David James Duncan is an American treasure. His latest novel, Sun House, is a tour de force. It took him almost two decades to get it to his readers, but it was worth the wait. I’ve never read another book quite like it.
The characters are deep. And they became real, feeling like people in my own life. I had conversations with them. I asked them questions. When I closed the book at the end I was, in no particular order, exhilarated, sad (because it was over and well, yeah, there is sadness in there), joyful, stunned, humbled, and of course, deeply moved. When he framed that house, David hit every single nail square on the head. I am honored and humbled and envious of his craft.
The book is a tapestry, woven. By that I mean you are slowly introduced, one at a time, to a group of people who don’t yet know each other. We meet them each in various places throughout their lives. The chapters are dated, which helps us keep track. The time schisms are sometimes awkward, but as the novel coalesces and begins to take off and characters begin meeting each other, having a sense of the time sequences is valuable. Duncan also uses that as subtle and brilliant foreshadowing. He includes the reader, somehow, in the coming action by trusting our imagination. Our reward is becoming part of an extraordinary group of human beings.
A vast river of spiritual power roars throughout the stories, but is never judgmental, never presented as the One True Way, never cloying, and always honest. For these characters faith is very matter-of-fact. It just is. People disagree without judgement. They agree without cultism. That is a world I would love to live in. After all, shouldn’t various faiths lead us all to the same place, the same understanding, the same peace? Isn’t that what faith is for? In Sun House, that is the way of the world. Toward the end of the book, I found myself slowing down because I didn’t want to reach the end and have to set it aside. When I did set it down, I needed to put the word ‘finished’ in italics, knowing that I would probably never truly be finished with the book. It will come to mind and heart for the rest of my days and be always welcome.
Sun House is probably the most ambitious and satisfying novel I have ever read.
Narble Furt Lives 