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There is a story, possibly apocryphal, probably true, that is told about Frank Zappa. He is reported to have started a concert by walking on stage, sitting down, and staring at the audience while saying and playing nothing. The audience responded at first with silence in kind, then murmuring, then muttering, and as time passed, catcalls, shouts, and boos. Zappa, as the story goes, smiled and said, "Really brings out the hostility in you, doesn't it?"
I'm going to confess that I underwent a similar catharsis while reading THE WALKAWAY by Scott Phillips. Phillips's debut novel, THE ICE HARVEST, was of such simple, stunning brilliance that it garnered nominations for just about every mystery award one could name; made the "Best Of" lists for 2001 of several critics and reviewers, including this one; and left readers hungry for Phillips's next novel. And THE WALKAWAY is...well, it's brilliant as well, but in a far different way.
THE WALKAWAY is both a prequel and a sequel to THE ICE HARVEST. THE ICE HARVEST was a fairly linear tale, describing the dark events of a Christmas Eve night in Wichita, Kansas, in 1979. THE WALKAWAY is its polar opposite, bouncing in viewpoint from 10 years after to roughly a quarter-century before the events of THE ICE HARVEST and focusing on Gunther Fahnstiel, introduced at the end, literally, of that novel. One word of warning: if you have never read THE ICE HARVEST, or if you have read it, but not recently, get it and read it now. You will have no idea what is happening in THE WALKAWAY otherwise. You will also need to write down the names of each of the characters as you encounter them in THE WALKAWAY or you will be hopelessly confused.
The question, accordingly, might be: Is all of this worth it? The answer is a resounding yes. Phillips is a writer of compelling, stark talent that even during those passages where I was stumbling, momentarily baffled as to what was going on, I couldn't help but continue reading and following Fahnstiel who, in 1989, is in the grip of dementia but is nonetheless able to walk away from the assisted care facility in which he is confined. His memory for time, people, and events is a sometime and elusive thing, but with lemming-like ability he trudges toward his goal, a gravel pit on the outskirts of the city, even as his purpose for doing so occasionally and frustratingly eludes him. Friends and family, meanwhile, search for him while his wanderings result in encounters that unite Fahnstiel's past with their present and reveal secrets buried just below the surface of otherwise quiet and ordinary lives. Phillips, along the way, gently teases and toys with the framework of the traditional novel. THE WALKAWAY has a traditional beginning and ending: it is in the middle where Phillips experiments a bit. It is ultimately fascinating to watch him get where he is going. The journey is the equal of the destination.
Roughly a half-century ago a writer named Lawrence Durrell published four novels that ultimately became known as The Alexandria Quartet. The first three novels in the series told the same story from a markedly different viewpoint, with the fourth carrying the story forward. It was not until the third novel, MOUNTOLIVE however, that it became even remotely clear as to what Durrell was doing. I think that Phillips might be up to something in a similar vein with his work, though it may be closer perhaps to Faulkner's FLAGS IN THE DUST, in result if not in execution. No matter; in either event, what we may well be witnessing is quiet genius aborning. While THE WALKAWAY makes demands, it is worth the effort and more.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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