Garner

by Kirstin Allio

“An elegant, luminous, moving work of lyric prose. Every page shimmers.”—Carole Maso “Fiercely imagined, alive with incandescent imagery, Kirstin Allio’s Garner is a memorable debut.”—John Burnham Schwartz Landlocked, sail-shaped Garner, New Hampshire, is a town delineated by its Puritan ethics and its “Live Free or Die” mentality. Like the forbidding landscape of Wharton’s Ethan Frome , this New England outpost keeps its secrets and shapes its inhabitants. Frances Giddens, a spirited, elusive girl born at the dawn of the twentieth century and now approaching womanhood, moves through the forests and rivers that mark Garner’s borders as easily as she befriends its stoic residents. In the summer of 1925, with Garner’s economic prospects in decline, a group of wealthy New Yorkers descends on the Giddens farm for summer leisure. Even as Frances is drawn to the romance the newcomers represent, darker forces are unleashed. When her body is found in rain-swollen Blood Brook, this deeply private community begins to unravel. Garner chronicles the mystery of Frances’ sudden death and the demise of a picture-perfect New England town threatened by a new century. Allio’s beautiful, atmospheric prose reveals the town’s hidden history and the fierce longings locked in the hearts of its citizens. “Bounded by her trees was the new England,” muses the postman and local historian. “It is said that if one had the gossamer soul of an angel and wings of an artist’s weave, one might pass from Maine to Rhode Island, crown to green crown, and o’er New Hampshire . . . Tree to tree, one might travel . . .” But some may never leave. Kirstin Allio has taught creative writing at Brown University and holds degrees from Brown and New York University. Born in Maine, she lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with her husband and sons. This is her first novel.

Genres: Mystery, The United States Of America, Novels, Fiction

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Robert Wechsler · Rating 5 out of 5]

People who like this novel use the word “beautiful” the most, but I found it more playful than beautiful, playful in the sense of joy in trying things, seeing how things work out. In Garner, everything is in play: time, point of view, person, character, relationships, poetry and prose. Most of what Allio touches works, and although this is, at only one of many levels, a murder mystery, not knowing what’s going to come next has very little to do with the murder, it's about Allio's unpredictable whims. I can’t say I always enjoyed this novel, but I always marveled at Allio’s guts and skills. I can’t wait to read more of her work, and I don't understand why she hasn't been more celebrated. A 4.5.

[Brent Legault · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allio's language leaves me wordless. Not speechless. Wordless. She has stolen all the words I might have used to describe her work and used them in her book. That is, the only way I can think of to relate Allio's. . . mastery, Allio's. . . majesty, is to suggest to you, to humbly entreat you to read what she has written. It is Garner.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Told from several points of view, Garner sort of tells the story of the death of a young woman in a very small New England town, after several sophisticated city folks come to board for the summer. I say sort of because only one character really talks about her death directly, the others talk of their experiences with the girl which shed some light on her situation. But this book is much more about language than it is about plot or character. It paints a picture of the town and the woods surrounding it that truly turn the setting into the main character.

Frances, a solitary girl who wishes to be a writer, is drawn to her family's exciting rich boarders and dragged into their exploits, all the while knowing she is not one of them because she will only ever truly belong to this place. When the postman finds her dead body floating in the river, the book becomes a sort of mystery to discover what led to her death, in the least exciting sense of the word mystery. I think some people will really love this book but I found it incredibly slow moving and kind of boring. It almost reads as poetry, which I had trouble appreciating.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75*

Edit: No, maybe 2.75*? There were some excellently written sections, but I also feel somewhat detached from it and already feel it slipping away in memory...its been a day since I finished...

[Visha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little gem of a book was recommended to me by a nice guy working the Coffeehouse Press book-sale table at the AWP Conference in NYC. CHP publishes mainly fiction and poetry - they are supporters of high lyrical-fiction (see Selah Saterstrom), and since I wasn't much of a fiction reader at that point, I was skeptical (especially since it's a first time novel and takes place in New Hampshire, a state for which has have minimal interest). However, the writing is solid - not as high lyric as would drive away more mainstream readers, but you have to give it the benefit of the doubt. The point of view does change throughout the book; as in, you don't stay with just one character. The descriptions of history and place are quite fascinating and it's laudable how Allio handles such an ensemble group of diverse characters while working towards uncovering a "murder mystery" of sorts. You'll have to decide what you think of the ending - I was initially frustrated, but I've read this book three times now and I think it improves upon further reading. Worthwhile reading - to find it, you'll probably have to order it online from Coffeehouse Press. Just google it.

[Anne Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot of the book is about a murder in a small town, and Allio uses it as an effective vehicle to explore the tensions between male and female, city folk and country folk, rural and urban landscapes. The story is presented through different narrators (it reminded me a little of 'The Sound and the Fury') and in different writing styles. I had a little trouble with the poems and streams-of-conscious during the first sections of the book, but I'm glad I hung in there. Allio's prose in later sections of the book is phenomenal.

I gave it four stars because Allio's writing was too subtle for me. There were some important events in the book that I just wasn't sure whether they actually happened because of the way they were presented. But overall, it's a great book.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a little too poetic in style for me at first and seemed difficult to follow. If you are a reader who likes things transparent and clear-cut, I wouldn't recommend it. As I read on, though, I got used to her style and there was much that kept me interested. Allio used two histories from the town I live in as a basis for the book, so there was great personal interest for me, and I loved thinking about my little town a hundred+ years ago. By the end, I was very absorbed in the tale.

[Steve Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really an awesome book. Great writing, and experimental in form without being boring or pretentious. The plot is easy to figure out -- that is, if you have read enough murder mysteries -- but Allio still made me wonder about other possibilities until the very end. But the real treat here is the writing, the language and the use of recurring images and metaphors as motifs.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

1925. Part diary. Part nature descriptions. Part narrative. The story of a girl, and a town, and a man. If you are an Andrea Barrett fan ("Ship Fever," or "The Voyage of the Narwhal"), then I think you would really enjoy this.

[Jennifer]

i heard allio read from this book and thought the prose and setting lovely. looking forward to reading the whole thing.

[Bets · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written... feels like every single word was carefully selected, incredible attention to detail. This book is a gem.

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful. The poetry of the language made me want to go on reading it forever. A treasure of metaphors.

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just couldn't follow this enough to stay interested.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well written, but difficult to follow. I wasn't always sure what was happening to whom when. Jumped around too much. Strange read, kind of like visiting NH!

[Lynn]

Carolina: "hurt my brain in a good way. Writing style was mind-boggingly different. I did not "get it" until the end, and then I had to read it all over again."

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just cannot get into this. The writing makes my head spin.