Far from being Graff’s first published novel, Heckler follows the lives of many
characters, all of whom seem in some way bound by the town of Pittson and its
landmark hotel; The Shelby Hotel. The Shelby is a grand hotel that has lost
much of its allure in recent years and therefore nearly all of its guests along
the way. This novel follows the journeys of the few guests and staff that have
stuck around. Heckler deals with the
themes of addiction, family, grief and loneliness and is far from a
light-hearted read, so do not pick this novel up if you are looking for a comedy.
Graff’s writing is
almost poetic in some parts of the novel; clearly a conscious choice due to the
many references to poetry within the novel, and in particular to Walt Whitman’s
works. Clearly a nostalgic novel, Heckler
brings to its readers’ attention the grandeur of days gone by through
Graff’s expressive descriptions of the hotel. The writing style was my
favourite aspect of this novel as it is rather dramatic in its descriptions,
even from the opening when Graff describes The Shelby Hotel as having a ‘wave
of clouds rolled across the sky’.
The novel follows
about half a dozen characters' journeys across a few years, many of whom are
struggling with alcohol addictions and fighting their demons alone. They seek
forgiveness for past mistakes. Of these six or so characters, there were some
story lines that I genuinely cared for and had me gripped. However, a few of
the others did not capture my attention and seemed to be there merely to act as
fillers and perhaps cliff-hangers from the other characters, forcing the reader
to wait to hear the continuation of another character’s journey.
I found it difficult
to become engrossed in this novel and could never read more than a chapter or
so at a time, making it somewhat of a slow burner. This, I believe, is due
largely to the fact that Graff flits between each character too quickly and
sporadically, never sticking with the same person for more than a page or two.
This made it hard to become consumed by the novel or to care about the characters
as deeply as I would have liked to. I believe if each character had had a
chapter allocated to them at a time instead of a few paragraphs before moving
on to another, I would have been much more engaged with each character and
therefore the novel as a whole.
Another aspect that
stopped me from engaging with all characters was, I believe, the lack of female
voices. Of the six tales that Graff told us, only one of those was a female and
she was not wholly likeable. But I found that I cared for her outcome despite
this, as well as her young son’s outcome; Bruno, an awkward teenager working at
the hotel under his mother’s orders.
I found that as the
novel progressed, it became more enjoyable to read and I found I read the final
half of the novel much faster than the first. This is possibly due to the fast
changes between characters meaning that it took me longer to feel involved in
their journeys.
Overall, Jason
Graff’s newest novel Heckler is worth
a read for his insightful and beautiful telling of the aforementioned themes
of family and grief, but this is not a novel to be read in one sitting but one
to be perused leisurely. Take your time with it as it can be rather melancholic
in places.
Reviewer - Megan Relph
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