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The Solace of Leaving Early
Using small-town life as a springboard to explore the loftiest of ideas, Haven Kimmel’s irresistibly smart and generous first novel is at once a romance and a haunting meditation on grief and faith. Langston Braverman returns to Haddington, Indiana (pop. 3,062) after walking out on an academic career that has equipped her for little but lording it over other people. Amos Townsend is trying to minister to a congregation that would prefer simple affirmations to his esoteric brand of theology.
What draws these difficult—if not impossible—people together are two wounded little girls who call themselves Immaculata and Epiphany. They are the daughters of Langston’s childhood friend and the witnesses to her murder. And their need for love is so urgent that neither Langston nor Amos can resist it, though they do their best to resist each other. Deftly walking the tightrope between tragedy and comedy, The Solace of Leaving Early is a joyous story about finding one’s better self through accepting the shortcomings of others.
What draws these difficult—if not impossible—people together are two wounded little girls who call themselves Immaculata and Epiphany. They are the daughters of Langston’s childhood friend and the witnesses to her murder. And their need for love is so urgent that neither Langston nor Amos can resist it, though they do their best to resist each other. Deftly walking the tightrope between tragedy and comedy, The Solace of Leaving Early is a joyous story about finding one’s better self through accepting the shortcomings of others.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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2327 people want to read
About the author
Haven Kimmel
17 books563 followersHaven Kimmel was born in New Castle, Indiana, and was raised in Mooreland, Indiana, the focus of her bestselling memoir, A Girl Named Zippy: Growing up Small in Mooreland, Indiana .
Kimmel earned her undergraduate degree in English and creative writing from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana and a graduate degree from North Carolina State University, where she studied with novelist Lee Smith. She also attended seminary at the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana.
She lives in Durham, North Carolina.
Kimmel earned her undergraduate degree in English and creative writing from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana and a graduate degree from North Carolina State University, where she studied with novelist Lee Smith. She also attended seminary at the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana.
She lives in Durham, North Carolina.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 531 reviews
May 13, 2014
This SO should have been a 4 star book. I loved the characters, as implausible as they are. (Really, really long example: Main character Langston is named Langston. She theorizes that she hopes her parents didn't name her after Langston Hughes as it would be ridiculous considering she is a white woman. She also mentions she's never asked her parents. Are you kidding me? You spend your life as a girl/woman named Langston, something you've most likely always been asked about and never heard anyone else called and it NEVER occurs to you or your parents to talk about it??) I really liked the style of writing. The language and theories aren't dumbed down because the reader may not have a background in either theology or philosophy. I appreciated the way religion was used as a fact of the lives of middle America.
I diliked the uneven pace of the novel. The first two thirds developed at a snails pace, too slowly at times. Do you really need a dozen examples before you realize Amos is not your traditional minister? To know Langston doesn't quite fit in? To be followed by the last third of the book (mostly concentrated in the last few pages) where everything comes together seamlessly. Where everyone lives happily ever after. It just didn't fit. I felt let down, like someone secretly replaced the clever, quirky contemparary fiction ending with that of a trashy romance novel. A clever, quirky romance novel, but trashy none the less. All this and I still like Langston and Amos. I still like the supporting characters. I just would have told their story differently.
I diliked the uneven pace of the novel. The first two thirds developed at a snails pace, too slowly at times. Do you really need a dozen examples before you realize Amos is not your traditional minister? To know Langston doesn't quite fit in? To be followed by the last third of the book (mostly concentrated in the last few pages) where everything comes together seamlessly. Where everyone lives happily ever after. It just didn't fit. I felt let down, like someone secretly replaced the clever, quirky contemparary fiction ending with that of a trashy romance novel. A clever, quirky romance novel, but trashy none the less. All this and I still like Langston and Amos. I still like the supporting characters. I just would have told their story differently.
June 9, 2008
I am perplexed. And I guess I should say I'm also disappointed. After so thoroughly enjoying the other two books I've read by Haven Kimmel--to be fair, they were non-fiction--I suppose I had high expectations for this one, which was her first attempt at fiction. I didn't like it too much. Don't get me wrong, it was certainly well-written, but it was so well-written that I'm not ashamed to admit that half the topics flew right over my head! There was a lot of religious theory in here and frankly there were entire pages of the book that I just felt like skimming, and considering that I never feel that way about a book, that's kinda sad. After reading her other books that had such vivid characters, people you actually felt like you'd seen or met before or knew, the characters in this one are so one-dimensional and evoke little sympathy. I particularly can't stand the main female character, Langston. What a whiny, arrogant, good-for-nothing...considering she's supposed to be near 30, there have been more mature teenagers in the YA fiction novels I've been reading lately! Possibly the saddest part of this whole thing, however, is that while 90% of the book has a dumb plot, lots of high-brow theoretical meanderings that make you feel like you're reading somebody's religion thesis, and overall just felt like a waste of time, the last 10% of the book actually showed some promise. I would have enjoyed the entire book if it had been like the last few chapters. It's like she suddenly woke up and said, what was that crap I was writing about, this is what I really meant to write! The ending is good, but the rest of it is almost not worth reading just to get to the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 20, 2007
I cannot praise this book highly enough; the story is as fresh and witty as it is haunting and poignant. Haven Kimmel is an astonishingly gifted writer. The protagonists of this book are so real that they practically leap off the page. Langston Braverman is an elitist intellectual who escaped her small-town life for the world of academia, only to slink back home in disgrace after a bitter breakup with her professor boyfriend forces her out of the English department. Amos Townsend is a pastor (described as looking very much like Ichabod Crane) whose lofty theology is wasted on his rural congregation. Immediately at odds with each other, the two are forced to join forces when circumstances bring them both into the lives of two damaged little girls who lost their parents in a violent homicide. The little girls, raised in part by a relentlessly Catholic aunt, believe Mary is speaking to them. Langston believes them and Amos doesn't. Their conflict over how the girls should be cared for, and the unusual family the four of them create, drive this beautifully-written and suspenseful story.
