The Diviners

by: Rick Moody

Published by: Little, Brown and Company

Reviewed by Sara A. Baker

Rick Moody can certainly pen a well-crafted sentence, and his latest novel, The Diviners, is full of these lines, some almost breathtaking. The first chapter itself is a fine example of Moody's talent for stretching a single idea, in this case a sunrise, across pages in prose so deftly written they read like poetry. But the beauty is easily overlooked by the reader who simply wants Moody to get to the point already, and those unfamiliar with Moody's work will think this repeatedly.

The Diviners depicts a brief period in the lives of several desperate characters and their antics just after the 2000 election and just before said election is called for Bush. The central action is the development of an epic miniseries for Vanessa Meandro's Means of Production. Vanessa is a doughnut-popping, nightmarish boss with an alcoholic mother. She keeps her company going with the help of action-film star Thaddeus Griffin, who has managed to seduce Vanessa's
employees and has a penchant for masochism. Moody divides the book into character sketches that sometimes advance the plot and other times give him the opportunity to wax poetic for pages about inanimate objects.

There is no denying, however, that the characters are deftly drawn despite their diversity. Among others, Moody has created Annabel, a young black woman with a mentally ill genius of a brother accused of attempted murder; and a screenplay on the Marquis de Sade, where Samantha, the victim, is an Asian-American art dealer left with memory loss after a coma; and Jaspreet, the developmentally disabled son of a Sikh cab-driver-turned-television-expert.

The characters are so intriguing that Moody's typical lack of denouement will likely leave most readers wondering how Annabel will deal with the changes in her life, how Samantha recovers, what happens to Jaspreet and his mother, and more. Yet the book does take place in New York nearly a year before 9/11, leaving readers to ponder a tragic final ending.

If nothing else, The Diviners will leave you feeling unsettled and wanting to avoid Krispy Kreme at all costs, which might mean Moody was successful.

Armchair Interviews says: Avoid Krispy Kreme, how intriquing!