Before, During, After

by Richard Bausch

When Natasha, a lonely congressional aide in D.C., meets Michael Faulk, an Episcopalian priest struggling with his faith, the stars seem to align. The blossoming of their love, over the spring and summer of 2001, is intellectually gratifying and intensely passionate. A month before their wedding, Natasha is vacationing in Jamaica and Faulk is in New York when the terrorist attacks of September 11 shatter the innocence of the nation. Alone in a state of abject terror and convinced that Faulk is dead, Natasha endures a private trauma of her she is raped by a young man on the shores of the Caribbean. A few days later, she and Faulk are reunited, but the horror of that day, and Natasha's inability to speak of it, irrevocably create a schism in their relationship, between 'before' and 'after'. In beautifully wrought, deeply unsettling prose, Bausch plumbs the complexities of trauma and how we respond to it, in public and in private. Before, During, and After is an exquisite and excruciating dissection of intimacy, of the secrets we must keep even as they destroy us. An unforgettable tour de force from one of America's most distinguished and commanding storytellers.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Novels, Romance, American

368 pages, Paperback

First published August 12, 2014

About the author

An acknowledged master of the short story form, Richard Bausch's work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, Harper's, The New Yorker, Narrative, Gentleman's Quarterly. Playboy, The Southern Review, New Stories From the South, The Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Stories, and The Pushcart Prize Stories; and they have been widely anthologized, including The Granta Book of the American Short Story and The Vintage Book of the Contemporary American Short Story.

Richard Bausch is the author of eleven novels and eight collections of stories, including the novels Rebel Powers, Violence, Good Evening Mr. & Mrs. America And All The Ships At Sea, In The Night Season, Hello To The Cannibals, Thanksgiving Night, and Peace; and the story collections Spirits, The Fireman's Wife, Rare & Endangered Species, Someone To Watch Over Me, The Stories of Richard Bausch, Wives & Lovers, and most recently released Something Is Out There. His novel The Last Good Time was made into a feature-length film.

He has won two National Magazine Awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Lila-Wallace Reader's Digest Fund Writer's Award, the Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, The 2004 PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story and the 2013 John William Corrington Award for Literary Excellence . He has been a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers since 1996. In 1999 he signed on as co-editor, with RV Cassill, of The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction; since Cassill's passing in 2002, Bausch is the sole editor of that prestigious anthology. Richard Bausch teaches Creative Writing at Chapman University in Southern California

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

Umm No... No.. Just no! Good God NO.

"When she took him, still a little flaccid, into her mouth, he moaned, 'Oh Lover.'"

Ewww NO!!!! My eyes! My eyes!!!!
If I ever write a book the word flaccid will not be included.
This isn't even close to the most skin crawling moment(s) in this book... But I'll spare you the others.

If you ever feel the need to throw up just crack open this read.

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am perplexed by the fawning reviews for this book, and by the number of awards this author has won for his writing. I found the prose totally unmemorable, and the characters' ruminations on their inner lives uninteresting and unnecessarily repetitive.

This book also contains some very bad sex scenes - the kind that struck me as having obviously been written by a middle-aged man. (At least they were short. Though neither is a descriptor you want applied to your sex scenes.)

[Kats · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel takes place over roughly six months divided into the three parts of Before, During and After all of which presumably refers to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Without spoilers but in a nutshell the entire novel focuses on the relationship of Faulk (Michael Faulkner) and Natasha who meet at a dinner in Washington in the spring of 2001. With 16 years between them, and him just leaving the priesthood they seem an unlikely couple but all in love and decide to get married that year. Before the wedding, scheduled for October, Natasha goes on a fortnight's holiday to Jamaica with her friend Constance and happens to get "stuck in Jamaica" whilst NYC and Washington are under attack. For all she knows her husband to be (who happens to be in NYC that day and was planning on visiting the WTC that fateful Tuesday morning) has perished. Something happens in Jamaica that changes her life, and upon returning to the US she decides not to tell anyone about it, but it affects her relationship with everyone around her.

If you like a slow paced novel with (what feels like) 70% dialogue either between people or the inner sort, then you'll enjoy this read. For me, it was too slow, often repetitive and to make an already tedious listening experience quite tiresome, the narrator read the women's voices as if he was trying to be a caricature of transvestites. Terrible audio, so if you do read it, go for the written word!

[Ron Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bausch's 12th novel, presents an uncanny invocation of what it felt like when our lives split into pre- and post-9/11. It’s not just his selection of iconic TV images and news reports, although they have the creepy familiarity of half-remembered dreams. In the lives of a small group of smart, reflective characters, he also re-creates the anxiety of that rumor-spiked era, the clammy self-consciousness of “going about our normal lives” and especially the banal conversations that circled around the attacks like those helpless helicopters in Manhattan.

