She Treads Softly: A Little Hope

Monday, October 25, 2021

A Little Hope

A Little Hope by Ethan Joella
11/16/21; 288 pages
Scribner

A Little Hope by Ethan Joella is a very highly recommended drama of interlinking stories set the small city of Wharton, Connecticut over the span of ten months.

Greg Tyler, 39, has just been diagnosed with multiple myeloma and now he and his wife, Freddie, must find a way to deal with his illness and the treatments while caring for their 7 year-old daughter. The other stories about people in or from Wharton all touch the life of the Tyler's in some way. Greg's boss, Alex, loss his son years ago and subsequently had an affair and daughter. A widow, Darcy, grieves for her late spouse while her son struggles with addiction. A wedding is being planned and we learn about several of the people involved. People are dealing with life, uncertainty, loss, and grief all while being connected through their community.

A Little Hope is a beautifully written collection of stories that work together to depict quiet, ordinary lives in a small town. The stories do return to characters and continue following their experiences. Joella presents glimpses into the lives of people in this community and opens up a window into their feelings, thoughts, struggles, and doubts. It is reminiscent of real life in the depiction of each of the characters and their private emotions as they quietly react to and process the events around them. These are ordinary individuals and this emotionally powerful debut allows us into their inner lives.

While about different individuals, the stories all work together to create a sensitive portrait of a community through the inner lives of these people. It is a strong debut novel that has an emotional intensity even though many of the character's reactions are outwardly restrained as they deal with their struggles privately. They find a way to forgive and love, or at least accept their circumstances, in order to move on while handling the many challenges even a normal life encompasses. This is an excellent novel!

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Scribner.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.