Closer All the Time

by Jim Nichols

The inhabitants of Baxter, Maine, are going nowhere fast―but not for lack of trying. In this deftly written jewel of a novel, veteran author Jim Nichols strings together the bittersweet stories of several different characters bound together by shared geography and the insular nature of small-town life. There's Johnny Lunden, a well-meaning war veteran with a penchant for the local bar and a deep but doomed love for his family. There's eight-year-old Ted Soule, who shares a first kiss with the Ophelia-like Nadia, the daughter of his Russian neighbors, and Tomi Lambert who observes the confusion of the adults around her as they struggle with accepting their fates. With the coastal waters of Maine as a backdrop, Nichols artfully explores the nature of connection―hoped for, missed, lost, and found―in Closer All the Time, that very special novel that delivers quick-moving, compelling storytelling with a lasting emotional wallop. You'll devour it in one sitting, but its characters will linger at the edges of your day like memories of old friends and lovers. Author Monica Wood has given it advance praise, "His men and boys become so real, I feel as if I know what it might have been like to grow up surrounded by brothers. Nichols is one of my favorite writers."

Genres: Fiction, Book Club

176 pages, Paperback

First published February 24, 2015

About the author

Winner of 2021 Maine Book Award for Fiction! Life-long Maine kid until October 2020, when we moved to Santa Fe...planning to split time in Maine. Winner of 2016 Maine Book Award for Fiction. Runner-up in 2012. Work published in Esquire, elimae, Portland Monthly, Zoetrope ASE, Narrative, River City, American Fiction, Clackamas Review, paris transcontinental, others...winner of Kurt Johnson Prize for Fiction (2014) and Willamette Fiction Award (2000), collection Slow Monkeys and Other Stories (2003), novel Hull Creek (2011), novel-in-stories Closer All The Time (2015) and my latest: Blue Summer (2020).

Reviews

[Debbie Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoyed Olive Kitterage, you will love Closer All the Time. Like Elizabeth Strout, Jim Nichols gets under the skin of small town denizens of Maine. He weaves a story through different eyes to show us an entire village. Everyone impacts everyone in small and very big ways. Jim tells stories that at times, on the surface, appear very simple, but as they unfold we discover layers, histories, that inform us, make us realize that our original judgement was plain wrong. No life is simple. Because we are part of a whole. The world may be misunderstood, characters sometimes suspect intentions that are not there, but everyone is connected by one main drive — everyone wants. Some want what cannot ever be obtained, others want what they eventually have to give up. The yearning is the collection’s heartbeat.

What is particularly interesting about this collection is Jim Nichols’ ability to tell stories from so many different points of view. And as he tells one story from one point of view, we are allowed to peek at other characters who eventually tell their own story. What happens is an evolution of complicated world views that eventually coalesce into a community. I thought this was profoundly clever. It kept me reading. I wanted to know the other points of view. I wanted to put the community together.

I have always loved Jim Nichols’ stories, not only because they are exquisitely written, but because Jim Nichols is such a soulful writer. He has a deep understanding of the human condition. He is a kind, empathetic observer of our humanity. And he knows Maine, its people and it’s land.

Don’t miss this collection. A wonderful Maine writer.

[James Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

My full review of this excellent, down home (or should I say down east) collection of vignettes is here: www.Miramichireader.ca

[Bryan Wiggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Multifaceted Story Finds the Perfect Focus for Maine

Life doesn’t follow a script. Neither does this pastiche of small-town lives in Jim Nichols' big-hearted novel. The individual paths and perspectives of this authentic cast of characters create a kaleidoscopic portrait of a people and place that add up to a world so much richer than the sum of its parts. These are people you feel you know, in a place that seems at once fresh and familiar. Masterfully crafted, Nichols’ interwoven tales conspire to reveal the quiet truths that can only surface in a story that captures the feel and flow of life in Maine.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love character-driven novels, and Closer All the Time delivered. Though this novel is told in vignettes about single characters, each characters' development doesn't stop once their chapter is over. Instead, we get a unique view of not only how the one character sees the world, but how the other characters in Baxter view each other. That is exactly the way to capture a small town like the fictional Baxter, Maine. There is no better way to learn about a place's heart than by getting into the minds of those who inhabit it and learn what they long for. Closer All the Time is about loss, longing, and yearning, something that each of the Baxter residents we are introduced to experience in a number of different ways. Accompanying them as they earn the scars that prove they have lived is a truly moving experience. Once I finished the book, I flipped back to the beginning and started over because I wasn't quite ready to leave Baxter yet.

