Raveling: A Novel [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Peter Moore Smith (Author), Eric Stoltz (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2000

"Things fall apart, the center cannot hold." Yeats's words seem fittingfor the slowly disintegrating Airie family and their son Pilot, a schizophrenic.Twenty years ago, Pilot's little sister, Fiona, disappeared. In the aftermath,the Airie family fell apart--"unraveled," Pilot observes. Old sins have longshadows, and Pilot both welcomes and fears the darkness those shadows offer. His memories of Fiona's disappearance haunt him, but they are also an anchor toa past that seems more authentic than the present.Pilot's schizophrenia is all the more poignant contrasted with the poise of hisolder brother Eric, a prominent neurosurgeon. Eric is the one who comes to hismother's rescue when she is stranded on the highway, unable to see to drive homeafter Pilot's attempt to help her devolves into a terrifying, emotionalparalysis:Did they know that things had become transparent again, clear as a blue sky seen through blue water? That I could actually see thecancer forming like a tulip bulb at the base of my mother's optical nerve?I could look through the trees all the way to the highway, through her car, and through her hair and skin and cartilage and bone into the folds of tissue around her eyes, to see the muscles dilating, the tendrils of nerves and vessels of blood, and the radical cells dividing there, and dividing again.Division also lies at the core of the relationship between Pilot and Eric. Drifting between past and present, the narrative reveals a long history of cruelty and abuse, which, after festering for years, erupts into whatEric's therapist dryly terms "a major psychotic episode."What could be crazierthan accusing your brother of murdering your sister? Pilot's struggle toremember the truth of his family's history calls into question the very naturesof truth, memory, individuality, and complicity.The novel's strength lies in the deftness with which author Peter Moore Smithcaptures Pilot's schizophrenia. The reader follows Pilot in each unsteadyattempt to negotiate the ever-fluctuating boundary between reality and illusion:"Eyes closed, I was in a bed upstairs, my arms under the covers so they wouldn'tfloat away. Outside the window a single branch was reaching toward the room,unfurling itself to tap against the glass, warning me."Raveling weavesthe fragile threads that bind families and selves into a tapestry that bothcloaks its characters and leaves them starkly vulnerable. --Kelly Flynn

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Things fall apart, the center cannot hold." Yeats's words seem fitting for the slowly disintegrating Airie family and their son Pilot, a schizophrenic. Twenty years ago, Pilot's little sister, Fiona, disappeared. In the aftermath, the Airie family fell apart--"unraveled," Pilot observes. Old sins have long shadows, and Pilot both welcomes and fears the darkness those shadows offer. His memories of Fiona's disappearance haunt him, but they are also an anchor to a past that seems more authentic than the present.

Pilot's schizophrenia is all the more poignant contrasted with the poise of his older brother Eric, a prominent neurosurgeon. Eric is the one who comes to his mother's rescue when she is stranded on the highway, unable to see to drive home after Pilot's attempt to help her devolves into a terrifying, emotional paralysis:

Did they know that things had become transparent again, clear as a blue sky seen through blue water? That I could actually see the cancer forming like a tulip bulb at the base of my mother's optical nerve? I could look through the trees all the way to the highway, through her car, and through her hair and skin and cartilage and bone into the folds of tissue around her eyes, to see the muscles dilating, the tendrils of nerves and vessels of blood, and the radical cells dividing there, and dividing again.

Division also lies at the core of the relationship between Pilot and Eric. Drifting between past and present, the narrative reveals a long history of cruelty and abuse, which, after festering for years, erupts into what Eric's therapist dryly terms "a major psychotic episode." What could be crazier than accusing your brother of murdering your sister? Pilot's struggle to remember the truth of his family's history calls into question the very natures of truth, memory, individuality, and complicity.

The novel's strength lies in the deftness with which author Peter Moore Smith captures Pilot's schizophrenia. The reader follows Pilot in each unsteady attempt to negotiate the ever-fluctuating boundary between reality and illusion: "Eyes closed, I was in a bed upstairs, my arms under the covers so they wouldn't float away. Outside the window a single branch was reaching toward the room, unfurling itself to tap against the glass, warning me." Raveling weaves the fragile threads that bind families and selves into a tapestry that both cloaks its characters and leaves them starkly vulnerable. --Kelly Flynn --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

This first novel depends a great deal on gimmicks. The hero, from whose disturbed point of view much of the story is told, is the oddly named Pilot Airie (his father was an airline pilot). Diagnosed as a schizophrenic, his life has been off the rails ever since his younger sister, Fiona, disappeared mysteriously during a drunken party his parents threw during his childhood. His older brother, Eric, is a cool, collected neurosurgeon; his mother is a quondam medical specialist, whose eyesight seems to be unaccountably vanishing and whose mental state is increasingly disoriented. The overriding question, to which an attractive young psychotherapist, the elaborately named Katherine Jane De Quincey-Joy, must address herself, as she treats Pilot and begins an affair with Eric, is: whatever happened to Fiona 20 years ago, and can she do anything about it? The problem with much of this fitfully gripping, but just as often irritating, book is that much of the action is seen through Pilot's eyes, and he is a notoriously unreliable witness; he also appears to be omnipresent and all-knowing, which makes him a convenient substitute for the author. There is some vivid writing, and a certain eerie atmosphere is created around this weird family. But Moore Smith seems so intent on tricking the readerAinnumerable red herrings are cast before us as to the real guilt in Fiona's disappearanceAthat one tends to lose patience with the whole proceeding. When even the dead Fiona is granted a narrative voice, briefly, about her grisly demise, it seems that authorial license has overrun the mark. Moore Smith has talentAhis evocation of the trauma created over the years by Fiona's fate is tellingAbut his book is too disorganized and ill-focused to be an effective thriller, and too determined to provide some lurid chills to be the imaginative literary fiction it aspires to. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Hachette Audio (July 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570429103
• ISBN-13: 978-1570429101
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,297,188 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I believe again, July 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Raveling (Hardcover)