And yet Bausch’s real subject here is something more intimate. . . .

To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/enterta...

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Before, During, After” is a love story written in counterpoint to the September 11 terrorist attacks. Our lovers, Michael and Natasha, meet at a political dinner. Michael is a divorced Episcopalian priest who is questioning his calling and Natasha , 16 years his junior, is still battling depression caused by a recently ended an affair with a married man. They, predictably, fall in love. Michael, rather conveniently, has a trust fund that nets him $9,000.00 a month (a pretty good chunk of change in ’01) so he is able to quit the priesthood and promise Natasha a season of living in France so that she can pursue the painting career that she let lapse when she became involved with her previous lover. Shortly before their planned nuptials, Natasha takes a trip to Jamaica with an old friend, but the night before she is scheduled to return home the U.S. suffers multiple terrorist attacks, all flights are cancelled, and she is stuck in paradise. Michael is in NYC for a wedding and had mentioned a desire to the top of the World Trade Center so Natasha, assuming he is dead, joins her fellow vacationers by downing one drink after another (for some reason Bausch decided to have everyone get stinking drunk in reaction to the news reports). Eventually she finds herself on a beach, getting stoned with a young man she doesn’t know, where she is violently raped. She doesn’t report the rape, nor does she share it with her friends, family, or Michael. She goes home and gets married as if nothing has happened, yet the trauma of both attacks affects their relationship.

Bausch’s new novel has won much praise, so I seem to be in a minority. I did not like this book at all. Not one little bit. I didn’t find any of the characters likeable, which can be great if it is intentional. Unfortunately, I think Bausch meant for the reader to like and empathize with them. The first issue I had with the book was the obligatory, gratuitous sex scenes. Hello, the guy is 48, ever heard of a refractory period? In addition to seeming more like a middle-age fantasy, the felt forced and awkward, which leads me to complaint number two: Bausch overused “my love” and “my darling.” It’s just a little thing, but it really started to grate on me.

Number three is the Lord Voldemort syndrome (okay, I made that up). During conversations about the “mastermind” behind the attacks, Bausch refuses to use Bin Laden’s name, but instead uses the phrase “_____ said his name”, for example:
“…..the mastermind, is a guest of the Taliban. In Afghanistan.”
“I can’t remember the name, “ Faulk said. Greta said the name. “Tom’s been talking about him for years.” “Clinton tried to get him,” Jack put in.
What is this “he-who-must-not- be-named” crap?
Everyone knows it’s Bin Laden. As a device, it fell flat for this reader.

Complaint number four is the drinking (mind you, I have no problem with alcohol or drinking, quite like it in fact). Was the constant drinking supposed to mean something beyond they are all alcoholics? Frankly, all it did for me was make me wonder how they could possibly stay standing after consuming that much alcohol.

Complaint five (related to four): Forget trying to write drunken speech with the slurs, etc, such as “well—ev’body’s unhappy. I’m gon’ go t’bed”. Bausch does this throughout the book and it was a distracting and unsuccessful technique.

In conclusion, I found the book contrived with flat, empathetic characters. Much of the dialogue was awkward and sentimental. The counterpoint of the relationship to the attacks did not really work and reactions seemed false.

[Gaylord Dold · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bausch, Richard. Before, During, After. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2014 (345pp.$26.95)

A roaring tedium clogs nearly every page of Richard Bausch’s new novel, Before, During, After, so-named because the principal events of the narrative are sandwiched around the World Trade Center terror attack of September 11, 2001. Bausch, a recipient of the PEN/Malamud Award and a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, is the author of eleven previous novels, eight books of short stories, and a volume of poetry. His work, like that of Ward Just or Louis Auchincloss, represents the civilized, humane and generous-in-spirit demiurge in American letters that is urbane, serious, quietly intense, and always under control. Unfortunately, this new novel dies a slow death on the page, despite the presence of themes like love, political terrorism, rape and friendship.

The jacket copy has it just about right---the novel is a “gorgeously rendered, passionate account of a relationship threatened by secrets, set against the backdrop of national tragedy.” Natasha Barrett is a very youthful congressional aide to a Senator in Washington, not as devoted to her work as she thinks she should be. When she meets Michael Faulk, an Episcopal priest (who hails from her hometown, Memphis) nearly twenty years her elder, an attraction develops and they fall in love. Faulk is leaving the priesthood, seeking some other kind of world. Hence, early in the novel, the reader confronts the May-September romance theme, along with the theme of the religious man whose faith is in doubt. Long, ornate passages of interior dialogue probe the inner psychological states of every character. Our lovers spend a lot of time drinking alcohol and making love, while the reader tries to stay awake. Finally, they set a date and Faulk leaves for New York to attend a wedding while Natasha keeps a date with a friend to go to Jamaica. Then 9-11 happens, and Natasha thinks Michael has been killed in the attack (Michael having conveniently mentioned that he might go sightseeing at the towers…).

