Telephone: A Novel

Started this book thinking I’d read a few chapters before bed. Next thing I knew, I was side-eyeing my own mailbox and questioning reality. Everett doesn’t just blur the lines between storylines—he folds them into origami swans and sets them loose in your subconscious. Warning: may cause sudden existential dread, mild Googling of chess openings, and an urge to reread it immediately because... did that really just happen?

I enjoyed this sad and page turning novel. It really explores relationships and who we are within the context of our lives. It is a mystery to me why it is called 'Telephone'...it's about surviving and making decisions, for good or bad, within the context of absolute sadness and distress.

“Telephone”, by Percival Everett, has a unique first-person narrator in professor of geology Zach Wells. He seems to be a super-reliable narrator: self-aware, self-deprecating, factual but still in touch with his feelings. Wells adores his eleven-year-old daughter, Sarah; she is the person he loves most in this world. He and his wife, Meg, are together out of love for their daughter, not so much love for each other. But something really terrible happens to them all. A sub-plot involves Zach trying to rescue kidnapped Mexican woman. This book is heartbreaking, often funny, a thriller, and absolutely impossible to put down. There are three versions (A, B, and C - hence the title - like the game "telephone" where everyone hears something slightly different) that were published. I read version C. I have no idea how the other versions go, but I’m going to find out!

This was a slow start for me, that became much more compelling about half way through. Zach seems to be a good man with a good job, a good family, but who found little satisfaction with either...except his daughter. I didn't much are for him. He was mostly going along in automatic, doing & feeling what was expected of him, without embracing his good fortune, until his daughter became ill. That shook him out of his rut and he became more involved in other aspects of his life, perhaps because he had some control over those interactions. The mystery of the random note found in a used jacket pocket was a crossroad for his life. I ultimately enjoyed this book, but gave 4 stars because it took so long to care about Zach. I'm going to share it with others in my book club to find someone to discuss it with...that usually helps wrap my head around spiky characters. It was worth the read.

This is an engaging read, with multiple story lines. A great book for book club discussions.