I've never before written an Amazon review. But I've read many of them, for many different books, and I've always been amazed at the way five stars have been tossed around. I can count on one hand the books I've read in my life that would earn five stars. So let me give you my reasons for the five stars: Five stars for surprise. For humanity. For suspense. For deftness with the language. For the fact that it's Sunday at noon and I haven't done a damn thing all morning but finish this book. Five stars for the belief that there are still novels out there which can take you on a hair-raising ride and still be written so masterfully. Five stars then, for the hope.

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Unusual Mystery, July 27, 2000

By 

Wes Breazeale (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Raveling (Hardcover)

Pilot Airie may be losing his mind.

Twenty years ago, Pilot's sister, Fiona, disappeared without a trace. Nothing has been the same since. The disappearance caused his family to unravel; his father left, his brother grew distant, and his mother is seeing ghosts. Pilot has now taken it upon himself to pull it all together again, assuming that he doesn't unravel first.

Raveling is a genuinely gripping and eloquent debut novel by Peter Moore Smith. This novel has the basic structure of a mystery - an unsolved disappearance, puzzled and puzzling characters, suspicions on all sides - but it is more a psychological exploration than a straight mystery. Smith doesn't focus on the details of the disappearance. This is not a book with detailed passages on forensics or lab reports. His focus is on the characters and their interactions.

The story begins as Pilot returns home from California, where his brother found him living on a beach. With his mother losing her vision, Pilot has agreed to live at home to help her. All is going well until he begins to hear voices: the electricity in light bulbs is talking to him, the woods behind the house beckon to him.

Eventually Pilot is hospitalized. There, his counselor Katherine takes an interest in his case. As she probes deeper into his past, trying to find a trigger for his psychotic episode, she becomes fascinated with the stories of his lost sister. What could have caused her disappearance? Who could have taken her without leaving a single trace? As she digs deeper into Pilot's memories things really start to get interesting.

Raveling is an unusual mystery. It starts slowly, as if the reader has stepped into a story already in progress. But the deeper into the book readers get, the deeper the mystery becomes, and the greater the urge to read on. Unlike many mysteries, in which the unfolding of the story provides a greater and greater understanding, Raveling offers little in the way of clues. This is primarily due to the fact that the protagonist, Pilot, may not be entirely sane.

Yet Pilot's struggle with his sanity is one of the most intriguing and appealing aspects of the book. The entire story is told from his point of view, the point of view of a medicated schizophrenic. If he himself cannot be certain of the facts, cannot be sure of his own perceptions, how can the reader? There are times when the reader must ponder the question, "Is this a clue or a delusion?" This uncertainty adds immensely to the pleasure of reading this book. Smith's descriptions of Pilot's deluded world view are beautifully written and captivating, providing insight into his state of mind.

If you enjoy a literary mystery, or enjoy discovering a talented new writer, Raveling may be the book for you.

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW...A CREEPY SUSPENSER, June 23, 2000

By 

Nick G - See all my reviews

This review is from: Raveling (Hardcover)

Pilot Airie is schizophrenic, his mother Hannah is a hand specialist, and his brother Eric, a neurosurgeon. The Airie family holds a secret...what happend to Pilot's little sister, Fiona, some twenty years earlier?

After one of the Airie's parties, Fiona mysteriously disappears, the only clue is her shoe, found in the woods behind their house.

The mystery of the disappearance has haunted Pilot his whole life, now forcing him to confront his own demons, as well as exposing the secrets of his family members, to find out what happened the night his sister disappeared.

As a result of an "episode", Pilot begins seeing psychologist, Katherine Jane DeQuincey-Joy. During their sessions Pilot will tell the disturbing tale of his sister's disappearance. He will tell of his mother seeing ghost's, and he will tell of a dark side that brother Eric hides so well.

Pilot must find his sister's killer, and put an end to the madness that eats at him day after day.

WOW..."Raveling" is amazing. I can't believe this is the author's first novel. The story is creepy, the characters chilling, a totally compulsive read. It is not likely to find a better psychological thriller this year.

The book is written from Pilot's point of view and readers are kept guessing if he is telling the truth. The book plays mind games with the reader, making you believe something one minute, and then changing your mind the next.

Peter Moore Smith has written an original thriller that should immediately land on the bestseller list's.

Reader's be warned, once begun, you will not put the book down until you finish it.

A MUST read!

Nick Gonnella