Novel explores friendship, marriage and how they can end

“Days of Awe” by Lauren Fox (Knopf, 256 pages, $24.95)

In a recent interview with the New York Times, author Ursula K. LeGuin said, when asked which genres she avoids, “At the moment, I tend to avoid fiction about dysfunctional urban middle-class people written in the present tense.” Blanket avoidance of a genre isn’t necessarily something to recommend, but “Days of Awe” is probably the kind of book she’s talking about. The writing is more literary than other examples of the genre, and only a few sections are written in the present tense, but it is indeed about dysfunctional urban middle-class people.

Set in Milwaukee, which in itself is a nice change from all the books about dysfunctional urban middle-class people set in New York, this novel follows Isabel Moore, a 40-something middle-school teacher. Her best friend, Josie, has died in a car accident; her husband, Chris, has moved out; and her adolescent daughter, Hannah, has hit the sullen, eye-rolling stage. Isabel’s life is a mess – some of which is out of her control and some of which is due to her own inertia – but it’s a middle-class mess, all angst and anomie.

Isabel is dealing with her grief about the loss of Josie, and harbors more than a little resentment of how Josie’s widower, Mark, one of her own oldest friends, is dealing with it differently. Her grief colors her relationship with her husband and daughter, too, but it’s really all about her: Chris and Hannah aren’t particularly developed as characters.

The parts about Isabel and Josie’s friendship are well drawn, especially as Josie spirals into riskier behavior and Isabel is at a loss about what she can or should do about it. The two of them are funny together, conspiratorial and sometimes even mean, but one wonders how well they really knew each other at all.

The best thing about the book is Isabel’s mother, Helene, whose judgments about people are based on – recalling Anne Frank – whether they would hide you in the attic. She’s quirky and funny, clever and practical, and loves her daughter and granddaughter fiercely. And she sends Isabel to a relationship support group knowing that it’s a setup for her to meet someone new.

Fox’s writing is crisp and witty, but the story itself is uneven, choppy and oddly paced in places. The title, a reference to the Jewish High Holy Days, is also alluded to in the story when Isabel thinks of the time when Hannah was young and she and Chris shared “an almost-shameful pride” in her, when a day is “bathed in sunlight, golden.” Neither one seems strongly connected to the rest of the story, some parts of which don’t even seem too connected to each other.

This story was originally published August 28, 2015 at 2:21 PM with the headline "Novel explores friendship, marriage and how they can end."