SOMETHING

Polman’s (Seven Layer Cake, 2019, etc.) offbeat novel offers two alternating stories that run along parallel tracks and involve the same narrator.

In a plotline set in 2016, 56-year-old James is trying to find his dog, Kodiak, after it runs off with a pack of strays. He follows the animals on foot and finds himself far from his neighborhood with a dead cellphone, unable to call home. He winds up stopping to visit his elderly father and his adult daughter, Emma; he also encounters a host of strangers, all while tracking signs of where the pack may have gone. In the other story track, set in 1985, 25-year-old James takes a solo bike ride from Louisiana to Tennessee and back. He meets a lot of new people on the road during this journey, as well, and tests his ability to survive on his own. In both tales, James has flashbacks that build a picture of his entire life, including his relationship with his divorced parents and with Emma, who’s still struggling to overcome the trauma of a break-in in the later story. Overall, this is a fast read, and James is an engaging, likable character. The two-tiered structure helps keeps the plot moving forward, and it never dawdles too long in one place. Polman’s prose is mostly straightforward and clear, outside of his predilection for occasionally distracting punctuation and formatting; at one point, for instance, he writes, “Never a dull moment. (Mostly.) – Now THERE’S an idea for a gravestone inscription!” As quickly as these stories pass, however, they never get terribly deep. James contemplates his father’s mild drinking problem and Emma’s troubles but never comes to any compelling conclusions about either. Most strangers enter and leave his life quickly and don’t seem to have much impact on him. Also, a few sequences make little sense; during “the most terrifying experiences of the tour,” for example, younger James sees a church sign that he thinks is creepy, finds a deserted camp site, and hides from a police car for no discernible reason.

An often enjoyable but slight shaggy dog tale that focuses on the journey, not the destination.