A Change in Altitude

August 10, 2009
Shreve (Testimony
), who worked in Kenya as a journalist early in her career, returns to that country in her slow latest, the story of a photojournalist and her doctor husband, whose temporary relocation abroad goes sour. The year-long research trip is an opportunity for Patrick, but leaves Margaret floundering in colonialist culture shock, feeling like “an actor in a play someone British had written for a previous generation.” When a climbing trip to Mt. Kenya goes fatally wrong, Margaret's role in the tragedy drives a quiet wedge between the couple. Compounding those stressors are multiple robberies and adulterous temptations, as well as Margaret's freelance work for a “controversial” newspaper. Written in a strangely emotionless third person, the novel is stuffed with travelogues and vignettes of privileged expatriate life, including the chestnut of Margaret feeling very guilty about being given a rug she admires. While some of these moments aren't bad, the scant dramatic tension and direct-to-video plot make this a slog.

With her usual insightful, carefully constructed plot, Anita Shreve (THE PILOT'S WIFE, THE WEIGHT OF WATER) presents a character-driven analysis of a marriage in crisis. Margaret and her husband, Patrick, go to Kenya for a year while he does medical research. On a climbing trip up Mt. Kenya, disaster occurs, causing a rift between the couple. Narrator Anna Stone slips comfortably into Shreve's intricately drawn characters and is particularly adept at accents--from African and Afrikaans to American, British, and Italian. In an engaging, intelligent reading, Stone delivers Shreve's depictions of Africa's extreme poverty, women's roles, the effects of tragedy and mistrust on marriage, and the existence of an indifferent universe. Shreve fans won't want to miss this challenging look at human relationships. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine