Conscience

A novel about choices made following one's conscience during the Vietnam War era and afterward could be dramatic and riveting, yet the latest from Mattison (The Book Borrower) is neither. Instead, it's ruminative and anticlimactic, more an exploration of adult friendships, marriage, and how people and their consciences evolve. The story is told from multiple viewpoints. Olive Grossman, an editor, is writing an essay about a high school classmate's best-selling novel that is a thinly veiled biography of Olive's dear friend Helen, who was killed during a violent antiwar protest. Olive's estranged husband, Griff, believes he shares responsibility for Helen's death and has never read the book, until now. He accidentally leaves a copy at a nonprofit where he serves on the board, where it is found by the nonprofit's director Jean Argos, who is challenged with providing respite and privacy to homeless people. All three seem unhappy and a little stuck in their midlives. There is no big denouement or rousing conclusion, but the novel instead shows three humans tiptoeing toward a deeper understanding of their lives and their relationships.