Burning and Dodging

by Julie Wittes Schlack

On the cusp of sixty, after a lifetime of supporting the aspirations of others, would-be artist Tina Gabler is feeling a sense of urgency to take her own ambitions seriously and put her creative talents to the test. Temporarily unattached, Tina takes a position with former prime-time news anchor, Peter Bright at his home in the Thousand Islands. Aging and frail, Peter is trying to finish a book about the decline of objectivity in photojournalism—a meticulously documented exposé of iconic but staged photographs that defined “reality” for an increasingly lazy and credulous public that, Peter believes, demands stories more than facts. As Peter’s research assistant, Tina tracks down not just the provenance of his photos, but also the unidentified child in a Roman Vishniac photograph and Peter’s estranged daughter, a Cree girl he adopted during the notorious “Sixties Scoop” in Canada. But in trying to create happy endings for other people’s children, she must reexamine her relationship with her own father, and the quest for collective versus personal achievement that has brought her to this unsettled moment. Funny, searching, and gorgeously written, Burning and Dodging entertains as it reveals how the stories we construct about others support the stories we tell about ourselves.

Genres: Fiction, Ebooks

290 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 23, 2021

About the author

Julie writes and teaches both fiction and creative nonfiction. Her cultural memoir in essays, This All-at-Onceness (Pact Press), was named one of Kirkus Review’s 100 Best Indie Books of the year. She is also the author of the novel, Burning and Dodging (Black Rose Writin), which Kirkus described as “An astute and absorbing study of personal growth, human connection, and the nature of reality.”

Her essays and stories have appeared in numerous literary journals, including as Shenandoah, The Writer’s Chronicle, Ninth Letter, Eleven Eleven, and The Tampa Review. She reviews books for The ARTery, and am a regular contributor to NPR station WBUR’s journal of ideas and opinions, Cognoscenti.

Mother of two, grandmother of two, Julie currently lives with her husband in a co-housing community in Western Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story about facts vs storytelling, about how we process what we see, about the collage of people and pieces and places that make up a life. Schlack is particularly skilled at distilling emotion from setting, both physical scenes and the domestic landscapes of family life. Combining science, politics, art, and family life, this is a novel that both thinks and feels. Highly recommended.

[Joel Gurin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wonderful novel is about many things: parents and children, women and men, social justice, science, and, as the title implies, the art and artifice of photography. But mostly it is about seeing, in the truest sense: how we see each other, how our assumptions shape our perceptions, and how our perceptions shape our relationships with each other and with the world, for better or for worse. Julie Wittes Schlack's complex and compelling characters have a hunger for authenticity, and for human and social connections that are genuine, satisfying, and real. This beautifully written book takes you deep into their lives and their journeys and may bring you new insights into your own.

[Lisa Gelfand · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the many satisfying things about Burning and Dodging is that, like any good novel, it can be read on multiple levels. The central theme of the power - and limitations - of art is the subject of the main characters' debate. Tina Gabler, a thoughtful ex-curator who takes on the job of organizing the news photographs of an acerbic former broadcaster, Peter Bright, engages in spirited disagreements with Peter about the nature and aim of images: Must they be/can they be objective, or do viewers inevitably bring their subjectivity to what they see? Is authenticity the source of their potency, or are they equally affecting if they are staged? In terms of narrative structure, the novel's constant movement between Tina's past and present successfully captures her unsettled sense of self - she is 60 and hasn't landed on a steady career, romantic partner, or sense of purpose. (This is the source of a secondary debate between Tina and her late-father, Bob, who chafed at the belief that she was wasting her talents: Must she fulfill the destiny her skills promised, if it is incompatible with the life she wants?). These aesthetic and emotional clashes situate the action of the story almost entirely in Tina's mind. And her ruminations lead to another level on which to appreciate Burning and Dodging: Its meta-commentary on how we read any "text," visual or verbal. The same questions about objectivity/subjectivity, truth/artifice, and evidence/affinity raised about interpreting photos apply to how we construe novels, and they make us think about how Wittes Schlack tells her story and how we might respond. Finally, there is an additional reason to read Burning and Dodging: the pure pleasure of Wittes Schlack's terrifically warm, funny, and smart writing.

