SILHOUETTE

Two strangers examine their lives and find solace with each other in this monologue-filled novel.

While taking his dog for a stroll, Jim Patersondiscovers that what he thought was a rooftop umbrella is a woman standing still. It is the night of a blue moon, and Jim, a lonely widower, is mesmerized. As he begins his walk home, the narrative turns to the woman on the roof, Gladys, who hopes Jim won’t leave. The story switches back to Jim, who, doubting himself, returns to discover that he was right. Elated, Jim sits down and begins to “talk” to the figure, whom he calls “Silhouette.” Jim’s talking takes the form of an internal monologue directed at Gladys, who, in turn, similarly “talks to” Jim via her own set of internal monologues. The two tell each other about their childhoods, professions, beliefs, loneliness, and depression. Gladys, who is taking time off from her job as a “registered health care provider,” contemplates suicide. Her hope that Jim will acknowledge her continually delays her plans. As the two direct their thoughts to each other, something resembling intimacy grows. Things finally come to a head one night when Jim decides to wave and Gladys resolves to kill herself. In this thought-provoking narrative, Swingle illuminates the impact of depression, offering many rich and evocative details. But the author fails to make his characters endearing; they are more concerned with their own troubles than curious about each other. For example, as Jim tries to gather enough courage to wave, he equates his effort to resisting the Nazis: “The first step is to wave, of course. Sure, I would make a choice to resist the Nazis—why can’t I get the courage to wave?” Only when Gladys makes her suicide attempt does Swingle skillfully draw in his readers: “ ‘Stop stalling,’ I yell….‘Put the shitty clothes in the hamper and let them stink and rot and...oh, for God’s sake they’ll just be thrown out anyway, you sickening piece of...oh, I don’t know.’ ”

An intriguing but uneven meditation on loneliness and depression.