Customer Reviews

A Few Corrections

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Midway through this exquisite novel the narrator recalls, through an alcoholic mist, that, "the most distant object visible by day--the sun-- lies some eight minutes away at the speed of light. The most distant visible by night--the Great Andromeda Galaxy--lies two million light-years away. In terms of visible boundaries, then, night is some 100 billion times bigger than day." Clearly (or murkily), that leaves much to explore. The primary object of exploration in A Few Corrections, Wesley Sultan, the quintessentially American salesman, has departed for the great darkness beyond life, and the obituary of the man is less than illuminating. The narrator methodically seeks to shed light on this mystery.

While the novel is organized around the attempt to make a few corrections to the memory of this rather ordinary Midwestern life, Brad Leithauser makes more than a few fascinating connections, extending to the extraordinary. Some connections work as metaphor. Of Wesley's sister, the babbling Adelle, he writes, "Her monologue is a wandering creek of so gentle a propulsion, you have to take on faith the notion that you'll eventually get out of the woods and into open waterways." The connections work at the larger structural level of the novel, which will have the careful reader returning to the beginning of chapters and earlier parts of the book to confirm the revelations. For fans of Brad Leithauser, there are even connections to his other works of fiction and poetry. I'm anxious to see where this novel will connect to his future work.

The novel is filled with humorous vignettes and is beautifully written. (It's better when you read it aloud.) Though Wesley Sultan is elusive, the narrator reaches small epiphanies with those who aid him in his quest. Leithauser treats his characters with great warmth and understanding. He also effectively evokes an earlier and lost time. A Few Corrections is fast-paced: it's a good read. At the same time, its richness makes it a good re-read, too.

This fascinating book describes the (fictional) hunt for the truth behind a very bland obituary notice. The book begins with a copy of the notice and links what the reader (the author) knows to his search for the tangled life which the obituary concealed. Not only is it a good read, but it is a warning and inspiration to family historians.

This book is sharp-minded and subtlely witty and knows whereof it speaks. I loved every moment of it.

Former Manhattan investment advisor Luke Cross reads the Restoration Oracle obituary for his recently deceased father, Wesley Cross Sultan. He cannot believe that the three paragraphs in the Michigan paper contain a dozen errors. Luke notices that even Wesley's age is wrong and if he, who hardly knew his dad, can see obvious mistakes how many more are not so blatant.

Luke begins to edit the obit, making corrections. He also decides to learn more about his father. He visits living relatives and ex-wives to learn the truth about Wesley. Luke quickly concludes that his father was a great womanizer and even greater liar. In other words, the father he does not know more and more looks like a charming rogue who one either adored or loathed.

A FEW CORRECTIONS is an intriguing look at the freedoms and controls society places on an individual to conform even one with wide latitude. The story line is amusing and melancholy sometimes at the same time. Some of the relatives are strong characters with three dimension personalities, but key players Luke and Wesley invoke nothing for the audience as they seem flat in comparison. Still, Brad Leithauser has written a different type of tale as this character study focuses on a person through the final statement about their life: the obituary.

Harriet Klausner

There's not really a lot to say about this book other than Leithauser comes up with a really intriguing concept and basically does little of interest with it.

Basically, the book's narrator explains that he is seeking to correct the many errors in the brief obituary of the recently deceased Wesley Sultan. That's not a bad concept for a book but unfortunately, the discoveries we make about Wesley are, for the most part, banal and painfully predictable. The narrator's identity is supposed to be something of a mystery so I won't reveal it in this review but I will say that it should be obvious to anyone who makes it beyond the second chapter.

The book's real problem is that it is just painfully dull. Basically, it consists of our narrator interviewing the people from Wes's past. All of these people are written to be very flamboyant but instead just comes across as rather "annoying." Its as if Leithauser used a random, create-an-interesting-character generator and so, he ended up with familiar figures like the young man with a dark secret, the chatty old woman who goes on about sex (yeah, never seen that before), and of course, the grouchy misanthrope who has a secret heart of gold. All stereotypes and all presented to the reader as if Leithauser actually believes he's the first person to ever come up with these stock figures.

Leithauser does have style to burn. He puts his sentences together with undeniable skill. You want metaphors? This guy has got a metaphor for everything. In fact, his writing is so florid and metaphor-driven that it only makes the plot's refusal to be anything other than thoroughly banal all the more annoying. Its like being forced to listen to the bar know-it-all, so in love with his own vocabulary and so convinced that everything he's saying is a gem of great wit, that eventually any sensible person can't help but yell, "WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP!?"

So, in short, I guess I didn't care too much for this book.

Leithauser sure can write; this book is loaded with well-crafted sentences and paragraphs. And lots of fine observations . . . what you'd expect from a poet. Yet the novel is flat, bereft of narrative energy, its characters nuanced but uncompelling. I've read all Leithauser's novels, and my favorite is his quasi-autobiographical book about young Americans in Japan, "Equal Distance." Ever since that book, it seems to me that he's been searching for themes and characters worthy of his talent. Alas, what's missing here, despite his best efforts, is a good story. Instead of being a pleasure, "A Few Corrections" ends up being a chore to finish.