A VIRTUOUS GRIP

A pair of character-driven stories from Leven.

In the first of the book’s two tales, “Mom and Apple Pie,” Laura Halprin is a young girl with family problems. Although she, her parents, and her grandmother live in a seemingly pleasant country setting, their home is beset with domestic turmoil, due mainly to mother Amelia’s alcoholism, which has been a problem for years, and even endangered her husband’s job as a lawyer. After their move to their new house, Amelia seems to get control of her behavior—but after a few months, she’s stumbling home drunk again, and her family is pessimistic about her ever changing her ways. In the second story, “Alliance of Affliction,” a New York City couple forms an odd bond. Lilly Stanton always wanted to be a dancer, and she worked hard toward this goal, training religiously and pushing her body to its limits. Now in her 20s, she finds herself in incessant pain. Along comes a young man named Peter Morgan,who’s also obsessed with physical prowess. He spends hours in the gym, and has pushed his body as far as it can go—and, despite his sculpted appearance, he’s also in agony. He and Lilly meet and discover their shared experience, but will they learn how to yield to their limitations? Both stories tell of people in grim circumstances, but they also offer inklings of hope that, for example, Amelia will kick the booze or Lilly will find a calling outside of dance; this not only keeps readers’ attention, but also allows the narratives to move at a quick pace. Several passages, however, earnestly express sentiments that are obvious from context, such as that Peter “couldn’t accept the fact that his body was deteriorating and rebelling…and at the young age of twenty-nine!” At another point, it’s noted that Amelia “reeked from the smell of booze, smoke, and vomit,” followed by the unnecessary statement that the “stench was horrendous.” Still, the main characters’ situations are engaging enough that readers will want to find out if they can manage to defeat their personal demons.

Two tales of impassioned struggles that are often compelling, despite uneven prose.