Karma Crisis

SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2012 71 Pascal Mercier Perlmann’s Silence Shaun Whiteside, tr. Grove Press Trapped in a linguistics conference and unable to cope with his wife’s recent death, Philipp Perlmann turns to plagiarism in a last-ditch effort to complete his keynote address. The consequences of this decision spin quickly out of control. A psychological and philosophical thriller, Perlmann’s Silence relates the tale of a man on the brink. Keith Jardim Near Open Water Peepal Tree This collection of short stories, depicting characters of all ages and from different walks of life, is tied together by a sense of place. Jardim’s clean prose reflects a land of supreme beauty and violence, where tales of restlessness and despair are played out against the blue backdrop of the Caribbean. Nota Bene the end of the novel, the first crime seems to have been a mere spark that set off a series of unpredictable events and turned Blanco nocurno into a place where each action has a double, an image that duplicates and distorts reality and can be read from only one point of view: paranoia. Although Blanco nocturno on the surface appears to be a detective novel, Piglia has given himself the challenge of writing a work of fiction, where what is important is the exploration of what is left unsaid, of what is hidden, but not with the objective of resolving a crime, but rather of understanding—as with all great fiction —the complex machinations of human behavior. Marcelo Rioseco University of Oklahoma Verse Nathan Brown. Karma Crisis. Norman , Oklahoma. Mezcalita. 2012. isbn 9780983738305 Even if you own the four early books that make up the “selected” portions of Nathan Brown’s “New and Selected Poems,” I recommend this book for the twenty-three new poems, the best of Brown’s career so far. These poems muster a mature voice and a finely focused pathos to offer delicately observed pictures of contemporary manhood. Brown writes poignantly about fatherhood in poems like “Such Is Life,” which wittily narrates his reaction upon arriving to pick up his daughter and finding her playing Milton Bradley’s “Game of Life” with her mother and stepfather. Brown deftly captures the feeling of being demoted to a bystander: “And I am forced to sit by / and watch / until they are done.” The poet has made a metaphor for the whole of complex family life out of a little piece of it, a very effective technique, which he returns to for many of his best poems, including “Questions in the Wind,” in which a father-daughter visit to the cemetery stands in for watching his daughter mature daily in wisdom and in sadness. Every divorced father learns to let a handful of moments stand in for a whole range of experience. Brown’s contribution is to make that family compromise a poetic strength, to notice the poetry in noticing—desperately and tenderly—the moments passing. Karma Crisis also offers strong poems about the poet’s bond with his parents. “As the Minister of Propriety and Fermentation” begins, “Mom hands me the list— / hand-written on the back / of church stationery.” Brown’s mother, the wife of a Baptist minister, has recruited the poet as a liaison to the local liquor store. The situation is funny, but the last lines—“someone beyond redemption — / to buy her booze”—say a lot, without spelling it out, about the relationship. The suggestion is rich, but not overwrought, which is very typical of Brown’s recent work. “Cotton-Picker,” for instance, begins with a vivid, understated account of his father’s childhood: “He picked cotton as a kid in Cyril / and pushed around cranky milk cows / over on the poor side of the tracks.” The poem develops from there into a story of sacrifice and a son’s respect for his father. The new poems also include pieces inspired by the Declaration of Independence, a few on religious themes, and a couple that vividly 72 WORLD LITERATURE TODAY reviews depict the landscape and weather of the Southwest, all distinguished by a clarity and precision that makes them a pleasure to read. The best poems in the volume, however, are the

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