Sadly, Natasha can’t phone Michael and she thinks he’s dead. So, she gets drunk and is assaulted by a fellow-tourist on the beach. But Michael isn’t dead and when they get together, Natasha is brutalized by her secret while Michael suspects she’s had an affair.
Everybody in the novel thinks about, talks about, and mulls over the new political reality of America and how “everything has changed.” Finally, things work out for Michael and Natasha and they sally forth on their new marriage in a tiny house in Memphis. How will all this work out? Who knows? These and other conceits build an elaborate density that evaporates under any careful gaze. The rapist is a cartoon character at best. Natasha’s friends are dense as mud, insensitive to her privacy concerns and meddlers par excellance. Nobody in the novel seems concerned about the extremely heavy drinking, which appears as another conceit.

A novel is most often made alive by its characters. Before, During, After, fails to convince the reader of its most fundamental directive—the necessity to create an imaginative world that is compelling and real, with characters who move the reader in many ways. Nothing on the page lives and breathes. As backdrop, the terror attack is window dressing, like fluorescent lighting and plastic potted plants. The supporting players (Natasha’s aunt and friends, Michael’s fellow priests) recite their lines, and Bausch lays on the paint thickly, but without ultimate purpose. “Gorgeously rendered,” indeed, the book disappears into its own fog.

[Roger Brunyate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Falling Woman

If you have managed to avoid reading other reviews, the product description, or the jacket copy of the book, I strongly suggest you continue to avoid them, and read only this first paragraph of my review. This is a well-written love story between a woman of 32 and a man of 48, whose romance goes through difficulties triggered by the events of 9/11/01. Neither is actually injured by the World Trade Center attacks, though; the event acts more as a catalyst. What causes the problems is something personal between them. The book jacket tells you all this and much more. I found that knowing the details and the trajectory in advance made the last half of the book repetitive and depressing after a generally excellent start. Reading in ignorance might well be better. But if you know all this already, read on.

Don DeLillo wrote a fine 9/11 novel called Falling Man. The protagonist there was not a direct victim of the attacks either, but DeLillo was remarkably sensitive in his portrayal of what one might call collateral psychological damage. The same is true here. Natasha Barrett, an artist by avocation, works in DC as aide to a senator. She meets an Episcopal priest, Michael Faulk, falls in love with him, and accepts his proposal of marriage. But before the wedding, she goes to Jamaica on a long-arranged holiday with an older woman friend. While she is there, she sees the fall of the Towers on TV. Believing, for good reason, that Michael was there at the time, she drops her defenses, gets drunk, and is unable to turn away the traumatizing attentions of a fellow guest. She keeps this a secret from Michael, however, even when they are reunited, and the secret takes a toll on both their lives. A long toll, drawn out over fully half the book.

I thought of calling my review "Falling Couple," but I have to say that Mike is the less fully-realized of the two. He has a trauma of his own, but it is slower-burning. At some point during their courtship, he decides to leave the priesthood, and the main impact of his time in New York is to make him feel a fraud, no longer able to provide the pastoral care that had previously been second nature. His situation raise some interesting moral issues, but it never comes fully into focus, and he finds himself totally unable to help Natasha, who is clearly suffering from something he can only guess about (and guess wrong).

I enjoyed the "Before" part of the book quite a lot, warming to both characters, who were presented with maturity and depth, although perhaps the smooth progress of their relationship was a trifle sentimental. I liked parts of the "During" section even more, as Bausch showed himself an acute observer of the national mood from some unexpected viewpoints, and brilliantly captured the mental dislocation of both protagonists. It was about this time, though, that the excessive alcohol use that had been a minor factor before now became a major one. And then we get into the long, long stretch of the "After" section, seemingly heading into an inexorable Ibsenian tragedy. I was first hopeful, then depressed, then simply angry at the thought that this whole thing could have been avoided by Natasha simply telling Michael what happened. I just wanted to shake her.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set against the trauma of 9/11, this novel deals with the effect of that world changing catastrophe on two ordinary people. Natasha and Michael meet and each sees in the other a chance for redemption. Both have reached pivotal points in their lives and are dealing with unresolved baggage. I disagree with other assessments that these people are unlikeable -- I found them to be wholly human in their flaws and reactions. Bausch examines the heart of each in depth, a remarkable feat given their situations. Auxiliary characters provide richness of detail, and I particularly liked Bausch's portrait of Michael's father who was against his choosing the ministry and continues to taunt his faith. Some characters seem to only provide vehicles for plot advancement, but for the most part, they ring true. There was only one major flaw in the plot that stymied me -- in order for Michael to be in New York and downtown near the Twin Towers, he was planning to attend a wedding. Who plans a major church wedding on a Tuesday?

