December 1, 2017
A dream job at a writer's house turned museum becomes nightmarish for a young couple.The fourth novel by Dolnick (At the Bottom of Everything, etc.) is narrated by Nick, a musician scraping by in New York City with his girlfriend, Hannah. Though she's just lost her job at a historical society, she thinks she's found a great new replacement gig: managing the upstate New York home of Edmund Wright, a 19th-century writer with eccentric interests (he attempted to create an encyclopedia of all possible human sensations) and a tragic past. Despite the author's eerie back story, the Hudson Valley house at first seems idyllic, giving Nick time to write songs while Hannah leads school groups. But when Hannah is found dead by a riverbank not long after their arrival, Nick has a hard time processing all the related informational inputs: Hannah's past mental health issues, dark stories about former caretakers, and the ghost stories that surrounded Edmund Wright himself. The constituent pieces of the plot are unconvincingly stitched together: Hannah's parents are overprotective by the standards of a 4-year-old let alone a 20-something, Nick commits a crime that's out of character, and it's hard to imagine what school group would want to visit the Wright home at all given the proposed classroom activities. ("Can you list five experiences from your own life that were painful? Please be as detailed as possible.") And for a story ostensibly about hauntedness, there isn't much of a frightening vibe. Its strength is as a tale about a young man's grief, capturing the mental blind alleys bereavement sends us down and the feeling that "every house is a haunted house." But though Dolnick is a strong observational writer playing with a variety of forms (memoir loose, 19th-century formal), the prevailing feeling is of a supernatural tale falling short of its ambitions.A ghost story that's more clunky than creepy.
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December 18, 2017
Dolnick’s immersive novel, about how little people know about their loved ones, adds a supernatural element to that topic. Newly engaged, Nick Beron and Hannah Rampe leave Queens for the remote upstate village of Hibernia. Hannah embraces her role as the live-in director of the Edmund Wright Historic House, which celebrates an obscure 19th-century philosopher, and Nick refocuses on his music career. Then they learn that the house has been the site of several mysteries since the gruesome death of Wright’s young son deepened Wright’s obsession with the unseen. As Hannah withdraws, battles insomnia, and begins to hear voices at night, Nick struggles to support her. Then he awakens to find her gone. When the search for her fails to yield clear answers, his effort to discover what haunted her leads through local stories and long-hidden documents that only entangle him in Hannah’s fears, Wright’s anguish, and forces neither could control. Nick’s convincing narration, a chronicle of blind spots and good intentions, is chief among the devices Dolnick (At the Bottom of Everything) deploys to give familiar motifs a contemporary sensibility in this ghost tale, love story, mystery, and bildungsroman.
January 1, 2018
In Dolnick's fourth novel (after At the Bottom of Everything), New York City couple Nick Beron and Hannah Rampe are at a crossroads in their relationship and their professional lives, with musician Nick's career stalled and Hannah just laid off from her position as a museum exhibits researcher. Then a promising opportunity presents itself, and Hannah accepts the directorship of the Edmund Wright Historic House in rural Hibernia, NY. Wright, an obscure 19th-century philosopher, endured the tragic death of a son, and other mysterious deaths to haunt the property. When Hannah starts hearing voices and having trouble sleeping, Nick wonders if she is faithfully taking her antidepressants. Then she disappears, and Nick embarks on a journey that will take him into the past and the future as he uncovers long-kept secrets and connections that stand the test of time. Unfortunately, neither Nick nor Hannah ever seems fully invested in the other, and the weightier themes here suffer. Once Nick is on his own, his obsession just doesn't ring true. VERDICT A well-constructed, creepy, psychological tale about a relationship that barely warrants such attention; the asides into Wright's life and work are welcome, and one wishes for more of this thread to hold it all together.--Jennifer B. Stidham, Houston Community Coll. Northeast
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 1, 2018
Laid off from her job at the New York Historical Society, Hannah Rampe applies to be the live-in director of the Edmund Wright Historic House in the Hudson Valley. Being hired suspiciously quickly by the small, remote museum doesn't trigger warning signs, and she and her fiance, musician-composer Nick Beron, leave their life in the city and settle into a Masterpiece Theatre-type setting. Initially, Hannah is happy greeting visitors and school groups and planning events. Then she begins to hear whispering at night, and her sleep is increasingly disturbed, while Nick remains relatively oblivious to what is happening. But after tragedy strikes, Nick feels a responsibility to find answers, no matter what it takes, as townspeople provide information previously withheld and obscure philosopher White himself appears to hold the key. In his previous novels, Dolnick has examined meaningful episodes in his characters' lives; here, in this compelling mix of love story, detective story, and ghost story, he takes a haunting look at what might follow life.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)