Stone Arabia

The writing of Dana Spiotta, author of Stone Arabia, has been favorably compared by many critics to Don DeLillo (Falling Man, 2007, among many others) and Jennifer Egan (A Visit from the Goon Squad, 2010 and The Keep, 2006).  Since I thought highly of those novels, I decided to read Stone Arabia.  I liked Falling Man and I absolutely LOVED A Visit from the Goon Squad ("time is a goon, man") and now the question is: how do I feel about Stone Arabia?

I was very intrigued by the basic premise of the story.  It focuses on a brother and sister, Nik and Denise, who are battling middle-age crises of identity.  Nik is a reclusive, self-documenting musician. Denise is his most faithful fan (among very few) and has been since they were children.  

As the narrator, Denise begins with the ending: Nik has disappeared on the occasion of his 50th birthday.  It's not unexpected: Denise has been fearful of this very event.  Nik has become the quintessential artistic eccentric: for the last 20 years or so, he has been creating an alternate story of his life called the "Chronicles".  The Chronicles satisfy Nik's mantra of "self-curate or disappear" and are an obsessively detailed version of a mostly fictitious career and life.  Nik will live on in his Chronicles in a way that he desires and that is also in stark contrast to his impoverished, aging, never-quite-made-it rock star reality.  He looks forward to the end of his life and has no regrets;  it's all for the best. 

Denise, on the other hand, obsesses about the aging process.  She sees their mother in the beginning stages of Alzheimers and is sure she is headed in the same direction.  She envies Nik in many ways: his detachment from reality and materials goods, his ability to recreate his history, his seeming contentment with his strange, reclusive self-documenting behavior. Denise spends much of her time in a somewhat "parallel" universe too.  But she is aware of it and struggles with her behavior.  Denise is fascinated and deeply affected by global news events; she can't get enough information about tragic events she sees on TV and spends hours searching the internet for additional information.  The title of the novel refers to one of these obsessions.  

If I were forced to rank DeLillo, Egan and Spiotta, I would put them in just that order.  Someday I think Egan may outrank DeLillo, but not just yet.  By the way, if you haven't read A Visit from the Goon Squad, you should give it a try.

Friends (you know who you are) have pointed out to me that I seem attracted to "darker" stories and I must admit this is a true observation.  Stone Arabia would have to be placed in that category.  Like A Visit from the Goon Squad, it illuminates our obsession with aging and decay.  I find that comforting; it's the the constant blitzkrieg of anti-aging vitamins, cosmetics, and miracle foods that I find depressing.  

We are not meant to live forever; and that's a good thing.