October 02, 2016

The Heart of Henry Quantum - Pepper Harding


Gallery Books, October 4, 2016.

 

Three Stars


 

I wasn’t expecting to really like this seemingly lighthearted novel about a man buying perfume for his wife, but there is actually much more to it than I initially thought. Henry Quantum is a complex man with multiple hyperactive thoughts running through his brain, from the nature of the universe to the hidden meanings behind the gift he purchases for his wife. It is told in four parts, each one adding insight into the relationship between Henry and his wife, Margaret.

 

The first section is narrated by Henry as he sets off to Macy’s his beloved city of San Francisco, and gets sidetracked along the way. When he runs into an ex-girlfriend named Daisy, he begins to question his entire marriage. Of course we see Margaret as the villain through the eyes of Henry and Daisy, but she is given the chance to redeem herself in the second part.

 

Although Margaret is having an affair of her own, she still somehow comes across as sympathetic, which is a testament to Harding’s writing skills. We witness Margaret en route to her meeting with her lover, and when she gets stuck in traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge due to a suicide attempt, she gets out of her car and yells at the jumper to just do it already. She shouldn’t be likeable at all, but she is certainly the most interesting character in the novel.

 

The third and fourth parts are focused on Daisy and Henry, respectively, as the day reaches its conclusion. All of the characters are expressed through a loose stream of consciousness style, although the voice is distinct for each of them. There is a lot of meandering through random ideas that I had to force myself not to skim over, although they did allow me to understand the characters in a different way.

 

Henry finishes the novel with surprising revelations about life and love – it definitely did not go where I expected it to. This is a light, funny read, while still managing to touch on complex subjects, although they are not treated in a truly serious matter. There could have been much more character development, but this is not really a literary novel so that’s not surprising. This is not my kind of novel, but overall it was still an entertaining story with high quality writing and fun characters.

 

I received this novel from Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review.

No comments:

Post a Comment