August 26, 2007
After finishing this, I don't think I can live my life the same way I did before. I don't know just what's different, but it's meaningful. Everything I read today seems pallid and distant in comparison, remote from and indifferent to me. Haven Kimmel's characters are so true, and their feelings so vivid, that I might as well have that many new friends. I cried during and after this book, wept for the lacks in my life and the foolish (but really not) tenacity of my hope that those vacancies will be filled. Having read The Solace of Leaving Early, I feel deeply understood and validated, cosmically aware, and alert for miracles of all stripes. READ IT! And then talk to me about it!
November 9, 2007
It has beautiful language - some of the most painfully beautiful I've read - about faith and how to follow it. There were several passages that brought me to tears simply by the way words followed words. I was a bit disenchanted by the plot - it seemed to inch shyly along for the first three quarters of the book, and then tumble head over heels to a messy and dubiously believable ending. Absolutely worth reading for the language, though, and for the characterizations.
October 17, 2007
Having read this book in two book groups, I know that lots of folks will disagree with me, but I think it is a brilliant look at the Midwest. Author Haven Kimmel gets Indiana and the whole Midwestern mindset. There's a hilarious scene in the town diner where Langston, Kimmel's alter ego, explains to Amos the pastor, that Hoosiers practice "applied thinking." I know many find Langston hard to like - she is so mired in her own little intellectual world that she completely misses the major story in town until her mother drags her into the middle of it. But I like her - she is what she is and makes no apologies. As a native Hoosier myself, I just really loved this book.
April 13, 2009
while it became predictable as to what the outcome would be about 1/4 way through I still enjoyed this story. The annoying thing about the book was that once I was 1/2 finished I couldn't get the thought out of my mind that this was written to be made for Hollywood. Still - I like some of the characters especially the children and AnnaLee the mother. She was a great strong character on her own, who was devoted to her kids without losing herself.
April 7, 2016
Freaking amazing. I have never read a novel before that so effortlessly combined philosophical ideas with everyday reality--plus it was heartbreaking in a GOOD way, if you know what I mean, and I hope you do. Plus, it's all about spirituality and faith in the face of human brokenness, and so few novels are respectful of religious belief. Also, Haven Kimmel can do anything with language, which makes me jealous. I have no idea if you would like this, but I loved it.
Reread in April 2016. I still think Haven Kimmel has a preternatural gift with language and for illuminating the quiet moments we are mostly unable to attain, when two human souls connect on a level almost beyond words. This, the novel says both implicitly and explicitly, is because we are all broken...but not broken beyond repair.
That being said, the references to philosophers almost nobody except PhD's have read now seems like a reach to me, an affectation to allow a novice writer to give some structure to her novel. I liked Amos as much as I did the first time I read the book and liked Langston less. The characterization of the children still seems to me spot-on, as is the awful Grandma Wilkey. Not even my sainted Flannery O'Connor could have portrayed that poisonous, wounded woman better. Finally, the end seemed a little forced, a union that comes unearned but I still liked it because it was the way I wanted the book to end. It's a sign of a good book that even when you know how it ends, you still hold your breath because you care so much about the characters.
Reread in April 2016. I still think Haven Kimmel has a preternatural gift with language and for illuminating the quiet moments we are mostly unable to attain, when two human souls connect on a level almost beyond words. This, the novel says both implicitly and explicitly, is because we are all broken...but not broken beyond repair.
That being said, the references to philosophers almost nobody except PhD's have read now seems like a reach to me, an affectation to allow a novice writer to give some structure to her novel. I liked Amos as much as I did the first time I read the book and liked Langston less. The characterization of the children still seems to me spot-on, as is the awful Grandma Wilkey. Not even my sainted Flannery O'Connor could have portrayed that poisonous, wounded woman better. Finally, the end seemed a little forced, a union that comes unearned but I still liked it because it was the way I wanted the book to end. It's a sign of a good book that even when you know how it ends, you still hold your breath because you care so much about the characters.
July 18, 2011
I read this book on a whim (just picked it up off my mother's bookshelf) and found it somewhat pretentious at first; it was as if the author was trying to prove her PhD dissertation in the manner of a novel. And, yet, I kept reading to find a very peculiar (if not reductive) story and somethings slightly redemptive and interesting. I don't recommend searching this novel out but if you happen upon it, it's not a bad read in under 300 pages.
August 23, 2008
One of my all time favorite books EVER. By Haven Kimmel, an amazing author.
July 6, 2007
This is an EXCELLENT book about a woman who leaves her Ivy league graduate education to return to her small town in Indiana. It really is about the ability to accept the life you are living and releasing notions of what you thought life would be. I esepcially liked it because the author, Haven Kimmel (a Durham native), went to seminary and weaves religious theories and ideas intellectually throughout the story. Finally, the main character's relationship with her mother shows how people with truly good intentions can be so misunderstood when trying to communicate through tensions, insecurities, and history.
DEFINITLEY RECOMMEND!
DEFINITLEY RECOMMEND!
June 10, 2016
Most of the book I was waiting to find out what happened to make Langston so cranky and prickly. It's definitely a story that take time to be told and it's told beautifully. I admit that there were times that I had no idea what the author was talking about, usually theological discussions. I just kept reading, (the equivalent of nodding and smiling during a conversation when you don't want to appear dumb) and didn't worry too much about what I didn't understand.
October 20, 2007
DB gave me this one, and maybe I just read it at the wrong time, but I disliked the main character so much, that colored the whole book for me. She came off as so cold and disdainful, I just couldn't make the leap of faith.
June 27, 2008
Wow! It's seldom that I'll have a lot of praise for a 250 page book that takes 150 pages to get into (mostly because I give up after 50 pages). That said, with the reader knowing this book is S-L-O-W going, this is such a good book. It's sad and terrible and completely worthwhile.
September 27, 2008
For all the theological/philosophical dialog, you'd think that the plot would lumber, but it doesn't. There's something evocative and wistful about this book that examines the ways in which we change our lives and the way our lives inexorably change us.
June 18, 2011
I LOVED Kimmel's memoirs, so I expected to go nuts for her fiction... but I just didn't really believe it. This book came off as being very English Major-y and the characters just weren't likable or interesting for me.
