» Click here to read Roberta O'Hara's review.

 

Review #1 by Pamela Kramer

Bonnie Garmus has graced us with another stunning novel. Her first, LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY, is a bestselling favorite, beloved by book clubs and readers everywhere. Her sophomore effort, PECK & PECK, is a very different kind of story. But her brilliant writing shines through as we read about a young man whose only ambition in life is to read, discuss and critique poetry. 

Batter Gray explains that his affair with poetry began with Dr. Seuss, but unlike other kids, he just kept going. He says he liked that poems were short and had secret messages. “To get at the secret message, you had to read the poem again and again: really think, you know?" And Batter quotes Auden, one of his favorite poets at age 10, as an example. His obsession with being a poet did not go over well with his teachers or his parents. 

Everyone explained that Batter needed a real job, that writing poetry was not a full-time endeavor with a salary. But he couldn't find anything of interest to him. He tried out several majors in college and failed. He ended up with a degree in pre-law, which he had no intention of using. Much to his chagrin, he realized while taking a poetry class that he wasn't good at writing poetry. His strength was reading and analyzing it. 

Batter’s favorite poetry publication was a tiny quarterly journal called Peck & Peck. It was first presented to him when he was 11, and we understand how very special it was: “Then she unlocked a cabinet behind her desk and withdrew the slim journal like it was the Holy Grail.” The subsequent description of the journal is extremely detailed. It was bound in a “thin, leathery field-guide-type cover that seemed to suggest it could survive any storm.” Its simplicity was extreme. There were no banners, and every cover was the same. A drawing of an egg seemed to emit a tiny glow, and above it was the name Peck & Peck “perfectly set in thirty-two-point serif type called Bembo.”

"Bonnie Garmus has graced us with another stunning novel.... [H]er brilliant writing shines through as we read about a young man whose only ambition in life is to read, discuss and critique poetry."

Over the course of the novel, we learn a lot about typeface because Batter's mother, Rainey, is an expert in the field. By age 11, Batter knew hundreds of different typefaces by sight. So that plays an important role in the book, as does the dog that Batter was named after. (This novel is, after all, by Garmus, who made us fall in love with Six-Thirty in her debut.) Batter-the-first was an incredibly brilliant dog as we learn from the stories Batter-the-second's mother tells him. They are so outrageous that, like Batter, we find them hard to believe. It's obvious that Batter-the-first was a special dog. But saving a city? Giving children money? Bringing Rainey a bouquet of roses? It definitely stretches credulity. 

The humor is omnipresent. As Garmus describes Batter's relationships with his parents, his best friend Paul, and his coworkers, laugh-out-loud moments jump off the page. One such instance is when his mother tells him about bloodhounds: “If you ever commit a crime and the detectives put a bloodhound on your trail, take my advice: turn yourself in. Bloodhounds are pros --- they'll find you no matter what. And when they do, they won't tear you limb from limb as so many believe, but lick you until you're fully covered in a blanket of their slobbery drool. According to a recent government study, given the amount and viscosity of this drool, nine out of ten criminals would prefer being torn limb from limb.”

What's also amusing is the huge number of people in the story who hate poetry. Think about it: How many of your friends love poetry and read it for pleasure? Probably not many. And that's why Peck & Peck finds it impossible to stay afloat. But when the millionaire twin brother who really hates poetry takes over the family business, he's all about business. He also has a secret agenda, which he shares with Batter.

PECK & PECK really picks up speed as we start to see the passions of those who love poetry. The editors at Peck & Peck argue relentlessly about which poems to include in their very selective, distinguished and respected journal from the hundreds and thousands of poems they are sent. I loved the impossibly beautiful building in which Peck & Peck is housed --- as if it also is a work of art, a work of poetry, containing a vast glass dome on top, pneumatic tubes that send memos around the building, and topiaries on the balconies that, when read together, spell out messages. It's all utterly fantastic and charming.

According to Batter, poetry is everything. At one point, he comments that “poetry is supposed to make you think, not follow.” Ironically, while receiving poor grades in his poetry classes, his pre-law professors praised his papers and arguments. When Paul asks where his ideas originate, he responds that they come from poetry. Batter's argument in his paper was that minimum wage was not a living wage. His ideas came from Langston Hughes’ poem, “Mother to Son,” which is an outstanding piece but is not about minimum wage. Garmus showcases Batter's ability to take important poems and dissect them to extract hidden messages and ideas, which he then hoards in his mind as a pirate's booty of treasure to be used as needed.

It's good versus evil (or poetry and the arts versus crass commercialism/capitalism), and we aren't really sure which side Batter is on until the end. After all, being able to afford a decent apartment and paying off student loans would be nice. But by the end, we are rooting for Batter to do the right thing, to overcome the enemy of poetry, to defeat the enemy of beauty and morality. And while Batter doesn't actually have a dog, he does have years of hearing about his namesake's courage and determination to do the right thing. Will Batter rise to the challenge as the dog he was named after certainly would have done?

