Review: New novel “Sam” deftly captures child’s perspective
In her new novel, “We meet Sam at the start of her voyage when she’s a sweet, energetic 7-year-old living in Massachusetts. Her parents are divorced, but her handsome father, a small-time entertainer, is still “sort of around, sort of not.” Having abandoned his domestic responsibilities, he’s free to drop in unpredictably and dazzle Sam. “He can run faster than anybody,” she thinks. “He plays every instrument and the harmonica. He can read your palm and, also, he knows magic.
Goodman writes in the third person, she never strays from the girl’s table-high view, an angle that shrouds adults’ thoughts but illuminates the child’s realm of rules and wonders. “You have to learn about blue whales,” Goodman writes with perfect fidelity to what Sam sees and hears. “They are the size of three school buses, but they have no teeth, just baleen, and they suck up tiny krill. Did you know people hunted them until they were almost extinct? They are still endangered. Think about that. Do your work. Put everything away. You’re in second grade, not Pre-K. Line up. Walk quietly to Art. No running no shouting no fighting.
Still, despite that guileless perspective, readers will sense dangers ahead without knowing exactly what they are. This is, after all, a story of disillusionment, which is to say, this is a story of growing up. And so one ventures across these pages like a winter skater lured by fragile beauty onto thin ice.Threats gather quickly in this portrait of life lived along the poverty line in modern-day America. Sam’s little brother exhibits behavioral challenges that no one seems willing to diagnose.
As the story moves along, Sam enters middle school and then high school, suffering the usual disappointments and irritations. Friends are fickle. Mom is obsessed with her grades and can be, like, super overcontrolling. Why won’t Sam study harder? Why won’t Sam cut her hair? Where was Sam last night? Through it all, climbing provides an outlet for her energy and offers a sense of accomplishment. Or failure.
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