September
26
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The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian
Halfway through this three-hundred-pager, I thought it unlikely I would review it. When I finished, my decision was made. Too repetitive, too clichéd – I just didn’t get the hype. Two weeks later, however, the story and its themes are still percolating through my mind and, long story short, I’ve come around. Despite my initial misgivings, this brand new novel by American author Chris Bohjalian walloped the linger test, and I thought I’d sit down and try to explain why.
Mira Winston is a teenager from upstate New York who spends most of her spare time at the country club. While other kids hang out at the pool, Mira is emerging as a serious golf talent, with the attitude to match. There’s talk of the LPGA. She outplays most of the men (at least the ones who dare to play a round with her) and hisses at the club pro who attempts to offer tips. Her fierce competitiveness comes with all the volitity and frustration of adolescence and, right from the start, she is positioned as a mildly unhinged upstart….armed with a 5-iron.
Out of place with friends and adults alike, Mira becomes involved with one of her father’s golf buddies, a management consultant more than three times her age and another regular at the club. Everything is going fine (well, fine is a relative concept when you are 15 and having a sexual relationship with a 47-year-old married man) until Mira accidentally kills a young caddy with a golf ball. This freak accident sets off a chain of events and a personal reckoning that plays out very much in public.
I think this is where The Amateur becomes much more interesting than I initially gave it credit for. Bohjalian (also known for Hour of the Witch and Midwives) teases us with themes of youth, social status and a fantastic freak golf-ball accident, but ultimately this is a much simpler and darker story about a young girl who was taken advantage of and left to deal with the shame.
In Mira’s case, the shame surrounding her first sexual relationship shapes almost every decision she makes afterwards, as well as how she sees herself in life generally. These feelings don’t necessarily arrive fully formed in the moment. Instead, they linger and bubble up years later, changing over time and after other big life events (like accidentally killing someone with a golf ball).
In yet another lingering layer to this novel, Mira is actually the author of the story we are reading, looking back on her difficult years as a much older wife and mother, still trying to make sense of what happened to her and questioning whether the shame she has carried was ever hers to begin with.
Long story short, it turns out Mira’s story has lingered with me in much the same way it has lingered with her.
And that’s my 2 cents worth.
