The Loss of Leon Meed: A Novel [Hardcover]

Josh Emmons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 19, 2005

In Josh Emmons's inventive and utterly engaging debut, ten residents of Eureka, California, are brought together by a mysterious man, Leon Meed, who repeatedly and inexplicably appears -- in the ocean, at a local rock music club, clinging to the roof of a barreling truck, standing in the middle of Main Street's oncoming traffic -- and then, as if by magic, disappears.

Young and old, married and single, punk and evangelical, black, white, and Korean, each witness to these bewildering events interprets them differently, yet all of their lives are changed -- by the phenomenon itself, and by what it provokes in them. And whether they in turn stagger toward love, or heartbreakingly dissolve it, Emmons's portrayal of their stories is strikingly real and emotionally affecting.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his affecting but meandering debut, Emmons explores how the lives of a loosely connected group of residents of Eureka, Calif., are changed by the sudden, mysterious appearances (and disappearances) of a local man who's been reported missing. From teenage Lillith, the pregnant, practicing Wiccan, to "black as he can be" Prentiss, a recovering alcoholic, and Elaine, the fourth-grade teacher who suffers through two troubled marriages, each character visited by Leon Meed receives equal narrative treatment by Emmons, which highlights his talent for subtle ventriloquism but gives the book its curiously unfocused quality. Even Leon's bewildering plight stays somehow on the periphery; barring an unsuccessful pagan ceremony designed to pull him back from the astral plane, no one much tries to help him. Halfway into the book, Emmons, in a flurry of exposition, goes through the backstory about how Leon started disappearing after the accidental death of his wife and daughter. The novel then skips ahead 10 years, returning to each character as they learn of Leon's death. While Leon is supposed to be a catalyst for each character's personal enlightenment, too many self-discoveries from too many people keep their stories from fully resonating. This is a promising debut that suffers from its outsized ambitions. Agent, Susan Golomb. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In Emmons' imaginative debut novel, 54-year-old Leon Meed inexplicably appears and then disappears in the oddest of places, including the middle of the Pacific Ocean, inside a woman's shower, and at a Longaberger basket party. For one month, 10 residents of the small town of Eureka, California, are privy to his remarkable visitations. Over the course of the next decade, the 10 people--black and white, men and women, gay and straight--are drawn into each other's lives in crucial ways, although each of them puts a different spin on the purpose of Leon's appearances. Emmons threads his narrative with interesting meditations on religion, psychotherapy, death, and fate; he also endows each of his characters with a defining emotion, such as fear, loneliness, and ennui. It is sometimes difficult to keep track of the large cast, and interest may wax and wane according to which character (some are more intriguing than others) is at center stage. Still, Emmons shows considerable flair in his striking ability to give his whimsical premise such philosophical overtones. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; First edition. edition (July 19, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743267184
• ISBN-13: 978-0743267182
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,471,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific First Novel, September 7, 2005

By 

Thomas Wolf "A Reader" (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Loss of Leon Meed: A Novel (Hardcover)

In the early pages of Josh Emmons' splendid first novel, THE LOSS OF LEON MEED, the author notes that dreams and the imagination, "like all engines of terror and transcendence, can do anything," and with those words guides the reader into this delectable story. The book explores the ambiguous conjunction of reality and the imagination through the intertwined experiences of a cast of about a dozen main characters. It is an audacious and spellbinding debut.

The mysterious Leon Meed, who appears and disappears throughout the novel, is perplexed by his journey into, and out of, the lives of the townspeople of Eureka, California, just as those residents are puzzled by Leon's sudden appearances. This gives the book a fascinating structure and provides for moments that are both comic and evocative as Emmons explores traditional themes of loss, love, redemption, and forgiveness.

Emmons is a solid novelist--and, if he ever turns his hand to short fiction or screen plays, he'll prove to be an excellent writer in those genres as well. He has a wonderful gift for characterization, dialogue, and sensory description. The cast of characters is varied, by age, gender, race, national origin, and personal experience. He is equally adept, for instance, at creating a young Korean who longs for love and wants to start his own restaurant, a black man who is a recovering alcoholic, and a middle-aged female school teacher whose marriage is dissolving. Emmons is also capable of making the small town of Eureka into one of the novel's main characters.

I won't give away the story. It is too good to spoil. Emmons can do amazing things with language to evoke moods and feelings and characters. He is in firm control of this material, but one of the things I most admire about the book is that the author doesn't tie things up neatly. This is a novel about mysteries, about the important things in life that are hardest to grasp. The book's emotional and beautifully written epilogue--perhaps the most affecting passage in the book--leaves the reader with a deep appreciation for the power of the unknown.

This is a terrific book. Don't miss it.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An worthwhile read, August 19, 2005

By 

J. P. Spellicy "jpas" (SF,CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Loss of Leon Meed: A Novel (Hardcover)

For anyone living in northern California and has spent time in Eureka, this book is a must. It is beautifully written both in tone and description.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this book, January 18, 2006

By 

A. Landa (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Loss of Leon Meed: A Novel (Hardcover)

I had difficulty putting this book down. As someone who grew up in Eureka, I was impressed with how Josh Emmons was able to capture the essence of the town, of Humboldt County and in general of the lost coast of California. For those not familiar with the area, you will feel like you've been there after reading this book. Each character was a true representation of the odd mix of people one can find in this strange town in one of the most beautiful places in California. I couldn't wait to find out what was next in store for each character as I turned the pages.
Lines like "it was 4:30 and Barry was not gay" - to describe a young man at the cusp of admitting his homosexuality to himself - were constantly popping up in this book. The writing is fresh and takes chances.
Loved it.