Iodine
Haven Kimmel’s novel Iodine came recommended. It was placed in my hands actually. I had heard good things about Kimmel’s previous book, A Girl Named Zippy.
The novel begins with one of the more in-your-face opening lines of my recent memory:
I never…I never had sex with my father but I would have, if he had agreed.
Of course, that sentence follows a heading labelled “Dream Journal,” so the reader is left to figure out whether our heroine Trace Pennington, which we soon learn is an assumed name, is trying to tell us something.
Trace lives in an abandoned farm house on the outskirts of a college town. She lives alone with her dog without electricity, heat, water or other modern conveniences. She bathes at the truck stop on her way to the college. Trace is taking classes with names like Special Topics in Archetypal Psychology and Archetypal Analysis of Literature. We learn that she is double-majoring in English and Classics with three (and maybe four) declared majors. She is also very attractive, but doesn’t like to talk with anyone at school. So, she’s complicated.
The middle of the book involves Trace’s time in class focusing on three primary lectures. If you like heady descriptions and critiques of the study of archetypes and feminist theory, this part of the novel is for you. When Trace decides to finally drop her guard (and all of her classes) to have a relationship with one of the professors, the carefully constructed world that she inhabits begins to crumble.
Eventually the events that led Trace to assume someone else’s identity, live in an bandoned house by herself, etc., are accounted for. You might guess that the resolution of the novel might involve something of an archetypal situation. The ending seemed a bit implausible to me, but it does provide a basis for Trace’s actions.
Iodine was a good read in stretches, and the college course discourse grew a little wearying in others. I wasn’t crazy about it, but I can see how others might really enjoy it. If you’d like my copy, leave a comment saying so, and I’ll share the love. I’ll pick a name from any takers on Friday.
December 3, 2008 8:13 am 2 Comments
Other Links to this Post
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Subscribe
By Mike, December 3, 2008 @ 12:01 pm
Sure, I’ll give it a read. I miss college lectures.
By Tim, December 4, 2008 @ 5:51 pm
I like your chances.