She Treads Softly: At Last

Sunday, August 24, 2025

At Last

At Last by Marisa Silver
9/2/25; 288 pages
Simon & Schuster

At Last by Marisa Silver is a recommended, melancholy domestic drama which consists of twelve chapters that are actually interconnected short stories.

Helene Simonauer and Evelyn Turner first meet in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1971 when their children, Tom and Ruth, are getting married. Helene is tasked with getting flowers for the wedding and Evelyn drives her to the flower shop. The two women immediately don't like each other. From this point on the two women are connected by their granddaughter, Francine, even after their children divorce.

While the quality of writing is good, the pacing is very slow in this rather depressing character driven novel. There is a time jump between the chapters, so the novel covers decades in their lives. None of the characters are fully developed and never felt like real individuals, although their flaws are exposed. None of them are likable and they are all unhappy. Disappointment reigns supreme throughout the novel.

The plot point about the translated letters was left hanging, which was disappointing. There was also a throw away line early in the novel saying Evelyn's family sold the family farm east of Omaha. This puzzled me. My first thought was 'what, you mean across the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, Iowa' because, of course, Omaha is a river city, right by the river. Perhaps a small plot of land by the river, but no farm would be happening east of the city.

At Last may be best appreciated by those who enjoy domestic dramas through interconnected short stories. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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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.