A review by emilyinherhead
Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume

mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Sometimes I see the sadness in you, the same sadness that’s in me. It’s in the way you sigh and stare and hang your head. It’s in the way you never wholly let you guard down and take the world I’ve given you for granted. My sadness isn’t a way I feel but a thing trapped inside the walls of my flesh, like a smog. It takes the sheen off everything. It rolls the world in soot. It saps the power from my limbs and presses my back into a stoop. (47)

Ray, a man who is “too old for starting over, too young for giving up,” adopts a one-eyed dog appropriately called One-Eye, and this novel follows their relationship over the course of four seasons. In the first section, I thought I knew how their story would go, but goodness, I was wrong.

This isn’t a feel-good tale about an isolated older man who gains a renewed vitality and joie de vivre from caring for an animal. Ray gets out of his house, yes, and travels with One-Eye, yes, but he remains at a remove from the world, trapped inside his own paranoia, distrust, and dark past. In many ways I felt sad for him, and also afraid, unsettled.

But the writing! This is absolutely a language book, beautifully composed and begging to be savored. It’s written in second person, from Ray to the “you” of One-Eye. The descriptions of Ray’s world, his thoughts, what he sees in front of him, and what he remembers, are all gorgeous, even when the content is off-putting. And there are a few glimmering moments of hope in all the discomfort and tension:

I realise that your were not born with a predetermined capacity for wonder, as I’d believed. I realise that you fed it up yourself from tiny pieces of the world. I realise it’s up to me to follow your example and nurture my own wonder, morsel by morsel by morsel. (148)

Despite covering all four seasons, this story felt solidly cold, and a bit lonely, and perfect for reading in winter. I’ll be thinking about Ray and One-Eye for quite a while and looking forward to more of Sara Baume’s work.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings