Smith.
October 31, 2016
I struggled with this book. I got to about the halfway point and put it down and said "Why am I wasting my time? I have other books to read!" Even though I was drawn in and wanted to see this story through I struggled with the slow pace of it all.
The story goes back and forth between past and present until the past catches up to the present and we get to the ending. Other reviewers will tell you it's a story about a man with a mental illness, his relationship with his parents, and his love of a woman who is a bit of a "free spirit". His mother, an emergency room nurse, witnesses a man beating his wife in a parking lot and takes action. The action puts her in jail for the rest of her life. Our narrator, his girlfriend, and his father all cope with that in different ways. I don't want to give any spoilers so I'll leave it at that.
I have not read the author's other books so I cannot make the comparison but what I'm seeing in other reviews is that this may not be his best work. It's an interesting read, but it's a challenging one, and I'm not sure I was satisfied with the ending.
The story goes back and forth between past and present until the past catches up to the present and we get to the ending. Other reviewers will tell you it's a story about a man with a mental illness, his relationship with his parents, and his love of a woman who is a bit of a "free spirit". His mother, an emergency room nurse, witnesses a man beating his wife in a parking lot and takes action. The action puts her in jail for the rest of her life. Our narrator, his girlfriend, and his father all cope with that in different ways. I don't want to give any spoilers so I'll leave it at that.
I have not read the author's other books so I cannot make the comparison but what I'm seeing in other reviews is that this may not be his best work. It's an interesting read, but it's a challenging one, and I'm not sure I was satisfied with the ending.
June 29, 2017
Hmmmm.
I read Maksik's first book YOU DESERVE NOTHING, which showed Maksik's promise as a writer, although it was strangely adolescent male in tone and cringeworthy in subject matter. He has not dropped the "adolescent male" perspective in SHELTER IN PLACE, albeit it is a much more interesting book.
The narrator Joe March is living inside a bi-polar mind, and Maksik writes from inside the mind to render some of the most beautiful descriptions of mania and depression I have read. You feel the electric rapture of the high and the dark numb terror of depression. For me, this is the highlight of his writing in this book.
His story-telling however, is weak. In the first paragraph, you know that his mother has murdered a stranger with a hammer which one would think would set us off in a snapping pace. But as our narrator is struggling to understand his own sanity, we stay stuck with him, in his endless circular descent into avoidance, of his mental health, his co-dependent relationship with another equally infuriating character, Tess, his mother's crime etc etc.
If evolutionary biology has wired us to be a particular way, then we as humans act and interact with other human beings and events like pinballs in a pinball machine game. Reading this book was like watching a pin ball game for me; interesting to begin with, lots of bells and whistles but essentially, when you get down to it, non-thinking individuals either attempting to connect with, or avoid, or do violence to life. Maksik fails to add anything imaginative to his re-enactment of the toxic cocktail of life.
"Watching" is essentially my main issue with this book. I felt I was kept at arm's length from fully engaging with the characters, firstly because the narrator is in avoidance mode the entire book (he never has any realization about himself, he just learns to live with his constant befuddlement and his constant yearning for Tess- no wonder she keeps leaving) and importantly, because the characters are never fully drawn. They are started well but not filled out and eventually become caricatures rather than real flesh and blood; the crazy, murdering avenging mother; the mysterious, electric Tess; the steady, honest father; the good, loyal prison guard friend; the AWOL, status seeking, Mercedes-Benz driving sister. Really?
To add to that, the issues dealt with in the book (domestic violence, lack of consequences for abuse, mental illness, family entanglements) feel politically correct but hollow. The rage expressed by the characters regarding domestic violence was righteous but lacked the ring of authenticity and in the end seemed like plot devices in a story going nowhere fast.
And ethically, Maksik seems to condone violence in response to violence. The mother becomes a heroine, Sam Young gets taught a lesson in a vicious way, frat boys are shown what's what by the righteous. Maksik just lets all that sit there, while he proceeds with the main story; Joe diddling himself about his sanity and Tess. Plausibility is missing to an absurd level; the whole Sam Young incident was completely implausible, both the actions taken and lack of consequences. Only in a white boy's dreams does that shit fly.
