Peter Moore Smith, Raveling (Little, Brown, 2000)Acclaimed short story writer Peter Moore Smith turns his talents to novel writing, and Raveling is his debut offering. It's been received with, to be kind, mixed reviews, probably because it's a genre novel-- but what genre it is is somewhat elusive.Pilot Airie is a diagnosed schizophrenic whose mental problems started after the abduction of his little sister twenty years before. His mother Hannah, who's almost as neurotic as Pilot is, has started seeing double; his brother Eric, a successful neurosurgeon, says it's psychosomatic. (Dad's off in Florida with the new girlfriend.) Welcome to Oprahland, where dysfunction reigns supreme. Smith puts a twist on it, though-- the story is completely told through the eyes of Pilot, who believes himself omniscient. Thus, we are forced to ask ourselves from page one, is any of this actually happening, or is it all in Pilot's head? And if it IS really happening, what does that say about the underlying message about schizophrenia and its relation to (what we shall call for lack of a better term) extrasensory powers?Sounds like a mystery, doesn't it? Well, perhaps, or it could be a novel of the dysfuctional-fiction genre, focusing on drawing the character of Pilot and having him interact with those around him. Or a historical novel-- not of the gothic-romance type, but a novel of the process of attempting to rebuild history (given Pilot's narration, the mystery isn't just about what happened to his sister, but about what's happened to his family over the twenty years following what happened to Fiona, see?). And this is, perhaps, where some reviewers are getting sidetracked; how you approach the book will probably lead to how you view the last half of it. If it's a conventional mystery, it very quickly gets predictable.I chose to look at it as a kind of Pilot-vs.-the-world story, or a coming-of-age book about a thirty-year-old schizophrenic, and that made all the difference. The solving of the mystery of Fiona is handled more in the sense of classical tragedy than contemporary mystery; you can see the ending coming a mile off, but that's because the solving of the mystery itself is a background to the players and their motives; the real mystery for the reader lies in Pilot himself.An enjoyable read, especially for a first novel. *** 1/2
I think this has to be the most unusual suspense novel I've ever read. I'm so used to straight forward points of view and it takes a well to get into the very strange POV of this story, but it's well worth perservering. The tale is largely told through the POV of Pilot - who is psychologically fragile. His family have become unraveled after the disappearance of Pilot young sister. Pilot's older brother is now a neuro surgeon. Their father has left home and started a new life elswhere. Their mother is haunted by the memories of her missing daughter. Throw Pilot's new psychologist into the mix and things unravel or ravel further. Say too much and the plot is spoiled but I really enjoyed this one.
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Some of the reviews I read here said this book dragged which almost made me reconsider reading it but thank goodness I didn't let those reviews deter me from reading this page turner! Yes, page turner! This is one fabulous novel, in my opinion. So many delusional personalities fighting through the grief of losing a child and not finding the missing child's body leaving nagging questions unanswered.If you like psychological suspense with shocking events that leave you wondering, then this is the book for you! Beware though....At times the story is dark and a bit creepy....WOW....What an ending! Yikes!
—Barbara