October 12, 2007
I borrowed this book mainly because I so enjoyed Haven Kimmel's memoirs, A Girl Named Zippy and She Got Up off the Couch. I detected echos of Kimmel's own life in this book as well, as she clearly writes about what she knows best: life in a small town in Indiana, religious philosophy, family relationships, etc. The main characters are intelligent, loving people faced with crises involving careers, church, personal/family/community relationships, belonging, guilt, and grief. It shows how people are flawed in many different ways and have so many problems most others don't realize, but most are doing the best they can, and the most satisfaction in life is gained by reaching beyond ourselves. The book is full of sometimes surprising insights, and many references to philosophical writings with which I am admittedly unfamiliar (I have never had much interest in philosophy, religious or otherwise), but which were integral to the main characters' perceptions.
May 31, 2017
This was an impressive book. It might be too philosophical or religious in some places for all, but it is very real and very well written. I really liked how the characters unfolded, how expertly spaced the storyline was with the memories, how the author decided when to let us get to know different things. It is a sad story with happiness, and it makes me miss the people in small town Indiana. One thing I don't understand is how Langston learns to function so "regularly" by the end of the book. Is it just that she needed to be needed? Needed to be loved and feel important? Was she suffering from anxiety previously in the book? Lack of self esteem? The need for someone to replace Taos in her life?
Here are some excerpts that stood out to me.
"Amos said nothing; his tongue seemed to have failed him. But he thought one thing over and over, the way he used to think a single thought in church on Sunday until he nearly choked on it: You are all wrong. You are all completely wrong about this. We live lives that are hopelessly broken, and we know it."
"Then Tuesday morning the organist at church, May, called him much too early, earlier than he ever liked to be awakened, and told him that Steve and Lydia's daughter Karen had died in the night of peritonitis, after her appendix burst at home. They hadn't known she was sick, and hadn't heard her calling weakly and in terrific pain from her bedroom, because they all slept with televisions on in their rooms. May mentioned this detail in passing, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, but Amos was struck dumb. They were all in their separate bedrooms on a Monday night, asleep with televisions on? Their daughter, a sixteen-year-old girl, was dying and they couldn't hear her?"
"Langston had always been opposed to perspiration, for one thing, and her situation had become painfully clear to her in the past few, humid hours. She no longer lived in her beautiful old apartment off-campus in Bloomington, which had been remodeled just enough to provide its tenants with climate control. She was, in fact, in her childhood home, in her childhood room. The house was entirely free of comfort through the long, hot summer months. Her family baked, they mildewed, they shone, they stuck on furniture. Langston's mother, AnnaLee, outlawed any articulation of discomfort. (The house was cold all winter, for that matter, but the cold seemed less oppressive, somehow.) Langston was embarking on a new career in perspiration, one that could potentially last for months."
"Langston clenched her jaws against her own conflictedness until she thought her teeth might crack. Of course some part of her wanted to say yes; of course she wanted to be easy for her mother, but there was another part, a whole other side that stayed hard and resistant. She was afraid to give in, ever, for fear that all personal standards would be abrogated at once. Each time she tried to compromise or broker some emotional bargain with her mother, she saw again in her mind a nightmare figure she'd invented for the occasion, a dark figure riding into town like one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. She called him Squander, and his sole purpose on this earth was to make Langston behave."
"On the fourth Sunday, Alice brought her husband, Jack, to church with her. While they sang and even during his sermon, Amos surreptitiously studied this man who was married to a woman like Alice. Jack was tall and broad, very handsome in a rugged way, nearing forty. All through church he kept a hand on Alice, sometimes rubbing one of her shoulders, sometimes clutching her fingers. He wasn't just proprietary; he was worried about something. Alice permitted all of Jack's various physical manipulations with a pliant unresistance. She sat up when he wanted to put his arm around her waist. She leaned in when he pulled her, offered her hand when he reached for it, but didn't initiate any contact. What does this mean? Amos wondered, trying to imagine how it would feel to have another person controlling his body."
"There was virtually no social or casual drinking in the small towns of eastern and central Indiana; either one was a drinker, and belonged to the drinking class, or one was a teetotaler."
"Her temperament was decided at the very beginning. Delicate. When you have a child like that you just pray they're never deeply hurt."
"But you can't ever live in the place you dream about, the town you long for. You can't go there. . . . I mean the moment you become conscious of your desire and then fulfill it, it evaporates."
"The attic was too hot. The windows were all open, the fan was on and complaining mightily, and the room was too hot. Langston took some time to study the fan, the brand name of which was Tornado, and then she took some time to consider how Hoosiers are virtually free of irony. When she was in kindergarten a tornado had killed twenty-six people in a town of five hundred just a few miles down the road. Violent storms were a constant threat, and thus her father had given her a fan by the same name."
"'When Jack got home he had a fit. I'd never seen him so angry. He shouted at me and had tears in his eyes, he was shaking, he was so mad. He told me I didn't have the right to cut my hair off without consulting him, that I was his wife and it was a terrible thing, an unforgivable thing to come home and not recognize me. I asked him, "Are you saying that this was, in some way, your hair, and that I should not have removed it from my head without your permission?" And believe it or not, he said yes. Then he accused me of being resistant to him, of keeping some part of myself closed, or independent of our family or something. He said I constantly did violence to our oneness, and that he could feel it, and that we would never be truly happy (he would certainly never be happy) or safe and confident until I stopped, until I let go of my need to be an individual.'
Amos wrote a sentence in his notebook, tapped his finger against the desk. 'Had you done other things, other individual things, before you cut off your hair?'
Alice nodded. 'Sometimes I stayed up when Jack wanted to go to bed. Just to read. I took walks. Once in a while I'd say I was going to see my mom, and then I'd drive to Hopwood and see a movie by myself. I love watching movies alone; I don't know why. And sometimes I just wanted to be away from them, you know, not just him, but all of them. And I always told Jack if I'd gone to see a movie, but it made him crazy. He hated me for having an experience, or a memory? Maybe a memory of something? that he didn't have.'"
"When he arrived at their double-wide, Lucy had her head down on the kitchen table sobbing, while a Rottweiler in a kennel outside barked hysterically.