So, not for me. Beautiful writing is one thing. But in my reading experience, I also want it in service to something; a story or characters. For me, neither were served in this book.
I read Maksik's first book YOU DESERVE NOTHING, which showed Maksik's promise as a writer, although it was strangely adolescent male in tone and cringeworthy in subject matter. He has not dropped the "adolescent male" perspective in SHELTER IN PLACE, albeit it is a much more interesting book.
The narrator Joe March is living inside a bi-polar mind, and Maksik writes from inside the mind to render some of the most beautiful descriptions of mania and depression I have read. You feel the electric rapture of the high and the dark numb terror of depression. For me, this is the highlight of his writing in this book.
His story-telling however, is weak. In the first paragraph, you know that his mother has murdered a stranger with a hammer which one would think would set us off in a snapping pace. But as our narrator is struggling to understand his own sanity, we stay stuck with him, in his endless circular descent into avoidance, of his mental health, his co-dependent relationship with another equally infuriating character, Tess, his mother's crime etc etc.
If evolutionary biology has wired us to be a particular way, then we as humans act and interact with other human beings and events like pinballs in a pinball machine game. Reading this book was like watching a pin ball game for me; interesting to begin with, lots of bells and whistles but essentially, when you get down to it, non-thinking individuals either attempting to connect with, or avoid, or do violence to life. Maksik fails to add anything imaginative to his re-enactment of the toxic cocktail of life.
"Watching" is essentially my main issue with this book. I felt I was kept at arm's length from fully engaging with the characters, firstly because the narrator is in avoidance mode the entire book (he never has any realization about himself, he just learns to live with his constant befuddlement and his constant yearning for Tess- no wonder she keeps leaving) and importantly, because the characters are never fully drawn. They are started well but not filled out and eventually become caricatures rather than real flesh and blood; the crazy, murdering avenging mother; the mysterious, electric Tess; the steady, honest father; the good, loyal prison guard friend; the AWOL, status seeking, Mercedes-Benz driving sister. Really?
To add to that, the issues dealt with in the book (domestic violence, lack of consequences for abuse, mental illness, family entanglements) feel politically correct but hollow. The rage expressed by the characters regarding domestic violence was righteous but lacked the ring of authenticity and in the end seemed like plot devices in a story going nowhere fast.
And ethically, Maksik seems to condone violence in response to violence. The mother becomes a heroine, Sam Young gets taught a lesson in a vicious way, frat boys are shown what's what by the righteous. Maksik just lets all that sit there, while he proceeds with the main story; Joe diddling himself about his sanity and Tess. Plausibility is missing to an absurd level; the whole Sam Young incident was completely implausible, both the actions taken and lack of consequences. Only in a white boy's dreams does that shit fly.
So, not for me. Beautiful writing is one thing. But in my reading experience, I also want it in service to something; a story or characters. For me, neither were served in this book.
April 21, 2018
This started off with an intriguing opening sentence, but it is all downhill from there. Short, choppy sentences, tedious narrator, insufferable Manic Pixie Dream Girl, uncomfortable attempt at a feminist message... nothing seemed to work for me in this book. Even the Pacific Northwest setting couldn't save this mess (btw, way to convince me you know about 90s music with references to "Sound Garden")
September 20, 2016
"Shelter in Place", by Alexander Maksik, is an intense and intimate depiction of mental illness, family, heredity, and forgiveness, similar to Pat Conroy's brilliant, "Prince of Tides", and Wally Lamb's wonderful, "I Know This Much Is True".
Our first person narrator throughout this past and present 25-year journey is Joey March. Is he a reliable narrator? Nope. He tells us this right away and we can soon see for ourselves...there is a lot of lacunae in his story. But his descriptions of the "tar" and "the bird" are exquisitely evocative; both the way depression descends upon him with the suddenness of an attack by a bird with terrible talons, to the way euphoria occurs like the flip of a light-switch. Joey understands the unreliability of his memory and fills us in with what detail he can remember or deduce.
