The Double Bind

I just finished reading the wackiest novel I have read in a long time: The Double Bind, by Chris Bohjalian. I started this over Easter weekend, at the suggestion of my grandmother, who had recently read it for a book club. She made me promise that I would not read the book club discussion questions in the back before I finished the novel.

What intrigued me from the beginning was the attempt of the author to weave the story and characters of The Great Gatsby into this book, as if they were real characters. Gatsby is one of my all-time favorite novels; I have loved it since Mrs. Murphy made us read it as juniors in high school. I couldn't quite figure out if Bohjalian was seriously ripping off one of the greatest stories of the modern era, or trying to make some sort of "unauthorized sequel" or great literary point.

This new book was generally a compelling story, though I did get bogged down a bit in the middle, and put it down for a couple weeks. I just read the last 100 pages in a flurry, though, and was a bit flabbergasted when I turned the last page. It is one of those books that makes me wonder if I really just read the entire thing and missed a million things I should have seen; I kind of feel like I need to read it again, knowing what I do now about the story.

Bohjalian, with this ending, redeemed the borrowing of the Buchanan/Gatsby world of literary magic. (Though I have yet to decide if the end makes it all worth it, with any book.) I'd give it a fair recommendation for some summer reading, though caution anyone the same way my grandmother cautioned me: don't jump ahead!