And what was wrong with Lucy? She had wasted her life, as it turned out, married to Buck and raising kids (and now grandkids). She didn't know herself, she was never given the time to discover her true loves in the world. Maybe she was destined to be someone, to do something, but never got the chance. And what would her obituary say, should she die in the next week: 'She kept a clean bathroom'? or 'Her brownies were quite moist?'
'What is it you wish you had done?' Amos asked, a bit gobstopped.
Lucy wailed, 'I don't know, I don't know, that's the point.'"
"Listen to me, your father and I love you more than anything, you are the one great treasure of our lives. And I hate to be the person to tell you this—I wish it weren't true—but you need to stay a while. I don't know why you left school and you don't have to tell me, none of that matters, and I know that the possibility of running away from, I'm not even sure what to call it, an intractable situation? has always been a great comfort to you, and I know why, I do. But really this isn't about you or me or even those children, it's about life, Langston, the way life just bears down upon us and we are forced to withstand its weight and I am sorry. I'm truly sorry, angel."
"Her father was patting her back, too, and she turned and looked at him, and oh my, what a hard man he was to see. Between his handsome silence and the way he always seemed to be leaving a room, Langston often felt like a phantom fathered her. And then—those times he did come clearly into focus—he arrived like a lightning bolt: the way he was aging (what if she lost him?), the steep toll of the past everywhere evident on him, the bargains he'd made, his patient, plodding love.
Langston looked back at her mother, and for a moment she could hardly tell AnnaLee and Walt apart. They could say what they would, but all of her parents' best lines were in their faces."
"Langston wondered how Caravaggio could have finished this painting, in the way she didn't understand how Tolstoy could have written the end of Anna Karenina. Doesn't it, at some point, just become too hard, witnessing the agony of your characters? Who would have blamed Caravaggio if he'd left Mary's face a blank white egg on the canvas, if he'd simply said: I can't. You have a mother, fill in the blank."
"She would tell Immaculata and Epiphany that by one very grim yardstick, they were lucky. Because we're bound to lose our parents—we may even lose our children—but we should get to keep our siblings to the end, and they got to keep each other."
"Almost tapped his fingers on his bony knees. 'Why do you have a book and I don't?'
'Because I'm a woman, Amos.'
'Yes, but why do you have a book and I never do in a situation like this?'
AnnaLee put the book down. 'I carry a bag. I also have safety pins and emergency money, and a package of those little wet towelettes. We live in Indiana. I could get stopped by a train, I could get bored. I always carry a book.'"
"Amos had become accustomed to the undisguisable fragility of the bereaved; he'd welcomed women back to church after miscarriages and stillbirths and SIDS; shaken the hands of men who had just buried beloved wives or parents or children. And always there was the slight nod of grief-stricken, he wasn't sure how to describe it, a primitive fear or wariness. Amos spoke to them and they tried to look directly at him, but their eyes constantly shifted, as if they were looking for a door—a psychic door—a way into or out of their own condition."
"I honestly believe, I truly believe that people who never have children, or who never love a child, are doomed to a sort of foolishness, because it can't be described or explained, that love."
"Her head was so small, and so perfectly round, and when she slept her eyelashes touched her cheeks, and the firs time, the very first time she looked at me I could see her in there, not just a baby but a great, extravagant soul inside the body of a sparrow, it was like a fairy tale, she weighed so little."
"At the information desk a lone nurse was entering information into a computer. She was overweight and had one of the dreadful haircuts Amos secretly referred to as 'local,' plus she was wearing a smock covered with teddy bear doctors and nurses, and for just a moment he was tempted to feel sorry for her, but the moment she looked at him he was chagrined (for what had to be the twentieth time in a single day): she was pretty, and her smile was joyous, and if he had sick children, he'd want her to take care of them."
"Who ever knows what they're doing at a wedding?"
"'Oh, and send an invitation to Aunt Gail, just as a gesture.'
'Aunt Gail is crazy, Langston.'
Langston stopped, half in and half out of the door. 'Half of the people you've invited are crazy, Mama. We must not let that stop us from having a good time.'"
"That was the moment he remembered with the greatest clarity, the moment he realized that she was the last woman he would ever love; that every storm between them would be a confection, that their bed would be his grave."
Here are some excerpts that stood out to me.
"Amos said nothing; his tongue seemed to have failed him. But he thought one thing over and over, the way he used to think a single thought in church on Sunday until he nearly choked on it: You are all wrong. You are all completely wrong about this. We live lives that are hopelessly broken, and we know it."
"Then Tuesday morning the organist at church, May, called him much too early, earlier than he ever liked to be awakened, and told him that Steve and Lydia's daughter Karen had died in the night of peritonitis, after her appendix burst at home. They hadn't known she was sick, and hadn't heard her calling weakly and in terrific pain from her bedroom, because they all slept with televisions on in their rooms. May mentioned this detail in passing, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, but Amos was struck dumb. They were all in their separate bedrooms on a Monday night, asleep with televisions on? Their daughter, a sixteen-year-old girl, was dying and they couldn't hear her?"
"Langston had always been opposed to perspiration, for one thing, and her situation had become painfully clear to her in the past few, humid hours. She no longer lived in her beautiful old apartment off-campus in Bloomington, which had been remodeled just enough to provide its tenants with climate control. She was, in fact, in her childhood home, in her childhood room. The house was entirely free of comfort through the long, hot summer months. Her family baked, they mildewed, they shone, they stuck on furniture. Langston's mother, AnnaLee, outlawed any articulation of discomfort. (The house was cold all winter, for that matter, but the cold seemed less oppressive, somehow.) Langston was embarking on a new career in perspiration, one that could potentially last for months."
"Langston clenched her jaws against her own conflictedness until she thought her teeth might crack. Of course some part of her wanted to say yes; of course she wanted to be easy for her mother, but there was another part, a whole other side that stayed hard and resistant. She was afraid to give in, ever, for fear that all personal standards would be abrogated at once. Each time she tried to compromise or broker some emotional bargain with her mother, she saw again in her mind a nightmare figure she'd invented for the occasion, a dark figure riding into town like one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. She called him Squander, and his sole purpose on this earth was to make Langston behave."
