Fatherland

Shorr (The Plum Trees) sets this spectacular portrait of abandonment against the backdrop of the Rust Belt’s decline over the second half of the 20th century. Spanning decades, the novel chronicles the slow dissolution of an Ohio family after the charismatic but feckless Martin Brier, a doctor, leaves his wife, Lora, and three children for a younger woman. Shorr eschews high drama for a quiet accumulation of detail: a secret mortgage taken out on the family home; two of the Brier children, standing outside “for anyone driving by to see,” while they wait for Martin to pick them up; and the humiliations of a woman struggling to maintain dignity in a small town where there are no secrets. The novel shines with a deep understanding of human nature: Lora gradually transforms from a bewildered helpmeet into a self-sufficient woman, while daughter Josie’s lifelong yearning for her absent father evolves into a complex mix of pity and detachment. Masterful, too, are the chapters from Martin’s perspective, as Shorr elicits empathy for her villain while he rationalizes, professes his desire for happiness, and finds solace in his professional life. The final scene between Josie and Martin, over soup in a “dirty little mall restaurant” in Cleveland, is devastating. Keenly observed and melancholy, this powerful and unsentimental novel maps the enduring geography of loss. (Mar.)