Customer Reviews

The Truth About Celia

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While reading Kevin Brockmeier's debut novel, THE TRUTH ABOUT CELIA, I was struck by this question: how can a book that is so deeply despairing and so heartrendingly devastating be such a joy to read? How can it be not just rewarding in its conclusion but enjoyable and exciting from its first sentence until its last?

On a cool day in March, seven-year-old Celia Brooks vanishes from her backyard, leaving no signs as to whether she ran away or was abducted. It's as if she simply ceased existing. The unexplained --- and apparently unexplainable --- nature of Celia's disappearance overwhelms her father and mother, Christopher and Janet, and begins to tear at their marriage as if, having been parents, they cannot return to being lovers or even friends.

Brockmeier implies that Celia's family will never know the truth about her and that they will be haunted for the rest of their lives. But he balances their consuming pain and confusion with a playful sense of wonder that underscores the novel's immense tragedy, making THE TRUTH ABOUT CELIA simultaneously wrenching and whimsical.

An Arkansas resident who has published a children's book called CITY OF NAMES and a short-story collection entitled THINGS THAT FALL FROM THE SKY, Brockmeier is a curious and questioning writer who seems to draw from many disparate influences. Comprised of agile, eloquent sentences speckled with clear, evocative imagery, his writing combines Nicholson Baker's miniaturist eye for daily routines and household rituals, Italo Calvino's ability to mirror reality through fairy tales, and Vladimir Nabokov's restless structural innovation.

It's this last one that will likely strike readers immediately in THE TRUTH ABOUT CELIA. Like Nabokov's PALE FIRE, it is a book within a book. Brockmeier presents the novel as a collection of short stories written by Christopher Brooks, even supplying a list of Christopher's previous works, a dedication page, and an author's note. This device works similarly to letters in the best epistolary novels --- as a self-expression of a character's thoughts and inner turmoil. Each of Christopher's stories is a heartbreakingly futile attempt to figure out not only what happened to Celia but also how he can move on.

In some stories, like the collection opener, "March 15, 1997," Brooks tries to reconstruct Celia's last minutes in the world and speculate on her fate. For him, this story is important not only because it slavishly imagines her last moments but, more tellingly, because it tries to save her from impending danger and keep her perpetually young and wide-eyed --- in reality an impossible feat for any parent, but more than conceivable in art.

Other stories imagine Celia's life after her disappearance. In "The Green Children," she and a boy are sucked into a parallel world that resembles a fairy tale universe. But "Seel-ya," as the narrator calls her, and the unnamed boy are vividly hued, "their skin the pale flat green of wilting grass ... the veins beneath their arms were dark and prominent, the sharp green of clover or spinach leaves." The longer they're away from their homes, the more their distinctive colors fade. It's an apt metaphor for growing up and the consequent loss of childish imagination and innocence that Celia will never experience.

In the novel's most effective stories, however, Celia's absence is a palpable presence as Christopher examines the aftershocks of her disappearance and the growing chasm in his marriage to Janet. In "As the Deck Tilted into the Ocean," Janet haunts the local Cineplex seeking isolation and escapism in all kinds of movies, but Michelle Pfeiffer's The Deep End of the Ocean and its disagreeable depiction of a missing child bring her frustration and confusion to a boil.

Borrowing an eerie idea from an old episode of The Twilight Zone, "The Telephone" picks up where "As the Deck" leaves off, but it switches to Christopher's point of view as he uncovers Janet's affair with a local police officer and tries to reconcile their marriage. That Christopher is writing these stories after the disappearance of his daughter and the dissolution of his marriage gives them an intense emotional resonance, and each one represents a profound change in his life --- a moment of hurt or healing --- that he has undergone in the wake of Celia's departure.

Ultimately, writing in the words and stories of his main character, Brockmeier reveals with a flourish the therapeutic power of art and the kernel of emotion --- whether it's despair, hope, wonder, love or anger --- that illuminate all fiction. Despite the devastation it describes, THE TRUTH ABOUT CELIA reads like a joyous celebration of life.

--- Reviewed by Stephen M. Deusner

I cannot say that I know what it is like to lose a child, however, Kevin Brockmeier's novel engulfs the pain and heartache of a father who has lost his daughter. Brockmeier's delicate and beautifully written sentences led me to cry and laugh...and not stop reading until I finished. Wonderful book.

