Thank you to critic Oline Cogdill who shared her recent review of Matthew Pearl’s novel, The Award. Cogdill’s review originally appeared in the South Florida Sun Sentinel. If you’ld like a signed copy, check out The Poisoned Pen’s Webstore, https://bit.ly/4prpq8F
‘The Award’ by Matthew Pearl; Harper; 256 pages; $30
Satire and mystery swirl with arrogance, the creative process and unchecked ambition in Matthew Pearl’s amusing and realistic “The Award.”
Pearl turns a delightfully poisoned pen toward writers and the writing life — subjects he knows quite well — for a story that seems a bit over the top but, at the same time, realistic. “The Award” has a slow-burn plot, but it never drags.
David Trent doubts himself and his talents every day, as his insecurities stymie his attempts to finish the novel he’s been working on for years. David is approaching 30, worried about being financially dependent on his loving girlfriend, Bonnie, who believes in his talent. She seems to be only one who has faith in him. He certainly doesn’t as he struggles against a colossal writer’s block. Perhaps that’s unfair — he can write, but the words don’t go anywhere. He’s increasingly depressed because the other writers who also work at the various coffee shops he frequents seem to be doing better.
He and Bonnie almost pass on a new apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The place is roomy enough and the rent reasonable. But it’s on the third floor, reachable only by a rickety, slippery and steep outside staircase. Then, he learns that award-winning novelist and New Yorker editor Silas Hale lives on the first floor.
Suddenly, those stairs are not an obstacle as David fantasies about Silas being his mentor, his champion, praising his work to influential agents and editors, helping him get published, inspiring him to work. David’s dream disappears when Silas proves to be a nasty, arrogant, self-centered and petty person. On their first meeting, Silas calls David “nothing,” forbidding David to even talk to the Hales. Against the odds, David finishes his book, then wins a prestigious award that Silas had won decades before. But being a published author doesn’t go smoothly, as David encounters several setbacks, then there is a fatality.
Pearl, who grew up in Davie and still lives in Broward County, delivers an evocative look at the oddities of life in Cambridge, beginning with the quirky apartments in the Victorian townhouse. The stairs are too treacherous to bring up furniture, so items must be hoisted through floor openings that start in Silas’ apartment. Heat is controlled only through Silas’ thermostat. The snow seems heavier, the temperatures more extreme — all of which is chalked up to the constant refrain: “It’s Cambridge.”
Pearl smoothly incorporates his characters into the plot. Silas thrives on being mean, charging guests to attend his annual party, refusing to allow heat in David’s apartment (even when it’s freezing), and belittling everyone he sees. Silas’ personality contrasts with David’s as Pearl slyly shows how ambition and a hint of fame can change a person.