"On the fourth Sunday, Alice brought her husband, Jack, to church with her. While they sang and even during his sermon, Amos surreptitiously studied this man who was married to a woman like Alice. Jack was tall and broad, very handsome in a rugged way, nearing forty. All through church he kept a hand on Alice, sometimes rubbing one of her shoulders, sometimes clutching her fingers. He wasn't just proprietary; he was worried about something. Alice permitted all of Jack's various physical manipulations with a pliant unresistance. She sat up when he wanted to put his arm around her waist. She leaned in when he pulled her, offered her hand when he reached for it, but didn't initiate any contact. What does this mean? Amos wondered, trying to imagine how it would feel to have another person controlling his body."
"There was virtually no social or casual drinking in the small towns of eastern and central Indiana; either one was a drinker, and belonged to the drinking class, or one was a teetotaler."
"Her temperament was decided at the very beginning. Delicate. When you have a child like that you just pray they're never deeply hurt."
"But you can't ever live in the place you dream about, the town you long for. You can't go there. . . . I mean the moment you become conscious of your desire and then fulfill it, it evaporates."
"The attic was too hot. The windows were all open, the fan was on and complaining mightily, and the room was too hot. Langston took some time to study the fan, the brand name of which was Tornado, and then she took some time to consider how Hoosiers are virtually free of irony. When she was in kindergarten a tornado had killed twenty-six people in a town of five hundred just a few miles down the road. Violent storms were a constant threat, and thus her father had given her a fan by the same name."
"'When Jack got home he had a fit. I'd never seen him so angry. He shouted at me and had tears in his eyes, he was shaking, he was so mad. He told me I didn't have the right to cut my hair off without consulting him, that I was his wife and it was a terrible thing, an unforgivable thing to come home and not recognize me. I asked him, "Are you saying that this was, in some way, your hair, and that I should not have removed it from my head without your permission?" And believe it or not, he said yes. Then he accused me of being resistant to him, of keeping some part of myself closed, or independent of our family or something. He said I constantly did violence to our oneness, and that he could feel it, and that we would never be truly happy (he would certainly never be happy) or safe and confident until I stopped, until I let go of my need to be an individual.'
Amos wrote a sentence in his notebook, tapped his finger against the desk. 'Had you done other things, other individual things, before you cut off your hair?'
Alice nodded. 'Sometimes I stayed up when Jack wanted to go to bed. Just to read. I took walks. Once in a while I'd say I was going to see my mom, and then I'd drive to Hopwood and see a movie by myself. I love watching movies alone; I don't know why. And sometimes I just wanted to be away from them, you know, not just him, but all of them. And I always told Jack if I'd gone to see a movie, but it made him crazy. He hated me for having an experience, or a memory? Maybe a memory of something? that he didn't have.'"
"When he arrived at their double-wide, Lucy had her head down on the kitchen table sobbing, while a Rottweiler in a kennel outside barked hysterically.
And what was wrong with Lucy? She had wasted her life, as it turned out, married to Buck and raising kids (and now grandkids). She didn't know herself, she was never given the time to discover her true loves in the world. Maybe she was destined to be someone, to do something, but never got the chance. And what would her obituary say, should she die in the next week: 'She kept a clean bathroom'? or 'Her brownies were quite moist?'
'What is it you wish you had done?' Amos asked, a bit gobstopped.
Lucy wailed, 'I don't know, I don't know, that's the point.'"
"Listen to me, your father and I love you more than anything, you are the one great treasure of our lives. And I hate to be the person to tell you this—I wish it weren't true—but you need to stay a while. I don't know why you left school and you don't have to tell me, none of that matters, and I know that the possibility of running away from, I'm not even sure what to call it, an intractable situation? has always been a great comfort to you, and I know why, I do. But really this isn't about you or me or even those children, it's about life, Langston, the way life just bears down upon us and we are forced to withstand its weight and I am sorry. I'm truly sorry, angel."
"Her father was patting her back, too, and she turned and looked at him, and oh my, what a hard man he was to see. Between his handsome silence and the way he always seemed to be leaving a room, Langston often felt like a phantom fathered her. And then—those times he did come clearly into focus—he arrived like a lightning bolt: the way he was aging (what if she lost him?), the steep toll of the past everywhere evident on him, the bargains he'd made, his patient, plodding love.
Langston looked back at her mother, and for a moment she could hardly tell AnnaLee and Walt apart. They could say what they would, but all of her parents' best lines were in their faces."
"Langston wondered how Caravaggio could have finished this painting, in the way she didn't understand how Tolstoy could have written the end of Anna Karenina. Doesn't it, at some point, just become too hard, witnessing the agony of your characters? Who would have blamed Caravaggio if he'd left Mary's face a blank white egg on the canvas, if he'd simply said: I can't. You have a mother, fill in the blank."
"She would tell Immaculata and Epiphany that by one very grim yardstick, they were lucky. Because we're bound to lose our parents—we may even lose our children—but we should get to keep our siblings to the end, and they got to keep each other."
"Almost tapped his fingers on his bony knees. 'Why do you have a book and I don't?'
'Because I'm a woman, Amos.'
'Yes, but why do you have a book and I never do in a situation like this?'
AnnaLee put the book down. 'I carry a bag. I also have safety pins and emergency money, and a package of those little wet towelettes. We live in Indiana. I could get stopped by a train, I could get bored. I always carry a book.'"
"Amos had become accustomed to the undisguisable fragility of the bereaved; he'd welcomed women back to church after miscarriages and stillbirths and SIDS; shaken the hands of men who had just buried beloved wives or parents or children. And always there was the slight nod of grief-stricken, he wasn't sure how to describe it, a primitive fear or wariness. Amos spoke to them and they tried to look directly at him, but their eyes constantly shifted, as if they were looking for a door—a psychic door—a way into or out of their own condition."
"I honestly believe, I truly believe that people who never have children, or who never love a child, are doomed to a sort of foolishness, because it can't be described or explained, that love."
