[.ca] Raveling: A Family Obsessed With a Decades-Old Tragedy (ISBN 0446610607)

From Amazon.com:
"Things fall apart, the center cannot hold." Yeats's words seem fitting for the slowly disintegrating Airie family and their son Pilot, a schizophrenic. Twenty years ago, Pilot's little sister, Fiona, disappeared. In the aftermath, the Airie family fell apart--"unraveled," Pilot observes. Old sins have long shadows, and Pilot both welcomes and fears the darkness those shadows offer. His memories of Fiona's disappearance haunt him, but they are also an anchor to a past that seems more authentic than the present. Pilot's schizophrenia is all the more poignant contrasted with the poise of his older brother Eric, a prominent neurosurgeon. Eric is the one who comes to his mother's rescue when she is stranded on the highway, unable to see to drive home after Pilot's attempt to help her devolves into a terrifying, emotional paralysis: Did they know that things had become transparent again, clear as a blue sky seen through blue water? That I could actually see the cancer forming like a tulip bulb at the base of my mother's optical nerve? I could look through the trees all the way to the highway, through her car, and through her hair and skin and cartilage and bone into the folds of tissue around her eyes, to see the muscles dilating, the tendrils of nerves and vessels of blood, and the radical cells dividing there, and dividing again. Division also lies at the core of the relationship between Pilot and Eric. Drifting between past and present, the narrative reveals a long history of cruelty and abuse, which, after festering for years, erupts into what Eric's therapist dryly terms "a major psychotic episode." What could be crazier than accusing your brother of murdering your sister? Pilot's struggle to remember the truth of his family's history calls into question the very natures of truth, memory, individuality, and complicity. The novel's strength lies in the deftness with which author Peter Moore Smith captures Pilot's schizophrenia. The reader follows Pilot in each unsteady attempt to negotiate the ever-fluctuating boundary between reality and illusion: "Eyes closed, I was in a bed upstairs, my arms under the covers so they wouldn't float away. Outside the window a single branch was reaching toward the room, unfurling itself to tap against the glass, warning me." Raveling weaves the fragile threads that bind families and selves into a tapestry that both cloaks its characters and leaves them starkly vulnerable. --Kelly Flynn

THE UNRAVELING:
Have to give Mr. Smith an A+ for coming up with a very unique way to deal with a narrative; the POV from a psychotic-schizophrenic's mind is quite unusual, to say the least. Only when this POV shifts to other people near the end of the book does this device seem so contrived. All of a sudden, we're shifting between Pilot and Eric's point of view, and if that weren't confusing enough, we even get little Fiona's point of view. If Smith is trying to suggest that Pilot has all of these thoughts in his head, it's a weak way out, and it almost negates the complexity of his work. From the onset, I pretty much knew what to expect by the end. Pilot was such a "put upon" youth, even by his older brother, Eric, that to think he was truly insane wouldn't have worked iin Smith's plot. With that aside, it's just a matter of finding out exactly what happened to little Fiona. We never really get to understand what's behind Katherine's seemingly compulsive behavior of biting her fingernails until they bleed; the section with Pilot, his father and father's mistress, Patricia, seems forced, and what happens when they are on the deserted island, also seems way out of nowhere. Given all these flaws,though, the book does have some genuinely good thrills and Pilot's mental illness is handled well. RECOMMENDED, BUT DON'T PUT YOUR EXPECTATIONS TOO HIGH.

Raveling:
As a writer, I found many flaws in this book. The writer uses a poor simile on page 1 (blue-purple vein and trickling wine) and then uses it several times in the novel. When the mother is introduced we get the same description-the cancer and the vein. He gives characters odd behaviors (such as Kathrine always chewing the scabs on her fingers and knuckles--why does she have them?) but never explains why the characters do these things. He uses a cheap tactic to get around the limitations of first person POV and thinks the reader won't mind, and won't find it annoying and confusing. The plot is very compelling (like watching a train wreck) but that is the only good thing about the book. There are a few moments in the book that are well written, and show great talent, but the entire book reads like a promising first draft, and not a polished novel.

Raveling keeps you raveling.:
For a first time novel, Smith's plot is very engrossing. You can't help but get caught up in your feelings about the characters even when the narrative is clumsy. If you don't mind reading between the lines, and filling in for yourself what is missing, then this is a great read. Although it like an extended high school creative writing essay - it still is a book you can't put down.

IT IS NOW ALL COMING TOGETHER...:
This is a worthy debut novel of suspense. The plot revolves around the disappearance of a seven year old girl from her home in a suburb of New York City some twenty odd years ago. Fiona May Airie was last seen at a house party that her parents, Hannah and Jim, had thrown. Also at the party were her two older brothers, nine year old Pilot and fourteen year old Eric. The police were never able to solve the circumstances of her disappearance, and her body was never found. Now, years later, her disappearance still haunts this family. The parents are now divorced. The father is living with his girlfriend in Florida. The mother is living alone in the very same house from which Fiona disappeared, suffering from visual disturbances. The older son, Eric, is a prominent neurosurgeon. The younger one, Pilot, is a drifter, psychologically fragile since the disappearance of his sister. Now in his late twenties, he appears to have suffered a total mental breakdown. He is found wandering in the woods in a seemingly psychotic state and is admitted into a hospital where his brother is a consulting physician. Pilot becomes the patient of psychotherapist Katherine DeQuincey-Joy, a woman who is battling her own demons. Against her better judgment, she enters in a relationship with her patient's brother, becoming his lover, only to find herself torn between the two. The story is predominantly viewed through the eyes of Pilot, who seems almost omniscient. He reveals the story of a family torn apart by tragedy, and it seems that Pilot holds the key to unlocking the mystery surrounding Fiona's disappearance all those years ago. The only problem is that the solution may be more than the family can bear knowing. Well-written, with a strong plot and some original twists in the tale, this book is sure to hold the reader's interest until the final page is turned. Although the book goes back and forth between past and present and also changes its voice at times, causing some confusion for the reader, this is a small price to pay, as the story is so intriguing. Those who enjoy psychological thrillers and novels of suspense are sure to derive much enjoyment from this chilling and absorbing book.

Great Film Script:
After reading "Raveling" I think it would make a brilliant psychological thriller film. I began to read the book feeling confused, but as it "unraveled" it became more and more engrossing.. Brilliant stuff!