[Avital · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jim Nichols writes with his heart, or rather, in a soulful way, so you fall for each character, no matter how roughly they treat themselves and others, as is the case of the alcoholic Johnny Lunden who opens the book. The characters and their lives are weaved together, while each of them has a chapter. When we read about the lovely, sensitive Tomi, a teenager, for example, we learn not only about her, but also about Lunden. Our perspective changes a little, becomes more generous, perhaps, as the book moves on. The town to which they are strongly connected is somewhat melancholic, but this is sweet melancholia, nostalgia and longing. Of everyone, Early Blake is perhaps the character who bears most the face of yearning and contemplation, as he works at sea, leading a marginal life.
Only a rare talent like Nichols can speak through so many people and sound different and authentic with each one. The book is a beauty, and I recommend it with all my heart.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

As he did in Hull Creek, Jim Nichols has populated a coastal Maine community with characters who could be our neighbors. He has given us a series of interconnected short stories about the children and adults of the small fictional town of Baxter. The stories take place over the course of a few decades. The residents grapple with how to be part of a family, how to be a friend, how to make their way in the world.

My only quibble with this book is I would have liked to have spent more time with the people of Baxter.

[Jodi Paloni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous! How I loved reading these linked vignettes that held a place I love, Maine, and a time, pre-computer craze, within the tight expanse of simple prose. I ached alongside these characters. I felt the weather. 'Closer All the Time' stands out for how human complexity is rendered in story: simple and relative, and the ever-present landscape. Unforgettable images.

[Trisha Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Characters are vivid Mainers, Baxter, to be precise, and their lives ebb and flow like the tides, and the river central to its coastal town. Writer has nailed it and kept my wrapt attentions throughout. Highly recommend people read this one!

[Mimi Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful characters in small town Maine. Lots of back stories and weaving of characters lives in a time stopping way. I think I have to go back and read some parts again to keep everyone straight though!

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars for this wonderful novel- great characters, great stories woven together a la Olive Kittridge - glad I didn't miss this gem!!

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this little gem of a book - a novel set in small-town Maine told through short stories about different characters whose lives are all somehow interconnected. I had a bit of trouble determining the timeline (it’s set “in the years after WW2” but takes place over a few decades...yet there’s not much clarity over what time period each story starts in) and sometimes that got in my way. The stories shift back and forth between 1st and 3rd person, too. Johnny Lunden is at the center, though Early Jr may be my favorite character, and there are some lovely stories here about the way people move through life - and in and out of the lives of others - seeking connection to humans and place. I particularly enjoyed Tomi’s and Russell’s stories, and Johnny’s full storyline made me smile.

[Alice Persons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent stories about small town Mainers. No condescension. Reminded me of Raymond Carver, a high compliment indeed.

[SUSAN L. HANCOCK]

A Maine read

[R.J. Heller · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It all comes down to that fumbling around to find someone. It seems we’re all born with this longing; we’re made to think that someone exists for each of us. So we knock around, dodging various obstacles like bad families and wars and accidents and illnesses, searching and hoping.” With these words, Jim Nichols pieces together in a wonderful nutshell, the essence of his new book, Closer All the Time.

A novel told in a short story format, Nichols deftly stiches characters together in Baxter, Maine, a river town very reminiscent of the small town Nichols grew up in. The place of Baxter provides a fixed point both on the map and in time for Nichols and the people we as readers meet. It is small-town Maine in the years after World War II, and is a vital element to all the stories in providing that foundation for the cohesive bond to exist between characters story by story.

This is a wonderful collection of stories that speak to the heart of person, place and thing, the thing, being the opportunity that arises when people are thrust together and the realization that they may respond in many different ways but collectively they support each other and make their place, special.

[Jeannette Ligget · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book and its backdrop of working class, coastal Maine. The characters are real and believable, their problems familiar. It reminded me of Richard Russo's Nobody's Fool. Author Nichols doesn't avoid the seedier side of life, yet the reader sympathizes, if not empathizes, with the characters. I am a Maine vacationer who sees mostly the lobster and lighthouses side of America's vacationland. But my son is a student at U Maine, and he would recognize this Maine. I must say I like it just as much.

[Staci Suhy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book for free as part of a first reads promotion

[Sarah Vanhassel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come

[April · Rating 2 out of 5]

Neat idea, but I had a hard time sticking with this one. Did finish it eventually, but the writing style didn't grab me.

[Em]

Good at times, boring at others.

[Jane Mclean]

Notes to self: Mr. Nichols spoke at our library, got a copy of his book there. As he describes the process, he tied short stories together with a unifying character. I love the stories, got confused with all the relationships because the book jumps around in time. Will reread and keep a list of characters/relationships inside the back cover. Loved it, easy read!