"Her head was so small, and so perfectly round, and when she slept her eyelashes touched her cheeks, and the firs time, the very first time she looked at me I could see her in there, not just a baby but a great, extravagant soul inside the body of a sparrow, it was like a fairy tale, she weighed so little."
"At the information desk a lone nurse was entering information into a computer. She was overweight and had one of the dreadful haircuts Amos secretly referred to as 'local,' plus she was wearing a smock covered with teddy bear doctors and nurses, and for just a moment he was tempted to feel sorry for her, but the moment she looked at him he was chagrined (for what had to be the twentieth time in a single day): she was pretty, and her smile was joyous, and if he had sick children, he'd want her to take care of them."
"Who ever knows what they're doing at a wedding?"
"'Oh, and send an invitation to Aunt Gail, just as a gesture.'
'Aunt Gail is crazy, Langston.'
Langston stopped, half in and half out of the door. 'Half of the people you've invited are crazy, Mama. We must not let that stop us from having a good time.'"
"That was the moment he remembered with the greatest clarity, the moment he realized that she was the last woman he would ever love; that every storm between them would be a confection, that their bed would be his grave."
May 27, 2015
As a Mega Fan of Haven Kimmel's memoirs, I picked up this, her first novel, with anticipation. Within just a few pages I had an odd feeling, like when you run into an old friend years later and they just don't seem like the same person at all. As I read, I kept seeking for the old Haven in this new voice, and It was a little disconcerting to not find her. I'm not sure what I think of this "different" author since I liked the other one so well, but I have to admit that her ability to switch her voice so drastically is is a testament to her talent and versatility.
This is an odd book that is in many ways a doctoral dissertation on the nature of faith and grief in novel form, as Kimmel, a religious scholar, points out in the acknowledgements page. Three are many highly intellectual conversations about religious studies and philosophies that just didn't grab me, yet at the same time the scholarliness seemed to fit well within the structure of the book and the characters.
I think what really shines in "Solace" is the exquisitely crafted three-dimensional characters who are wonderfully imperfect. The main character Langston is really self-centered and incredibly unlikeable, and it was a struggle to feel sympathetic for her—but here again, on reflection I found that it was really brilliant work on Kimmel's part and rare in fiction to experience such a deeply flawed character who is so full of contradictions. In the end, as we get further insights into Langston, Kimmel leads us to a place where it becomes easier to see her through more of a lens of compassion and forgiveness. But you do have to put up with Langston for a long time first to get to that point of understanding.
I finished this book maybe five days ago, and in the end I'm afraid that what speaks most to my reaction is that I had a hard time remembering details to write this review, despite some great characters in the book, an overall interesting plot, and some truly lovely prose.
This is an odd book that is in many ways a doctoral dissertation on the nature of faith and grief in novel form, as Kimmel, a religious scholar, points out in the acknowledgements page. Three are many highly intellectual conversations about religious studies and philosophies that just didn't grab me, yet at the same time the scholarliness seemed to fit well within the structure of the book and the characters.
I think what really shines in "Solace" is the exquisitely crafted three-dimensional characters who are wonderfully imperfect. The main character Langston is really self-centered and incredibly unlikeable, and it was a struggle to feel sympathetic for her—but here again, on reflection I found that it was really brilliant work on Kimmel's part and rare in fiction to experience such a deeply flawed character who is so full of contradictions. In the end, as we get further insights into Langston, Kimmel leads us to a place where it becomes easier to see her through more of a lens of compassion and forgiveness. But you do have to put up with Langston for a long time first to get to that point of understanding.
I finished this book maybe five days ago, and in the end I'm afraid that what speaks most to my reaction is that I had a hard time remembering details to write this review, despite some great characters in the book, an overall interesting plot, and some truly lovely prose.
October 12, 2011
This is a re-read for me, and I loved it just as much this time around. However, I remember when I read this book about 8 years ago that I identified very much with Langston, I really loved her. This time around, I felt much more intrigued by Amos and even a little irritated by Langston. I suppose this means that I'm no longer the semi-rebellious but mostly idealistic college student I was before.
The backgrounds of the characters in this book are fascinating; Kimmel excels at building characters who are shaped by the histories she gives them in realistic ways. This novel succeeds as a character study while also being very plot-driven - something that The Used World was less successful at. This is interesting to me because The Solace of Leaving Early is Kimmel's first novel and you'd think she'd only improve.
I thoroughly enjoyed the internal philosophical and religious struggles that both Langston and Amos have, as they read, write and think. I love characters that have fantastic inner lives, and who think as much as they act and Kimmel is not afraid here to focus the reader's attention inward.
I am curious to read more of her work, though my mom told me that nothing else she's read of hers compares to The Solace of Leaving Early. Kimmel has a new novel that will come out in 2012 though that I'll probably pick up.
Themes: religion, tragedy, grief, family, love, parents affecting children, philosophy, small midwestern town, writing, literature
The backgrounds of the characters in this book are fascinating; Kimmel excels at building characters who are shaped by the histories she gives them in realistic ways. This novel succeeds as a character study while also being very plot-driven - something that The Used World was less successful at. This is interesting to me because The Solace of Leaving Early is Kimmel's first novel and you'd think she'd only improve.
I thoroughly enjoyed the internal philosophical and religious struggles that both Langston and Amos have, as they read, write and think. I love characters that have fantastic inner lives, and who think as much as they act and Kimmel is not afraid here to focus the reader's attention inward.
I am curious to read more of her work, though my mom told me that nothing else she's read of hers compares to The Solace of Leaving Early. Kimmel has a new novel that will come out in 2012 though that I'll probably pick up.
Themes: religion, tragedy, grief, family, love, parents affecting children, philosophy, small midwestern town, writing, literature
August 5, 2009
A miraculous book, but so heavy on theology, philosophy, literature, art, & the other liberal arts that it's a hard book to recommend to most casual readers. Nonetheless, I found it immensely satisfying & even laugh-out-loud funny in unlikely places. (One character recalls a lesson from a professor teaching Faustus who claims that Faust is sent to hell for being a bad reader!) The two main characters--alternating chapters are told from their viewpoints though not in their narrative voices--are an insecure young Church of the Brethren pastor & a young woman who has dropped out of graduate school (for reasons we don't learn until late in the story) as she is taking her oral exams & returns home to live with her parents in the small Indiana town that she views with disdain. She is the most self-centered person one could imagine (actually, neither character is totally believable, but even this book's flaws are interesting), and yet the author is somehow--miraculously--able to make her lovable. The two main characters' lives intersect in caring for two little girls who have witnessed their parents shoot & kill each other. What a lovely book that often had me laughing aloud despite its very serious subject matter.