Garmus' novel is inspiring. It’s the kind of book that is even better when it’s read a second time so you can fully grasp the foreshadowing that is easy to miss on the first reading, as well as revisit the lovely prose. Rereading encourages us to appreciate the descriptions, the stories within the story, and the myriad characters who (almost) all, in their own way, are rooting for Batter. I'm planning on using it for the book club that I lead, as I imagine many others will.
 

Review #2 by Roberta O’Hara

Every generation of writers produces characters who just stick with us. All readers know who they are: the Molly Blooms, the Holden Caulfields, the Jay Gatsbys, the Garps, and now Batter Gray --- the protagonist of Bonnie Garmus’ sophomore offering, PECK & PECK.  

Batter Gray (what a name!) is a voice that won’t soon be forgotten in the pantheon of great narrators.  A quirky, single-minded individual, Batter is a keeper, as they say. He is the product of Garmus’ imagination, but his name will exist in our combined literary imaginations for years to come.

The book’s mostly trustworthy narrator, Batter is a poetry savant who is living in New York City in the 1980s. A somewhat precocious child, he knew in fourth grade in Yuba City that not only did he love poetry, he wanted to devote his life to the pursuit of new poetry. And not even his father saying that a career in poetry was like “going into macrame. You don’t do that on purpose” could dissuade him from his goal. The poets “knew all the answers,” according to Batter, and were worthy of his reverence and his loyalty to them. 

Throughout four years of college, rife with a hilarious revolving door of multiple majors (from accounting to mathematics, from neuroscience to philosophy), Batter defended his love of the written word. It was during those college days that he discovered the holy grail of modern poetry: the elite Peck & Peck journal that captured pages of delectable verse and his undivided attention.

"At times, I found myself thinking that the book is reminiscent of the best writing of John Irving or Anne Tyler. But there is no mistaking that Batter Gray will go down in literary history as one of a kind."

Heartbroken when he learned that the journal was closing (“less time in the poetry section meant more time in the real world”), Batter never stopped dreaming of the words that filled its pages and the possibility of a career reading poetry and discovering the next great voices. It’s in this undying devotion that Garmus gives us a love letter to sonnets, haiku, ballads, epics, odes and more. Every few pages there is a reference to one of the obvious or one of the obscure, giving readers a pat on the back for knowing the author or a reason to google someone new.

Yes, Batter had to deceive his father, the community college history professor, and his mother, the type design expert, into thinking that he was heading off to law school, with a reputable and lucrative career ahead of him. But he did it for them --- to assuage their concerns that a poet-whisperer could never make ends meet. Instead, he held down three jobs until one (maybe) fateful day he accidentally discovered that the journal he grieved was still in existence. And they were hiring!

What immediately ensues verges on madcap. The longest wait for the start of an interview in recorded history, a one-sided exchange with the famously volatile genius Salton Peck, and the offer of the job-of-his-dreams (maybe), followed by a tour of the architecturally enthralling offices that surely must be his destiny. Only to learn that his new role was the lowest on the literary totem pole --- a dungeon-esque workspace, running copy errands for the 39 egotistical editors ensconced in the hallowed halls above him.

And so Batter enters the world he wished for --- a world of poets who “provided actual answers,” who helped “decode” the mysteries of life. But Peck & Peck is not an idyllic haven. Batter finds himself embroiled in a world of duplicitous editors, poets who will try anything to be read, and even arson. Garmus’ love letter is also her commentary on the working grind. It unearths all the inner battles, gossip and scapegoating one might suspect of any office, in any business.

Garmus proved that she is a writer with humor mettle in her first book, LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY, and in PECK & PECK the humor is on full display. Right from the start, her clever and delightful turns of phrase, play on words and downright silliness have readers laughing --- and sometimes out loud. For instance, who is Batter named after? His mother Rainey's former dog, who, according to her, was a superhero worthy of a cape and its own bat signal.

It is not hard to miss duality as an ungirding theme of PECK & PECK. Batter is a twin (his brother died at birth); Peck & Peck is run by twins. His parents’ push for a solid, breadwinning career vs. a passion vocation. Love and hate. Good and bad (did I mention the book opens with Batter revealing he is a prisoner?). But what truly sings here is singularity: the singular truth of the beauty of writing, the single “ear” for the music of poetry, the singlemindedness with which Batter commits to his passion, and the fact that he is --- unapologetically --- singularly himself.

Minor characters fill out the vivid pages with more hilarity, romp and love. Paul, Batter’s best friend from college, accepts Batter nearly unconditionally and provides a solid foil to Batter’s whimsical career choice. And Wren becomes key to one of Batter’s other desires. Rainey shines off the page. Her dialogue is worthy of its own book, and she wields a story like a Swiss army knife: so many points, so many edges.

PECK & PECK features original characters, an original storyline, and an original voice. At times, I found myself thinking that the book is reminiscent of the best writing of John Irving or Anne Tyler. But there is no mistaking that Batter Gray will go down in literary history as one of a kind.