[Mandy-Suzanne Wong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Julie Wittes-Schlack, author of "This All-at-Onceness," a Kirkus Reviews Best Indie Nonfiction Book of 2019, returns with "Burning and Dodging," an intricate novel full of truths.

Tina, a former art curator, finds herself at the age of sixty shyly searching for her own artistic voice. She unexpectedly joins forces with the celebrity TV news anchor Peter Bright to prove that history’s most renowned photojournalists—charged with bringing the truth to light about the horrors of war and poverty—actually staged some of their most iconic images. The great documentary photographs of the likes of Robert Capa and Arthur Rothstein depict not true events but calculated theatrics. Or do they? As Tina revisits snapshots from her own youth and Peter’s, she learns that every story harbors many truths, some of them contradictory.

The novel takes the form of a collage woven expertly of images and sound bites, some of which exist nowhere but in Tina’s memories. While she and Peter struggle with aging in their own ways, their clashing ideals about the meaning of truth, documentation, art, and collaboration result in spirited arguments that will both make you laugh and make you wonder—how much power pictures have to create the truth and what it really means for anyone (benefaction or imposition?) to render someone else’s story. Julie Wittes-Schlack’s complex novel evokes with precision and quiet intensity the desperate love and suspicion we all feel for images in the so-called post-truth age.

[KATHRYN B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was impossible to put down! By page 10, I already cared deeply about the first
two characters I met in "Burning and Dodging," the debut novel by acclaimed author Julie Wittes Schlack. Through wonderous use of dialogue --including delightful and plot-propelling internal musings-- Ms. Schlack masterfully contructs a realistic tale of people we feel we know, and through whose unexpected and extraordinary experiences, as well as their commonly-shared challenges, we come to understand at deeper levels, just as they come to learn about themselves. Take this journey with them --you won't regret it!

[Vesta Tobin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read

There were many aspects of Tina's life that a mature, older woman could identify with. And this book is about Tina with other characters form a backdrop to her perceptions of life, past and present.
A bit too pedantic at times. Enjoyed nevertheless.

[Karla Huebner]

I had the privilege of reading this pre-publication and loved it! Julie Wittes Schlack’s masterful Burning and Dodging follows hippie-turned-artist-and-event-planner Tina Gabler during a year spent assisting Peter Bright, a former star TV host with post-polio syndrome who devotes his remaining days to investigating the truthfulness of iconic works of photojournalism. Unsure of her own artistic talent and unwilling to spend a year living in a dorm when her astronomer partner gets a research fellowship in the Canary Islands, Tina ponders both her own and Peter’s sometimes troubled family ties, and finds herself investigating both a Jewish child seen in a Roman Vishniac photo and Peter’s estranged adopted daughter. Witty and forthright, luminous and compelling, Burning and Dodging explores the nuances of friendship, family, and whether art can both stage and capture truth. Captivating and sharply insightful, it’s a novel not to be missed.

[Jurga · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this book in an exchange to the honest review via LibraryThing Early reviewers giveaways.

I have to admit, that what primarily attracted me to this book was its connection to photography. After reading this, I truly enjoyed how cleverly the references to photography were used and how it tied in with the story (-ies) main character was (is) living in.
Realistic story, with flashbacks to the past. Even though it is fairly easy to read novel, it does have few interesting thoughts, that keeps reader thinking, even after finished reading it.
However, I the ending of the book was slow first and then suddenly abrupt. It feels like there could have been more to it. But, maybe it was author's intention to leave it up to the reader?

[Rebecca Warner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Appealing, well-realized characters, and enough intellectual substance to get your teeth into. I enjoyed how dialogue was interlaced with the protagonist's emotional reactions to each line, offering a full portrait of her inner life. It's a nice change to read about a woman who's close to 60, not in her seemingly inevitable twenties or thirties. This well-told novel offers an interesting take on what's important in the last third of a life.

[Terri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I generally enjoy reading books featuring women in their 50s and 60s. However, this one was difficult for me to finish. I liked the author’s witty style and would like to read more of her writing. I also appreciated the details about Tina’s research into the provenance of Peter’s photos. I just did not relate to Tina’s past, present or potential future.

[Pam Mooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling! I fell in love with the characters and their individual realities. A good read.