In the summer of 1991 two things happen; first, Joey, freshly graduated from college, meets and falls in love with Tess Wolff, and second, Joey's mother, in an act of vigilantism, kills a man. Joey's story, in fact the rest of his life, flows from these two events. (Does his mother also she his mental illness?) Tess is a woman of anger and action and the suspense of the novel lies in the gradual revelation of a vigilantist action that she and Joey undertake. It's aftermath is the long denouement.
Maksik's structure consists of short passages that move us back and forth in time. Yes, this may be a little dizzying but I'm convinced that it's intentional; the reader is meant to feel a little "crazy" on this journey. Surrender to it.
Our first person narrator throughout this past and present 25-year journey is Joey March. Is he a reliable narrator? Nope. He tells us this right away and we can soon see for ourselves...there is a lot of lacunae in his story. But his descriptions of the "tar" and "the bird" are exquisitely evocative; both the way depression descends upon him with the suddenness of an attack by a bird with terrible talons, to the way euphoria occurs like the flip of a light-switch. Joey understands the unreliability of his memory and fills us in with what detail he can remember or deduce.
In the summer of 1991 two things happen; first, Joey, freshly graduated from college, meets and falls in love with Tess Wolff, and second, Joey's mother, in an act of vigilantism, kills a man. Joey's story, in fact the rest of his life, flows from these two events. (Does his mother also she his mental illness?) Tess is a woman of anger and action and the suspense of the novel lies in the gradual revelation of a vigilantist action that she and Joey undertake. It's aftermath is the long denouement.
Maksik's structure consists of short passages that move us back and forth in time. Yes, this may be a little dizzying but I'm convinced that it's intentional; the reader is meant to feel a little "crazy" on this journey. Surrender to it.
October 31, 2016
I received this book from a Goodreads Firstreads giveaway.
Did not finish. I had trouble following the flow of the narrative, which jumped back and forth from the present to the past. I've read other novels which use this technique, and not had any problems following the storyline, but the writing was choppy and the way the jumps were made, not only were we jumping from the past to the present (or vice versa), there was no indication of how much, if any, time had passed since the last section set in that period, so I'd find myself trying to figure out why the narrator was just waking up; hadn't he been eating breakfast the last time we were in the present. Why is he starting the chapter talking about feeling like he and his girlfriend have been at the bar for years when, in the last chapter, they'd just been hired there? There are also big jumps between sections within a chapter, very disjointed, no warning. It pulled me out of the story and made it hard to concentrate.
My biggest complaint is that, when I finally called it quits at page 253, how much this book d...r...a...g...s. The narrator takes his sweet, sweet, sweet, meandering, winding, rabbit trail time getting to the point, whatever his point might be. He loves to talk about the details, each and every irrelevant one of them. He details every step of his and Tessa's relationship, the growth of it and when she leaves him. I'm not spoiling that, because that's what all the present parts of the book are about, him alone at their house after she leaves. Why she left, he still hasn't said by page 253. He just talks about how it feels to be him and what he does in that empty house after she leaves. He's forty-something years old in this part, but he waxes philosophical and angsty like a kid just out of college. The parts about the past, it's building up to something, Tessa has something on the brain, but whatever it is, Mr. Introspective Navel Gazer is too busy gazing at his navel and contemplating life, the universe, and how linty and black-grey-green his navel lint is, and why is it so linty and black-grey-green and what might that reveal about why he's different and does that have anything to do with his parents, to get off his ass and do more than be angsty about the world and that his mom's in prison, his dad's living in the town near the prison, and Tessa's obsessed with his mother. All hell is going to break loose, a storm is coming, and I, the reader, am tired of waiting for Mr. Introspective to stop talking about all the navel lint of life and start getting to the damn point.
Did not finish. I had trouble following the flow of the narrative, which jumped back and forth from the present to the past. I've read other novels which use this technique, and not had any problems following the storyline, but the writing was choppy and the way the jumps were made, not only were we jumping from the past to the present (or vice versa), there was no indication of how much, if any, time had passed since the last section set in that period, so I'd find myself trying to figure out why the narrator was just waking up; hadn't he been eating breakfast the last time we were in the present. Why is he starting the chapter talking about feeling like he and his girlfriend have been at the bar for years when, in the last chapter, they'd just been hired there? There are also big jumps between sections within a chapter, very disjointed, no warning. It pulled me out of the story and made it hard to concentrate.
