The History of Now - Hardcover

Daniel Klein

3.46

67 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1579621813 ISBN 13: 9781579621810

Publisher: Permanent Press, 2009

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Small. almost imperceptible changes are rippling through the New England village of Grandville, altering it in ways its inhabitants cannot yet imagine. Laced through a narrative of one recent year in Grandville's history are stories that reach back to a 17th century family in Rotterdam, and 18th century migration by a farmer's lonely son in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and a 19th century underground railway journey by a gifted runaway slave. Each episode comes to bear on Grandville now.

Klein frames this multi-layered story with some fundamental questions in philosophy: Does every event, no matter how small or distant in the past influence all events that follow? Is life merely a drama we dispassionately observe? Does it take courage to live in the "eternal now?"

In Grandville, Wendell DeVries, the 65-year-old projectionist at the local movie theater, meets an attractive divorcee and an unexpected love affair blooms; Franny, Wendell's daughter and leader of the town's drama group, is confronted by a newcomer from New York City who insists that her politically correct play be produced, sending Franny into a spiral of self-doubt; Lila, Franny's teenage daughter hears a lecture at her high school that convinces her she has African blood in her veins, leading her to discover long lost black relatives living nearby; the high school's guidance counselor, is contacted by a man claiming to be a recruiter from Harvard who dubiously persuades him that his daughter is a shoe-in for acceptance if he follows his advice, a false promise that enrages him; while thousands of miles away, in a mountain village in Columbia, a young man named Hector begins a journey that will lead him to Grandville where he will alter the lives of everyone he meets.

As a portrayal of small town life, The History of Now is reminiscent of Richard Russo's glorious novels about rural America. Its everyday encounters ring true, its dialogue glitters with wit, and its seamlessly integrated storylines create a consummate picture of one small place ineluctably connected to all places.

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About the Author:

DANIEL KLEIN is co-author of The New York Times and international bestseller, Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar--Understanding Philiosophy through Jokes. A graduate of Harvard in philosophy, Klein has also written numerous thrillers and mysteries.

Review:

How the past influences what follows, and how self-understanding inspires broader comprehension of all things: These are the themes of this gently philosophical family chronicle, the first volume of a planned trilogy. Klein, a veteran novelist and co-author of the whimsical bestseller Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar (2008), channels his inner Thornton Wilder in this piecemeal history of a New England village (Grandville, Mass.), which combines the family-album features of Our Town with the inconclusive fatalism of The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Its central narrative focuses on Wendell deVries, heir to and proprietor of the Phoenix, a former vaudeville theater that s now the local movie house, and on long-divorced Wendell s family. His unmarried daughter Franny, who spearheads Grandville s community theater group and publicly protests the Iraq War, carries burdens she ll be unable to keep bearing. Other plots embrace Franny s beautiful, headstrong teenaged daughter Lila; a guidance counselor obsessed with Harvard and with managing his daughter s future; miscellaneous do-gooders and miscreants, culture vultures and over- and underachievers; and in a slowly developing subplot a Colombian youth, Hector Mondragon, whose flight from his country s dangers and his own misdeeds will lead him eventually to Grandville, and a deeply ironic fulfillment of his American dream. Wendell s hangdog decency, is reminiscent of Richard Russo s rumpled antiheroes just as Klein s plot carries reminders of Empire Falls. Absorbing, nevertheless, [with] enormously appealing characters. --Kirkus Review

In Grandville, a pleasant little village in New England, big things are about to happen. Wendell Devries, the projectionist at the movie theater, is about to find true love; Wendell's daughter is about to meet a challenge in the form of a new arrival from New York; and Wendell's granddaughter will embark on an unusual voyage of self-discovery. This is one of those novels you sink into, like a familiar and comfortable chair. Klein writes in clear, precise language, crafting characters who reveal themselves gradually, telling a small-town story that will resonate with every reader, even the big city types. This story is written in the present tense, with the author/narrator occasionally speaking directly to the reader--a device that frequently seems coy but here feels just right. In fact, everything about the novel, from its cast to its setting to its occasional use of allegory and metaphor, is just right. A definite change of pace for the author of various medical thrillers and mysteries (including the Elvis Presley mysteries), but a completely successful one. --Booklist

Set in the fictional, Richard Russo-like town of Grandville, MA, this sweet book is a satisfying read. Recommended. --Library Journal

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