The Days of Awe

The national tragedy of 9/11 collides with the personal tragedy of a Manhattan book illustrator. Artie Rubin, 67, lives on the Upper West Side with his wife, Johanna; the first half of the book deals with the ordinary details of love, work and sex in later life. At the attack on the World Trade Center midbook, Nissenson broadens the scope to include friends, acquaintances and characters who get caught in the attacks, including a man who jumps from one of the towers while talking to his fiancée, as a former romantic rival, who missed work that day, survives. Johanna suffers a serious heart attack; Artie struggles to maintain his perspective. Their lives in the Jewish community play a significant role and their faith comes in for heavy questioning. The grim conclusion adds a dark cast to an otherwise balanced narrative. This is Nissenson's first novel since the NBA and PEN-Faulkner finalist The Tree of Life (1985). Solid character writing and attention to the details of daily life make the September 11 material well motivated; as characters continue to worry, kibitz, philosophize and complain, one feels that they have a real sense of the stakes. (Sept.)