NOW I SAY GOODBYE TO YOU by Brooks Wright

The story of a man who tries to lose himself during the recent Great Recession only to discover how hard it is not to care. KIRKUS REVIEW A homeless man comes tantalizinglyclose to his old life and happiness only to question that joy. In this novel, Wright (The Sky IsFar Away, 2018, etc.) gives readers a homeless, nameless man trying tosurvive after the Mother of All Housing Bubbles has burst. He is somewhere inFlorida, breaking into foreclosed houses in search of food. He has bottomedout: He's lost his job and his family and even spent a year in prison. He hasalso lost all hope and wants only to be left alone. Then he comes upon a littlegirl--as hungry and thirsty as he is--in an abandoned house. Try as he might, hecannot bring himself to desert her. He finds an abandoned cabin and a job witha guy who is scrapping a nearby defunct amusement park, Fun-O-Rama (a wonderfulmetaphor). The girl, whose name readers finally learn is Jessie, is severelytraumatized and mute. Ever so slowly, she begins to trust the man (her firstwords to him: "Are you Jesus?"). When she falls sick, he gets her to ahospital. She recovers, but now the police are very interested in hisrelationship with this kid and with his past. Many more things happen, but itis his need for Jessie that drives it all. The ending is artistically risky buttruer than the conclusion readers will probably crave. Wright is a flat-outwonderful writer. The prose is crisp ("Unhappy should be a weather forecast like rainor snow"), the details spot on, and the slowdevelopment meticulous. The nameless man--the first-person narrator--is anunforgettable character, always talking about the stories in life, like the "IWork Out and Exercise" and "Never Feed a Stray Animal" tales. He is in lovewith his bitterness but, try as he might, can't excise his basic decency. Thispainful novel delivers heartbreak--but no sentimentality--and consummatethaumaturgy or, in the narrator's words, "I'm both the magician and the trick." This tale of two survivors shouldmove you, cajole you, upset you, and seduce you.