[Grant Fletcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bausch starts with an intriguing story...a nice twist from the typical stories told about the 9/11 tragedy. Its more about two people working through normal life during the crisis that struck America. The tragedy and its aftermath was a backdrop and really just used as an excuse to explain the poor communication and the couple's internal struggles with other demons. I liked the way the book was going at first. However, it seemed like a short story that Bausch tried to turn into a novel. There were numerous portions of the book that dragged on with repetitive feelings from both characters. Based on the nonexistent resolution that happens at the end, I felt the reader deserved more intimacy with the ending than Bausch gave it. He forced me to invest in their detailed, almost ad-nauseum inner thoughts to give the characters depth, then dug a very shallow grave to set the stories resolution into. Good concept on the story, but it should have been a short story where Bausch's other works usually get higher praise.

[Washington Post · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richard Bausch's novel is the latest entry into a long line of novels about the Sept. 11 attacks. There’s nothing exhaustive or documentary about Bausch’s approach; a number of nonfiction books lay out those terrifying days in far greater detail. But “Before, During, After,” his 12th novel, presents an uncanny invocation of what it felt like when our lives split into pre- and post-9/11.

There’s a terrifically exciting conclusion, but before we get there, the way Bausch rubs these characters raw may wear on some readers’ patience. “What’s wrong?” we hear over and over. “Nothing,” comes the answer again and again and again. Tedious as this can sometimes feel, the story effectively re-creates the frustration of dealing with a victim in deep denial — and it’s a harrowing reminder of how the reverberations of those explosions traveled through the American psyche. For all the novel’s lovely description of romance "before," Bausch is even more insightful when he follows the corrosive effects of anxiety "after."

Ron Charles reviewed the book for us: http://www.washingtonpost.com/enterta...

[Teresa Kander · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very different sort of love story. Michael and Natasha meet and become engaged prior to 9/11, and that day finds them separated---he in NYC, she in Jamaica. Because of something that happens on that day, there are secrets between them, which result in tension, frustration, and anger.

As much as I enjoyed this book, I had a few complaints about it. The phrases "babe," "my love," etc., were used too often for my taste. We know the main characters are in love, but we also know they have a certain amount of emotional distance between them, so the endearments seemed a little forced through much of the book.

The other issue is the amount of drinking....it seemed that everyone always had a drink in their hand, and the main characters spent a LOT of time drunk.

I was slightly disappointed in the ending, as well...but I have hopes that it means there might be more to the story of Michael and Natasha in the future.

[Cheryl Dietr · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like an in-depth book which examines relationships, then this is a book for you. If you like a book which examines the aftermath of 9/11 then this is also a book for you. The writing is terrific and detailed but I am not sure that I enjoyed the distant relationship between the two main characters, Natasha and Michael. I just never understand books where one person hides something traumatic from the person they love...my bias. Another case where Goodreads should have 1/2 stars as this is a 3.5 star book.

*disclaimer- I won this book through the Goodreads Givewaways program*

[Jean Bystol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stellar prose - author is a spectacular writer. That said, I was a bit bored with the plot. Kept waiting for something to happen. Might have been more interesting had the protagonist "caused" her own crisis of conscience, rather than have it "happen to" her. In the end, all I felt was "several bad things out of anyone's control happened, people were sad and couldn't communicate." It's life.

[Lisa Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

At times I thought I might give up on this book but it is short and I'm glad I stuck it out until the end. I hate to admit my "get on with it" attitude, but...
At one point I wanted to give this two stars and at another point, four stars. I settled on three. I do not recommend the audio version. The narrators female voice is annoying and I think I didn't like her because of the voice.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple love story complicated by 9/11, which is the "during" event referred to in the title. I really liked almost all the characters in this book and felt that they made the story more than it would have been otherwise. Sometimes a love story is just what you need at the moment.

[Diane D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another more recent novel (2015) set against the backdrop of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A story in (3) parts: "Before, During and After" we meet Natasha Barrett, who works for a US Senator - her life in flux, after her most recent relationship with a married man ended.

