Julia Glass: Three Junes

Reviewed by GERALDINE WHITEFORD*

In this debut novel, which won the 2002 National Book Award in the United States, Julia Glass bases her story around the lives and relationships of three people. Although there is little plot, Glass largely succeeds in holding the reader enthralled simply through her rich characterisation.

In the first of the novel's three sections, we meet Paul McLeod, retired newspaper publisher, on a tour party in Greece after the death of his beloved wife. Like all Glass' characters, Paul acutely observes people: "Besides Marjorie, there are two pairs of women travelling together, in their seventies at least: a surprisingly spry quartet who carry oversize binoculars with which they ogle everything and everyone, at appalling close range."

The novel constantly switches from present to the past as Paul reflects on his marriage to Maureen and its promises and tensions. Hence, we learn about Paul's three sons and Maureen's relationship with her beloved collie dogs in Dumfrey, Scotland.

Having been drawn into Paul's life, we are shocked to learn, at the beginning of the second section, that Paul has died. But this enables Glass to shift the perspective to Paul's son, Fenno McLeod, now living in New York. He and his two brothers, Dennis and David, gather to bury their father and reminisce about their parents' lives and marriage.

Again, the book alternates from Fenno's present to the past. But now the past is more immediate: Fenno has been caring for a friend dying of Aids. And, life in New York is vibrant and noisy. Perhaps because of this, the alternation between past and present seemed cluttered and at times for me this section lacked momentum.

In the third section, the perspective switches to Fern's. Paul met Fern on his trip to Greece and she is staying in a house owned by Fenno's business partner, so we again encounter Fenno and his brother Dennis. In a recurring pattern, Fern also wrestles with the death of a loved one and what it means for her future relationships.

Glass possesses an unerring ability to capture the details of daily life. In this way, she grounds her central characters in their very different worlds.

Random House, $34.95

* Geraldine Whiteford is an Auckland reviewer.