cover image GETTING OUT

GETTING OUT

Gwendolen Gross, . . Holt, $24 (304pp) ISBN 978-0-8050-6834-4

Hannah Blue feels trapped. Her Boston design agency job is unimaginative, her boyfriend wants to move in and her family is too needy. After a particularly demeaning encounter with her boss at the start of this creaky drama, Hannah happens upon her colleague Linda's entrancing vacation photographs and garners herself an invitation to a meeting of Linda's Adventurers' Club. So begins Hannah's obsession with the outdoors, the grueling hikes and punishing climbs providing a setting in which she is able to bond with new people while contemplating the direction her life is taking. Gross (author of the well-received Field Guide) is a competent writer, and Hannah's journey to self-discovery is in parts funny, touching and exhilarating. Boyfriend Ben, a museum curator, defies stereotype by being short (five foot six) and unafraid of commitment; Hannah's family members are equally unorthodox, though not fleshed out quite as well. As family problems mount—her father has lupus, her brother and his wife are splitting up—Hannah flees her increasingly chaotic life and goes on a solo expedition in the New Hampshire woods, which forces her to make some tough evaluations of her recent behavior and decide what it is she really wants. Her final decision has been obvious from the outset of the novel, which wouldn't be such a drawback if Gross's prose had more to offer than solid narrative, but the occasional attempts at stylistic flourishes ("sun spilled inside his lips") feel forced. Still, this is a capable performance, of particular interest to lovelorn hiking aficionados. Agent, Elaine Koster. (June 11)

Forecast:Readers who enjoyed the more ambitious Field Guide may be disappointed by Gross's sophomore effort, but Getting Out should pick up a few new readers from the Bridget Jones reader pool.