Alphabet

Starred review from August 25, 2014
Page's gritty and illuminating sixth novel, originally published in 2004, and shortlisted for Canada's Governor General's Literary Awards in 2005, follows Simon Austen, a convicted murderer, through a series of inner triumphs and small victories as he makes his way through the British penal system. Fascinating from the first page, readers watch Austen as he learns how to read, becomes a letter writer for his fellow inmates, and "gets into education, big time," eventually earning all his high school credits. He decides to address the issue of his inability to relate to women, on his own at first, by corresponding with various women. His description, in one of those letters, of the events that lead him to strangle his girlfriend sends him into a tailspin as he begins to face the underlying reasons behind the impulsive violent act that has defined his life. He is sent to an intensive therapeutic program that forces him to face many of his most serious issues. The journey Austen makes is primarily an inner one, a slow peeling back of the layers of protection he uses to shut everyone out, including himself. As he starts to let people in, in a series of increasingly authentic interactions, we bear witness to his slow and inspiring transformation.

Starred review from August 15, 2014
A moving novel about knowledge, self-awareness and the power of words, set in the purgatory of prison. This young man's life demands our attention and refuses to let go. Simon Austen is serving life imprisonment for the murder of his girlfriend in a fit of uncontrollable rage. It's Margaret Thatcher's 1980s England, but he is lost in time, attending sessions with institutional psychiatrists who might be able to help him gain parole. He learns to read with the aid of a prison volunteer and writes letters for his fellow inmates to lawyers, mothers and lovers, considering it his job. He also writes his version of his life story, tattooing his body with the words others have called him in spite and hate: "ARROGANT," "WEIRDO," "BASTARD," "COLD," "MURDERER." Then "COURAGEOUS," inspired by Bernadette "Bernie" Nightingale, a counselor he fantasizes about and works with to enter an experimental program that may move his parole forward. Page writes fiercely, drawing a fine portrait of a man who lives daily, routinely, fragilely in an environment that can erupt in violence at any time. It does, in a powerful scene where Simon is gang-beaten, has bleach poured down his throat, and is sent to a hospital, where all we've learned about him is dramatically, but tenderly, unsettled. Vic is his roommate in the prison hospital and an unforgettable character as he transforms into Charlotte, disrupting Simon's view of life's predictability and moving him to a greater understanding. Charlotte is freed, figuratively and literally, but writes letters and visits Simon, giving him strength and a vision of life outside the cement and steel of incarceration and the confinement of his own history. The words that are inked over Simon's body are simply prologue to the next chapter of his life. Page doesn't sentimentalize the cruelty of life in a prison system but manages to transcend it through Simon, who writes his own story in tattoo ink and letters. This powerful novel is simply an epiphany.

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September 1, 2014

Simon Austen is serving a life sentence in the British penal system for the brutal murder of his girlfriend. Taking advantage of the educational opportunities there, he discovers a passion for learning and writing. Simon also wants human connection, so he begins a series of correspondences with various women, including an alcoholic college professor, a troubled teenager, and a man undergoing sex-reassignment surgery. Through the support of a caring psychological counselor (to whom he has developed a one-sided romantic attachment), Simon is admitted to an experimental therapy program, where he begins to confront his past and take responsibility for his actions. Despite the nature of his crime, Simon is a surprisingly sympathetic character, and readers with an open mind will be drawn into his journey. VERDICT Offering an emotional read without sentimentality or easy, pat answers, Page (The Find) missteps only in the occasional scenes showing Simon's counselors talking about him and analyzing his case, which removes us from the character's limited but compelling perspective. The book concludes without a clear resolution but indications of what Simon's next steps might be. Recommended.--Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis

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