The Truth About Celia is a book within the book: in addition to being a real work of fiction, it is also a fictional book by the story's main character, author Christopher Brooks, and it comes complete with its own dedication, table of contents, and notes about the author (the fictional one, that is). If that doesn't make sense, it at least gives you a flavor for what the book is like, as it frequently verges into surreal territory. Christopher is a father whose 7-year old daughter, Celia, disappears one day while playing in the backyard. Unable to start a new novel as he had planned, Christopher instead writes about Celia--not only from his own perspective, but also from his wife's, from the people of the town, and even from Celia herself (this section is reminiscent of The Lovely Bones). The story shifts both in time--from immediately after Celia's disappearance to 7 and 14 years beyond--and in content--a short story about "The Green Children" is woven into the plot. The effect of this is interesting but disorienting, leaving the reader never being quite sure of exactly when or where they are. The tendency of the author (the real one) to use long, rambling paragraphs that go on for pages only adds to the sense of confusion. However, this short novel is certainly a worthwhile read, both for its uniqueness and its raw emotional honesty.

Whenever someone dies or disappears in some way from our lives we human beings have a need to make sense of what has happened. We don't like unanswered questions so we tend to guess at any gaps we have in our knowledge and in that manner arrive at "the truth". But, when we can't be satisfied that we are right, we keep constructing new truths.

This is the task of the narrator, Christopher, in Kevin Brockmeier's novel. The novel takes place during a seven year period at the beginning of which Christopher's seven year old daughter, Celia, disappears while playing in her own yard.

Christopher's attempts to explain this incomprehensible loss bear resemblance to the science fiction and horror books that he has authored. We experience Celia in a number of ways beyond the seven year old in an American small town setting. We meet her as the heroine of a fairy tale and as a victim who is trapped with earlier friends in a world that is separate from but privy to the one her parents occupy. We witness her as an adult in a world whose passage of time is not synchronized with our own.

This is not an easy book. It requires the reader to travel with Christopher as he explores the several routes his child might have taken. And like the narrator, we're in the dark,always wondering if we will learn enough to finish the puzzle of Celia's life.

Beyond the brief descriptions of Christopher and his wife's deteriorating [sexual] relationship, this is a very sensual book. The narrator[s] have a heightened awareness of their milieus' sounds, sights, smells and tactile events as they attempt to break through "the tissue" that separates one reality from the next.

Certainly not a fun or easy read, this is a book that requires heavy reader participation. It's worth it.

This novel is difficult to describe, it's almost a set of inter-related short stories. And yet, each unique chapter informs the others in such away that the whole is profoundly moving. This is one of those rare books that should be read in a short period of time if possible, because the details you retain, the connections you make, are simply amazing. The more you put into it, the more you get out of it, it's that rich. On top of that, it's just achingly beautifully written. One of the best books I read last year, I can't recommend it enough.

The Truth About Celia pulled me away from chores and kept me up past my bedtime -- it was simply impossible to put down. Brockmeier carried me into the mystical land of grief and explored what is beyond the edge of the mind. Best of all, he accomplished this with a careful collection of beautiful words. I'll read this one again and again, and I've already ordered a copy to loan to friends. Well done Mr. Brockmeier.

Each piece perfect in and of itself, they fit together into something even more wonderful. One of my favorite books this year.

I instantly fell in love with this book which is lovely and compelling, and startling and eerie at the same time. It is a book-within-a-book (not easy for a writer to pull off), a collection of short stories by science fiction writer Christopher Brooks describing his failing marriage and his fantasies and delusions surrounding the disappearance of his seven year old daughter, Celia.

I was especially thrilled by the short story in which he imagines Celia as one of the green children of Woolpit - Brockmeier must have read the same stories of the bizarre as I did as a child.

I picked this book up to read on vacation to fill time at the airport only to find that I couldn't put it down!! I highly recommend it for it's beautiful writing and haunting story line. LOVED IT!!!

Although I enjoyed the writing sytle of "The Truth About Celia," the novel did not come together for me. I never understood what the various disasters, i.e. the theater catching on fire, etc. eventually had to do with the story of Celia. I enjoyed the story of the young magician and his mother (was she Celia in another dimension???), but never understood what this had to do with Celia.

I hoped in vain that the story would come together in the end, but it did not. I'm very disappointed with this novel...good possibilities, but, finally, great dissatisfaction on my part. I Would not recommend to my family or friends..they would be disappointed too.