‘My Abandonment’ by Peter Rock, 2009

I came to Peter Rock with his most recent book, ‘My Abandonment,’ and cannot imagine a more interesting and strange introduction to an author. Some critics claim that the best writing has a certain degree of the odd and peculiar—descriptions that evoke a sense of the strange and inexplicable, and if that’s so then ‘My Abandonment’ is on the list. Take, for example, the opening words of the novel, in the voice of the fourteen-year-old girl who serves as protagonist and narrator: ‘Sometimes you’re walking through the woods when a stick leaps into the air and strikes you across the back and shoulders several times, then flies away lost in the underbrush.’ I immediately anticipated that this would be an interesting story, and so it was.

‘My Abandonment’ is about a daughter and a father who live in a forest park, having forsaken the normal circles of society. Gradually the reader becomes aware that there are deep psychological issues with the father, who suffers from nightmares of a past war he served in. After four years of living in isolation in the park caves, Caroline and her father are discovered by the police. The rest of the story is a fascinating observation about human society and the invisible laws we forge for ourselves. The culmination of the narration, the eventual ‘abandonment,’ reminds us of one universal fact, the grim reality of solitude, and the inevitable struggles of bereavement.

A lovely, entrancing novel.