December 31, 2010
Maybe? There are still things I'm not quite sure I understand. It felt to me that once the protagonist's semi-sordid-sad past was revealed, she suddenly transformed into a tolerable human being. And perhaps that's what the author intended. It IS true, in fact, that understanding a person is often the key to loving them. Hmmm. There was also quite a lot of theology/literary theory with which I am pretty unfamiliar; this served to muddy the waters even more. I'm not certain that the final "win" of the John Donne sonnet-inspired, quasi-Trinitarian unity between the disillusioned pastor, depressed protagonist and damaged little girls was enough to end the story as quickly or as neatly as the author did.
October 7, 2015
A solid 3.5 stars -- Ms. Kimmel paints small town Indiana in perfectly true colors. (And I know what I'm talking about -- my grandparents lived in an Indiana town so small that, if you were peering out the window on the second floor of their grand old house, you could see all the way to the edge of town in one direction, then walk down the hall and see all the way to the edge of town in the other direction!) However, she then peoples this town with a minister that never would have been accepted by the local populace (My father was a minister; again, I know what I'm talking about) and marries him off in a way that makes no sense whatsoever. This "too neat, too nice" ending kept the beauty of the writing from earning this book 4 stars.
June 1, 2017
I am a committed Haven Kimmel fan after reading this very well-written book by an obviously well-read and erudite author. Once I had read a few chapters, I was hooked on Langston, her family and Amos' relationship(s). This is a novel to be savored because each paragraph holds unexpected nuggets. I thought the literary references were thought-provoking, the details of each person's lfe were finely crafted and the humor was sharp. I felt as if I knew this small town in Indiana quite intimately by the time Langston met daily with Alice's daughters. Having worked at a university, I also appreciated Langston's observations of the academics who reign in their own little world. I cannot wait to read anything else written by this very talented author.
October 12, 2011
Quite unique! observant, thought provoking, funny, yet unafraid to examine the most drastic betrayals of faith, marriage, family and community bonds.
Reminds me of some of my favorites: Secondhand lions, Raintree County, In Cold Blood, Brad Herzog, Richard Powers, Ron Hansen all put in a blender w ice and rum - A CONCOCTION THAT GOES DOWN SWEET AND EASY DELIVERING A SMILE AND A GIGGLE OR TWO, THEN KICKS YOU ON YOUR ASS.
Reminds me of some of my favorites: Secondhand lions, Raintree County, In Cold Blood, Brad Herzog, Richard Powers, Ron Hansen all put in a blender w ice and rum - A CONCOCTION THAT GOES DOWN SWEET AND EASY DELIVERING A SMILE AND A GIGGLE OR TWO, THEN KICKS YOU ON YOUR ASS.
December 1, 2013
I erred on the side of generosity with 3-stars for this one as I found it quite uneven yet had its worthy bits.
In May 1998 Langston Braverman returns home to Haddington, Indiana after walking out on the oral exam for her PhD. She is in a fragile state and retreats to her parent's attic and refuses to engage with anyone, though has vague plans to write the Great American Novel. Even the news of the recent death of Alice, her childhood friend, fails to rouse her from her insular state.
Down the street the local preacher, Amos Townsend, is in the grips of a crisis of faith, uncertain if he can continue in his role of spiritual leader for his community. He has been deeply affected by Alice's violent death and feels a responsibility towards Alice's orphaned daughters. Frustrated by her daughter's ennui, AnnaLee Braverman, pressures Langston into the role of carer, along with Amos and herself, to the orphaned girls.
It takes some time for AnnaLee to actually accomplish this. For most of the novel Langston is being a complete pain in the bum; self-absorbed and moody, providing no explanation as to why she left her academic studies when on the brink of completing her PhD. Thankfully the author doesn't pull any fancy post-modern nonsense leaving us hanging with uncertainty and we do learn the answers to various questions; including why Langston left university, the mystery surrounding her brother Taos, and the details of Alice's death.
This was Kimmel's début novel and there is no doubt that it provides an interesting portrait of life in small town America at the end of the 20th Century. While near contemporary in its setting, the novel isn't defined by its period and could easily take place any time in the latter part of the 20th century. The problem though is that it gets rather bogged down in complex philosophical and religious contemplation, which drags the narrative to an almost standstill and this tends to go on a bit. Musings about death and sin, the seriousness with which Amos considers the tenets of his conservative Anabaptist ministry and Langston's more philosophical questioning about her relation to God isn't the most riveting material for a secular or agnostic reader, who may not have expected to enter such heavy waters.
It was also very hard to feel much empathy for Langston, especially early on, and this was echoed by the rest of our reading group. Collectively we agreed with the critical reviews that it captured small town USA but that it was just too heavy going on the religion and philosophy debates, which is fine if you want to engage with these issues in fictional format. However, it did encourage discussion in the group, which is always a good thing.
In May 1998 Langston Braverman returns home to Haddington, Indiana after walking out on the oral exam for her PhD. She is in a fragile state and retreats to her parent's attic and refuses to engage with anyone, though has vague plans to write the Great American Novel. Even the news of the recent death of Alice, her childhood friend, fails to rouse her from her insular state.
Down the street the local preacher, Amos Townsend, is in the grips of a crisis of faith, uncertain if he can continue in his role of spiritual leader for his community. He has been deeply affected by Alice's violent death and feels a responsibility towards Alice's orphaned daughters. Frustrated by her daughter's ennui, AnnaLee Braverman, pressures Langston into the role of carer, along with Amos and herself, to the orphaned girls.
