So Long at the Fair

by: Christina Schwartz

Published by: Anchor Books

Reviewed By Michele E. Davis

In a small town outside of Madison, Wisconsin, a marriage layered with high school drama, the lack of children, a wounded wife and a cheating husband, come to heads at Milwaukee’s annual Sommerfest. This is a simple story, with some extra psychotic padding. It’s the story of Jon Kepilkowski and Ginny, high school sweethearts who have been married for many years, and Jon’s affair with his co-worker, Freddi. Jon’s been hiding the affair from Ginny, and while suspicion is there, she does trust Jon implicitly. All those late nights he works for the ad agency, she thinks he really is working.

Yet, no, Jon is having fun with Freddi while Freddi is being pursued by Ethan, who wants complete control. Discussions between Freddi and Jon seemed to indicate to her that “…he and she, Freddi, were the team, with Ginny the odd woman out. She’d even suggested things he might do for his wife; she wanted, after all, for both of them to do this fairly, compassionately. But it was starting to seem that no matter what he did, his debt to Ginny never diminished.”

Unrequited love is supposedly the best love one can ever experience, and Ethan’s puppy-dog, love me now, insistence wasn’t making an impression on Freddi. It was Jon whom she wanted, but Ginny had him tethered to her: by past events and by moments in a marriage shared. Yet, Jon makes a fatal decision to take his lover, not his wife to Sommerfest, and Ethan follows all the way to the Third Ward of Milwaukee for the festivities that are like a state fair, with fried cheese curds and other fare, but it’s really the musical event of the summer.

There, on an outcropping of rocks by Lake Michigan is Jon, Freddi, Ethan and Ginny’s undoing–a reckless act gone horribly wrong.

Armchair Interviews says: A very well-written and seamless book by the author of the best-selling novel, Drowning Ruth.