Enon

A Novel

By: Paul Harding

Narrated by: Paul Harding

Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST NOVELS OF THE YEAR BY The Wall Street Journal • American Library Association • Kirkus Reviews

A stunning allegorical novel about one man’s enduring love for his daughter

Hailed as “a masterpiece” (NPR), Tinkers, Paul Harding’s Pulitzer Prize–winning debut, is a modern classic. The Dallas Morning News observed that “like Faulkner, Harding never shies away from describing what seems impossible to put into words.” Here, in Enon, Harding follows a year in the life of Charlie Crosby as he tries to come to terms with a shattering personal tragedy. Grandson of George Crosby (the protagonist of Tinkers), Charlie inhabits the same dynamic landscape of New England, its seasons mirroring his turbulent emotional odyssey. Along the way, Charlie’s encounters are brought to life by his wit, his insights into history, and his yearning to understand the big questions. A stunning mosaic of human experience, Enon affirms Paul Harding as one of the most gifted and profound writers of his generation.

Praise for Enon

“Harding conveys the common but powerful bond of parental love with devastating accuracy. . . . [He] is a major voice in American fiction.”—Chicago Tribune

“Paul Harding’s novel Tinkers won the Pulitzer Prize; its stunning successor, Enon, only raises the bar.”—O: The Oprah Magazine

“Extraordinary . . . a darkly intoxicating read . . . [Harding’s] prose is steeped in a visionary, transcendentalist tradition that echoes Blake, Rilke, Emerson, and Thoreau.”—The New Yorker

“So wild and riveting it’s practically an aria . . . Harding is a superb stylist.”—Entertainment Weekly

“[Charlie’s grief], shaped by a gifted writer’s caressing attention, can bring about moments of what Charlie calls ‘brokenhearted joy.’”—The Wall Street Journal

“Astonishing . . . a work of fiction that feels authentic as memoir.”—Financial Times

“Read Enon to live longer in the harsh, gorgeous atmosphere that Paul Harding has created.”—San Francisco Chronicle

©2013 Paul Harding (P)2013 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“An extraordinary follow-up to the author’s Pulitzer Prize–winning debut . . . Harding’s subject is consciousness rooted in a contemporary moment but bound to a Puritan past. His prose is steeped in a visionary, transcendentalist tradition that echoes Blake, Rilke, Emerson, and Thoreau, and makes for a darkly intoxicating read.” (The New Yorker)

“Without blurring the sharply lucid nightmares and recollections, Mr. Harding pushes Charlie’s madness to a crisis point of destruction or renewal. The journey to the depths of his grief is unforgettably stark and sad. But that sadness, shaped by a gifted writer’s caressing attention, can also bring about moments of what Charlie calls ‘brokenhearted joy.’” (The Wall Street Journal)

Author's wisdom.

This I think is one of the best books I've ever read and I am so happy the author read it. Another would have ruined it. I laughed, I cried, I sobbed, I delighted and audibly gasped! at different moments. All so messy and beautiful and all so complicated but made the most sense of anything I've ever read. I am I awe if this author and so grateful for this wonderful book.

Perfect Meditation on Loss

As the other reviewers have shared, this book is more of a contemplative exploration on grief and loss, than a story in the conventional sense. Harding's writing is elegant and throughly crafted with layers of detail, as he gradually progresses deeper and deeper into his own dark places, which match the dark woods near Enon, his home.

I would compare this to Joyce Carol Oates' treatment of grief in her book "A Widow's Story", which focuses more on the details and nuances of her daily life as does Harding, but her focus is more at a distance, as though she is an outsider, observing her own recovery, and recording her days as she experiences them. She certainly has plenty of "stuff" to fill her life - friends, family, a job at the top of her field, but even with all this, she is reduced to the same questions - now that the loved one is gone, what is life's meaning and how do we interpret its lessons?

Enon shows us how a a seemingly well-constructed life can implode by a single devastating loss, and how precarious are our attachments. One day it's all hanging together for Charlie, the next day his daughter is dead and his wife is gone. There certainly is no "resolution" in the conventional sense, not for this reader, anyway. I read the book twice and was twice led to the conclusion that Charlie had reached a conditional accommodation to his condition, was taking some steps to rebuild, but was certainly not yet emotionally solvent. Letting go of his dependency on prescription drugs was a start.

I applaud Harding for not turning Charlie's story into an archetypal "hero's quest" for redemption. Instead it's a realistic account of what's left to work with, and using that to restart, after all our life-sustaining resources seem to be gone.

Wonderful!

What made the experience of listening to Enon the most enjoyable?

Set in Massachusetts! A believable story about a father's grief and his love for his daughter.

A sad story with little to mull on

This could have been a moving long memoir if it were cut to 1/20. The kindness from fellow Enonians was surprisingly moving. But the author dragged on way too long on his despair that starts to ring hollow very quickly.