AT a party, in April of 2001, Natasha meets Michael, a recently divorced Episcopalian priest, 16 years her senior. Great sex = plans to marry (be prepared for details). But, before they are scheduled to marry (and weeks before 9/11), she flies to Jamaica for a pre-wedding vacation while Michael stays back to attend a wedding in NYC.

Something awful happens to Natasha in Jamaica which she keeps to herself but, it's something that changes her and her relationship with Michael, leaving him confused and suspicious, leaving the reader with a story that is sure not to end well.

Great character development of flawed characters and, although the story seemed to veer off track at times and slow, for the most part it was a good story. I will say that because of all the detailed sex some readers will be put off by this novel.

[Salma Mansurwala · Rating 2 out of 5]

A beautifully, almost poetically written novel with dynamic and fleshed-out characters. Richard does a great exploring the themes of relationships, faith, rape and complex trauma.

In particular, the imperfections of human nature characterised through Faulk was very interesting to read. I particularly enjoyed the perspective of a priest struggling with his priesthood but still choosing to remain within the faith and how that affected his identity and personal and work relationships. Similarly, Natasha's character was also very well written in a realistic manner, symbolic of how trauma unequivocally affects every aspect of a person's life. Natasha and Constance's adult friendship dynamic was also unique and representative of friendships changing as people grow and change.

At times the book was slow, I feel as though some parts could have been shortened, however, the book did get better towards the end. I liked the short chapters and the articles really gave the reader a glimpse of Faulk's mind and made the novel more interesting. I would recommend it to those who enjoy the works of Coco Mellors or Sally Rooney.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could have been a great novel. I found both the characters and plot both engaging. Like the rest of us, lives split into pre- and post-9/11. In the lives of these characters, Bausch re-creates the anxiety of that rumor-spiked era, the challange and awkwardness of “going about our normal lives”. The couple, separated on the fateful day experience it in very different ways, and that moment of dislocation and disconnect quickly becomes the novel’s obsession. The romance before, the anxiety after. I thought the ending fell flat (minus a star). But maybe, after all, we all just finally returned to the 'new normal'; and so it goes.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story of a relationship, a love story, before, during, and after September 11th, 2001. It is also a story about the damage done by keeping secrets. Probably in every relationship or marriage there are some secrets. But this author shows how a secret that involves a trauma that impacts a person to their core can damage a relationship, change the people involved, erode the love that once flourished. I was engrossed in this novel, and the descriptiveness of the emotional lives of the characters seemed true to the situations in their lives.

[stella p · Rating 4 out of 5]

Besides the disturbing sex scene, I really liked this book! I can agree with some of the other reviews that the book got a little boring in the “After” part, but overall it kept me interested the whole way through. One problem I had with the book is that some of the phrasing was strange to me. The use of “the other” when referring to another person in the conversation or scene was a little weird, but not a big deal. Maybe that’s a common phrase in other books, I’ve just never heard of it and it struck me as confusing when I read it.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book I picked up free; this time at one of those community library kiosks in my neighborhood. His writing is so descriptive with the most minute details included on almost every page; the setting is certainly set. Sometimes I felt as if I were standing in the middle of the room or another guest at the party. The story just felt like it dragged on for an extra hundred pages, and then, it abruptly ended. Overall though, it was another summer page-turner.

[Valerie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing was flat. It was also dull. The characters were lacklustre. The sex scene I read was embarrassing. It was not sexy. I think I mentioned that the writing was flat and dull. Each sentence could be diagrammed easily - noun, verb, period. I decided not to continue reading. Your mileage may vary. I didn't finish this book.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the sections out of order. I read the second section where the life-changing event happened first. Then I read the first section that described how their relationship bloomed. I started to read the third section which drives into how the event in section 2 affects everyone, but it was predictable and so I cut to the end to see how it was resolved.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because no one else has mentioned it in the reviews I want to say this book is a big fat trigger for those who have survived sexual assault. but if that isn't a concern I thought the book was fantastic.

[Anne Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

I kept reading until the end but it was a struggle. Immensely irritating characters and very slow, tedious reading especially in the last half of the book. However this is an award winning writer and this book has received some good reviews, so maybe I missed something.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Au Currant & Sensitive

Story is "tuned in" to timely attitudes and ideas, and features insight into the human soul. How 9/11 affected ordinary people is examined.

[Csimplot Simplot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!!!!

[Kris Delfino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Epic

[Jennifer Benningfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

A second star, because my standards for garbage are pretty high (low?). Bausch knows much of artistry and considerably less of humanity.

[Christian M]

DNF —

I don’t love 9/11 books and this was slow to get going. Writing was great.