Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan: A review

Jennifer Egan has given us something completely different this time. After A Visit from the Goon Squad, her multi-award winning book of 2011, we who loved that book might have expected some sort of futuristic science fiction opus as her next work. Instead, she has chosen to go back in time.

She has written a historical fiction work, one set during the World War II period. Such a traditional novel may seem a great departure from Goon Squad and it is. But it still features the same inventive attention to language and a setting that is so fully imagined and described that the reader feels as though she's walking along that beach, working in that wartime shipyard, diving alongside the ships being built in that shipyard.

The main protagonist here is Anna Kerrigan whom we meet as an eleven-year-old girl in 1934. She is with her father, Eddie, as he meets with a gentleman gangster named Dexter Styles on Manhattan Beach. Eddie is seeking a way to make more money to support his wife and two daughters, the younger of whom is severely disabled and needs an expensive wheelchair.

Styles apparently takes Eddie on as a bag man for his "business" but soon enough Eddie disappears, leaving Anna, her mother, and her sister whom they both adore.

Anna grows up and World War II comes along to interfere with her plans. She ends up working at the shipyard in service to the war effort, but her great dream is to become a diver. The first woman diver to work in the Naval Yards.

I was fascinated by Egan's descriptions of the various subcultures in a New York City that has been radically transformed by the entry into World War II. From the hierarchies of the crime syndicate of which Dexter Styles is a part, to the uppermost tier of New York society that his wife comes from, and the world of the military and of commercial diving where Anna battles her way through all the obstacles thrown up by society to prevent a woman from becoming a full participant.

The fates of Anna, Eddie, and Dexter are inextricably intertwined from that day back in 1934 when they first met on Manhattan Beach and those connections continue to advance the story. Each of these characters has his or her secrets and their secrets shape who the characters are and how they interact with the world.

The novel has other settings besides New York, but, primarily, it is a novel of that great city in that period. We visit its tenements, its highbrow retreats, its nightclubs; but mostly we visit its harbors, the port of New York. Our focus is on the sea as a workplace and as a gateway.

We see the freighters docked at the piers and the battleships being built at the Brooklyn Naval Yards. We see that the local fisheries and oyster beds of the time are thriving, and the society of the area is a rich mix of all who participate in these activities and those who serve their needs. Anna comes of age in this society and we experience it through her.

Egan has given us a rich portrayal of life in this era with an emphasis on the strictures with which young women had to contend in order to participate fully in that life. I loved reading about Anna and I can't think of one negative thing to say about Egan's book.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

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