An Impenetrable Screen of Purest Sky

Novels written by poets (e.g., Michael Ondaatje, Muriel Rukeyser, Denis Johnson) tend to lean toward less linear narratives, which makes for tricky reading. However, the images evoked and the compelling strength of their voices can be exhilarating. Beachy-Quick (English, Colorado State Univ.; Circle's Apprentice) debuts an oblique but beautiful work, in which we follow the thoughts of Daniel, a literature professor haunted by the book his father left behind. Daniel is struggling with writing his own book when he begins dating physicist Lydia. Then there's Pearl, the girl below the floorboards. Plot questions soon arise: What's real here? What does Daniel's obsession with Moby-Dick mean? Better maybe simply to enjoy the spell created by Beachy-Quick's sentences: "To learn how to speak is to learn how to be in the world—not in the day, but the world past the limits of the day, the old world that doesn't exist in time, the world in which nothing has been lost, the heroic world of monsters and gods. The singer's world."