My biggest complaint is that, when I finally called it quits at page 253, how much this book d...r...a...g...s. The narrator takes his sweet, sweet, sweet, meandering, winding, rabbit trail time getting to the point, whatever his point might be. He loves to talk about the details, each and every irrelevant one of them. He details every step of his and Tessa's relationship, the growth of it and when she leaves him. I'm not spoiling that, because that's what all the present parts of the book are about, him alone at their house after she leaves. Why she left, he still hasn't said by page 253. He just talks about how it feels to be him and what he does in that empty house after she leaves. He's forty-something years old in this part, but he waxes philosophical and angsty like a kid just out of college. The parts about the past, it's building up to something, Tessa has something on the brain, but whatever it is, Mr. Introspective Navel Gazer is too busy gazing at his navel and contemplating life, the universe, and how linty and black-grey-green his navel lint is, and why is it so linty and black-grey-green and what might that reveal about why he's different and does that have anything to do with his parents, to get off his ass and do more than be angsty about the world and that his mom's in prison, his dad's living in the town near the prison, and Tessa's obsessed with his mother. All hell is going to break loose, a storm is coming, and I, the reader, am tired of waiting for Mr. Introspective to stop talking about all the navel lint of life and start getting to the damn point.
May 31, 2019
There is something, some "it' about reading a book that takes place, for the most part, where you are reading it. The almost endless winter rains do contribute to the tar in the veins and talons in the lungs. This book has left me pacing, thinking, and eager to take a run on the beach. Maybe this creates a way for those trapped in confusion to outrun a story without tidy finishes. What is there to say about this book? Is it a story of a person who rapidly cycles in bi polar depression and strives for equilibrium? Is it a tale about finding hope? I think both. Maksik’s writing felt congruent with many of my thoughts on bipolar disorder. This book, and A Marker to Measure Drift, have made it simple for me to decide I want to read more from him.
July 5, 2016
Not officially reviewing but I finished the uncorrected proof I got my hands on. It's different, disturbing, moving, it's not the same as his other two novels. Will review it later when it's either released or if I officially can.
July 26, 2016
This is the best novel I have read this year and it will certainly stay with me for years to come. Between You Deserve Nothing, A Marker to Measure Drift and now this novel Maksik's versatility as an author to tell such different stories is something to champion. Shelter in Place is first and foremost a story about family, then one family's son who suffers from bipolar disorder and finally losing yourself in the ideas of another to the point where you become unhinged for a moment in your life.
There is love, there is obsession and there is violence in these pages. Like the main character, Joseph March, you reflect on your life and the people in your life throughout the story. I think that readers will draw more similarities than differences between themselves and Joseph (especially with regards to his disorder). The only thing that separates Joseph from all of us, is that he does not see a line that we all consider in our everyday and therefore he simply crosses it. Though, admittedly, he is given motivation to do so from his girlfriend Tess Wolff. I have never seen a character so surefire as her and yet still compassionate to the people she cares about. The two of them are the anguished but electrified heart of this story.
Running with this, the novel evokes the Pacific Northwest and the 1990's America in whole. If you grew up in America and ever argued with your parents at the dinner table, or stayed out too long and got caught, was left by a girlfriend or boyfriend, became jealous of friends, even jealous of siblings then you are not the only one. If you ever felt pain or someone else's and wanted to do something back, you are definitely not the only one and that frustration you kept bottled up is in Shelter in Place and it is finally unleashed.
-Christian
There is love, there is obsession and there is violence in these pages. Like the main character, Joseph March, you reflect on your life and the people in your life throughout the story. I think that readers will draw more similarities than differences between themselves and Joseph (especially with regards to his disorder). The only thing that separates Joseph from all of us, is that he does not see a line that we all consider in our everyday and therefore he simply crosses it. Though, admittedly, he is given motivation to do so from his girlfriend Tess Wolff. I have never seen a character so surefire as her and yet still compassionate to the people she cares about. The two of them are the anguished but electrified heart of this story.