It takes some time for AnnaLee to actually accomplish this. For most of the novel Langston is being a complete pain in the bum; self-absorbed and moody, providing no explanation as to why she left her academic studies when on the brink of completing her PhD. Thankfully the author doesn't pull any fancy post-modern nonsense leaving us hanging with uncertainty and we do learn the answers to various questions; including why Langston left university, the mystery surrounding her brother Taos, and the details of Alice's death.
This was Kimmel's début novel and there is no doubt that it provides an interesting portrait of life in small town America at the end of the 20th Century. While near contemporary in its setting, the novel isn't defined by its period and could easily take place any time in the latter part of the 20th century. The problem though is that it gets rather bogged down in complex philosophical and religious contemplation, which drags the narrative to an almost standstill and this tends to go on a bit. Musings about death and sin, the seriousness with which Amos considers the tenets of his conservative Anabaptist ministry and Langston's more philosophical questioning about her relation to God isn't the most riveting material for a secular or agnostic reader, who may not have expected to enter such heavy waters.
It was also very hard to feel much empathy for Langston, especially early on, and this was echoed by the rest of our reading group. Collectively we agreed with the critical reviews that it captured small town USA but that it was just too heavy going on the religion and philosophy debates, which is fine if you want to engage with these issues in fictional format. However, it did encourage discussion in the group, which is always a good thing.
July 11, 2013
This is my third book by Haven Kimmel. I grew up within a strong stone's throw of her hometown in Indiana and after I read her first two books (Zippy and She Got Up Off the Couch), I mentally placed Kimmel in colloquial category of writers I like a lot, folksy, down home. Not Fannie Flagg down home, but headed in that direction. I underestimated Kimmel and after reading Solace, I began to dig a little deeper into Kimmel's background.
What I found was an intellectual depth that I greatly underestimated. Kimmel has credentials in religious and art studies. The Solace of Leaving Early gives just a taste of exploration of some relious issues. I am a liberal/rebellious Christian and it is difficult to find writers who satisfy my desire to explore Christian ideas that don't rely on, need or want a literal interpretation of the Bible. Kimmel's central character Langston Braverman (I like the name) provides an outlet for acceptance of different ways of living out one's spirituality.
The story contrasts the pros and cons of a disciplined life through the characters of Braverman and Amos Townsend, a minister and their involvement with two young girls who have become orphaned.
Though I had some discomfort with the ebb and flow of this novel, I am adding all of Haven Kimmel's books to my "To Read" shelf. I would love to sit down and talk to this author, maybe at the park in New Castle on Highway 3 near the curly slide.
What I found was an intellectual depth that I greatly underestimated. Kimmel has credentials in religious and art studies. The Solace of Leaving Early gives just a taste of exploration of some relious issues. I am a liberal/rebellious Christian and it is difficult to find writers who satisfy my desire to explore Christian ideas that don't rely on, need or want a literal interpretation of the Bible. Kimmel's central character Langston Braverman (I like the name) provides an outlet for acceptance of different ways of living out one's spirituality.
The story contrasts the pros and cons of a disciplined life through the characters of Braverman and Amos Townsend, a minister and their involvement with two young girls who have become orphaned.
Though I had some discomfort with the ebb and flow of this novel, I am adding all of Haven Kimmel's books to my "To Read" shelf. I would love to sit down and talk to this author, maybe at the park in New Castle on Highway 3 near the curly slide.
April 6, 2016
I picked this book up during our "blind date with a book" week at the library. When I first started reading I was having a really difficult time getting into the book but it's hard for me to abandon anything and I'm glad I stuck with it. Once I hit just about the middle of the book, I just couldn't put it down even though there were a couple of things that I saw coming way before they were told to the reader. Langston Braverman has decided to quit pursuing her college education, walking out of her final exam. She moves back home to small town Indiana to live with her mom and dad in spite of the fact that there are few creature comforts (i.e. air conditioning) and her relationship with her mother is less than ideal. She really just wants to be left alone so that she can attempt to write a book. Her mother is bound and determined to get Langston reaquainted with the social obligations of small town life and attempts to take along to all of the funerals, weddings and gatherings that are available. Langston is able to avoid most of these but one day her mother determines that Langston is now going to babysit the 2 young daughters of one of her childhood friends who has just died because "it's the right thing to do and those poor girls don't have anyone else to care for them". No one, including Langston, could ever have believed how this would change their lives.
March 28, 2008
Overall, I liked this book. It definitely had peaks and valleys as far as compelling reading. The character Langston drove me crazy in this book but I think the story resolved itself and I was able to really understand her motives in the end. I felt the author used Langston as a way to show readers how she could discuss philosophy and make herself appear more intelligent. I had a soft spot for the other main character because of his steadfastness even while not always believing in what he was doing. I liked most of the auxillary characters and found the story of Alice and her girls heartbreaking and the most interesting part or the book. I don't know if I would recommend this to everyone because it is one of those books that I appreciate but not that I absolutely love and that is life changing (although it did set the stage for an ah-ha moment at our book club). I think I liked Kimmel's memior "A Girl Named Zippy" better but I'm tempted to read it again.
March 17, 2010
I haven't given a book five stars in quite a while, but this one really grabbed me. Part of it may be due to coincidence. I had been reading some Paul Tillich essays and, frankly, not getting a lot out of them. I put them aside to read The Solace of Leaving Early and much to my surprise Paul Tillich was mentioned on page eight (followed by many more references to theologians and philosophers). It is a rare novel that can combine religious philosophy, small town life, and memorable characters in such a profound way, in fact this may be the first I've found.
Characters are Langeston Braverman who left academe in the middle of her PhD oral exams and moved home to her parents' attic, Amos Townsend, a local pastor, and two little orphan girls who see the Virgin Mary and change their names to Immaculata and Epiphany. You may be thinking "Oh, I can see where this is going already", but that's not the point. It's the depth and style of Haven Kimmel's writing that makes this a truly wonderful book.
Characters are Langeston Braverman who left academe in the middle of her PhD oral exams and moved home to her parents' attic, Amos Townsend, a local pastor, and two little orphan girls who see the Virgin Mary and change their names to Immaculata and Epiphany. You may be thinking "Oh, I can see where this is going already", but that's not the point. It's the depth and style of Haven Kimmel's writing that makes this a truly wonderful book.
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