BOW: Man Walks Into a Room

I just don't even know where to begin with this lovely, maddening, unsettling, poignant, lonely little book! Man Walks Into a Room is an incredible first novel, exploring issues like memory, solitude and intimacy, identity's mutability, and the power of personal history.

The basic plot goes something like this: this super-smart young professor, Samson Greene, wakes up one day in the desert, without a single memory from his life after the age of twelve (aka childhood) thanks to a gigantic but benign brain tumor. Interestingly, though he returns to his old life in New York City--including his lovely wife Anna, he no longer possesses any attachment to those things that used to define him; instead he is captivated by the emptiness and possibility his illness has brought. Feeling like he has nothing to lose, our hero is lured back to the desert by a super-charismatic doctor to participate in radical and hands-on neurological research. Adventure, philosophy, grief, longing, friendship, and loneliness all ensue. This is certainly a novel of ideas more than story, though, and while I absolutely adored it, sometimes I got the feeling that Krauss was trying to put in everything--so many wonderful thoughts, but maybe not all of them necessary; additionally, sometimes she gets lost in her own poetry. In other words, it's definitely a first novel, but such an incredible one!

Something kind of delightful did happen to me while reading this book (besides just the story), so I thought I'd share. Remember a couple weeks ago when I was talking about The World to Come, and this idea that angels erase our memories before we leave that waiting ground? Well, this week's BOW mentioned something similar, but referenced the Talmud. Since, sad to say, I am not at all well-versed in this central Jewish text, I did a little research on the interweb, and discovered that the Talmud (as well as the Midrash) reference the legend of the angel's slap! Furthermore, "illuim" are those individuals who found a way to evade the slap, thereby retaining the lessons learned in their mother's womb; these folks grow up to be Talmudic geniuses. Anyway, I thought that was kind of neat to learn, although also whatever Dara Horn you totally stole that idea for your book and didn't mention the Talmud at all so it kind of feels like plagiarism!

Another fun fact: Nicole Krauss actually has a background in poetry, and perhaps that is part of what makes Man Walks Into a Room as well as her second novel, History of Love, so appealing to me: sentences are strung together like pearls; ideas are expressed so vividly, words are chosen so very carefully. I actually found a poem of hers online to share, just so you could see what I'm talking about:

Becoming Domestic

A hundred million migrants roam the planet.
They kick up a soft dust, from space they appear
To be weather, a little storm the wind faithfully carries.

When it rains they lift their bowls to the sky.
They sleep with a rock under their heads.
At dawn they are the first to break the photographic stillness.

They have lost all sense of distance. A sort of arrival—late,
Under darkening skies, the smell of miles on your clothes—
A sort of arrival is needed to say how far you've traveled.

The crunch of gravel in the neighbor's driveway.
He will join the road with those other sedentary dreamers,
The unnumbered who've found a home just to leave it.

There is no good reason why night after night
I sleep here with you.
Only that the roof over our heads has not yet fallen.

Okay, that's it for this one, although I feel like there are lots of other issues here to chat about, so if you've by chance read the book, let me know, because I'd love to hear from you. Also, equal parts loyal and lovely readers, please remember that this week's BOW is J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians and check in over the next couple days for next week's BOW! I am off to enjoy a lovely weekend with dear Sarah from The World Is My Oyster, and of course Clair, the lovely TWIMO mascot!