Running with this, the novel evokes the Pacific Northwest and the 1990's America in whole. If you grew up in America and ever argued with your parents at the dinner table, or stayed out too long and got caught, was left by a girlfriend or boyfriend, became jealous of friends, even jealous of siblings then you are not the only one. If you ever felt pain or someone else's and wanted to do something back, you are definitely not the only one and that frustration you kept bottled up is in Shelter in Place and it is finally unleashed.
-Christian
Read
April 26, 2017mental illness, murder, desire, alienation: these are the reasons i was drawn to this novel, this is what i drink up. that, and the structure, with its breaks in chronology, the short chapters, the sentences! -- a stunning single paragraph opener.
but uggggggggggggh
the beautiful sentences do nothing to balance out the colossal bullshit of this book.
shame on these blurbers -- most of whom are (by no accident) women.
and how many readers/reviewers applaud the purported feminist outrage and righteousness steering the narrative, which feels so blatantly manufactured by an author who once had sex with a student, then wrote about it, and is now trying to make good.
come on, europa.
but uggggggggggggh
the beautiful sentences do nothing to balance out the colossal bullshit of this book.
shame on these blurbers -- most of whom are (by no accident) women.
and how many readers/reviewers applaud the purported feminist outrage and righteousness steering the narrative, which feels so blatantly manufactured by an author who once had sex with a student, then wrote about it, and is now trying to make good.
come on, europa.
September 28, 2016
Ridiculously fantastic writing. Compelling story about the darkness that exists in the human heart, about depression, about family, about the weirdness in growing up, growing old, loving others. I couldn't like any character, and yet couldn't help relating to them and having hope for their poor souls.
February 4, 2018
As other reviewers noted, the story slowed some in the middle, but I’m still giving the book 4 stars because it seemed true to life to me, honest. It reminded me of the saying —nonfiction is facts, fiction and poetry are truth.
September 20, 2017
The language, and its experimental nature yet smooth cadence, is what keeps this book afloat. The characters and the payoff of the narrative in the end are not what I'd read this book for. Rather it's the mood of the northwest, or being adrift and in love, and the wondering about the past that drives this meditative ramble.
March 8, 2018
This one was chosen purely on the fact that the main character has bipolar disorder. In that respect it was a very enlightening read. I also enjoyed the narration style and the fact that the author frequently spoke directly to the reader.
Read
October 26, 2022"We are so much better told by the sentences of others" OK!
September 17, 2017
Set in my beloved PNW, mentions Hammerbox, interesting take on mental illness.
Felt like a smolder, maybe more impact if it had been edited and fiery.
Felt like a smolder, maybe more impact if it had been edited and fiery.
April 16, 2018
Delicious prose. Two broken people find each other. Turmoil ensues!
September 6, 2017
Well written but seemed to go on forever.
August 23, 2017
I was so happy with this book, at first. Finally, I was reading a story by an author who really know how to write! Who can move us with striking descriptions and analogies. I was swallowed up by the story and pulled into the darkness and intrigue...
And then.
At right about the second half of the book, he lost me. The main character is obsessed with an abusive, narcissistic man hating woman. I could not share his fascination or devotion to her. I wanted him to break free. I stopped liking anyone in the book, and could not connect.
It had the potential to be so good! I'm interested in reading more by Maksik, unless his favorite subject is the abusive femme fatal...
And then.
At right about the second half of the book, he lost me. The main character is obsessed with an abusive, narcissistic man hating woman. I could not share his fascination or devotion to her. I wanted him to break free. I stopped liking anyone in the book, and could not connect.
It had the potential to be so good! I'm interested in reading more by Maksik, unless his favorite subject is the abusive femme fatal...
March 31, 2018
I couldn't finish this book because I didn't care about any of the characters, and some of them were downright annoying.
August 20, 2017
I liked the style of the book. But, it drug on too long. I actually skipped through the last 1/2, spot reading, and called it done.
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