THE NARCISSISM OF SMALL DIFFERENCES

A Detroit couple faces personal and professional challenges.

The latest novel by Zadoorian (Beautiful Music, 2018, etc.) explores the lives of two people questioning the relationship they’ve been in for the last 15 years. It's 2009; Ana Urbanek and Joe Keen live a comfortable life in Detroit. Ana works in advertising, where she makes a good living. Joe is a freelance writer, and his income is far more variable and intermittent. While the economic disparity between their professions leads to some tension within the relationship, it’s minor. Though they’ve been together for a while, neither Joe nor Ana has an interest in having children, and even marriage is something that seems overly formal. As both turn 40, however, the occasion makes them question their choices in life. Ana gets a promotion at work while Joe takes a day job; each of those offers its own challenges to their senses of self and to the relationship they’ve nurtured for so long. These themes are accentuated by the choice of setting, both in terms of the city and in terms of the year. Detroit in 2009 is depicted as a place whose glory days are behind it and whose future is uncertain. Ana and Joe are neither fortune-seeking gentrifiers nor grizzled veterans, and their need to find a specific place where they belong makes for some of this novel’s most affecting moments. The parallel narratives don’t quite line up, as Ana’s challenges, including doing work for an organization she feels ideologically opposed to and grappling with a potential workplace romance, feel several echelons higher than Joe’s. But overall, Zadoorian concisely evokes his protagonists’ struggles.

This novel’s stakes can sometimes feel too modest, but its empathy and lived-in qualities are both appealing.