Summary: The tale unfolds over a single night as Nina sits at the bedside of her husband, Philip, whose sudden and unexpected death is the reason for her lonely vigil. Still too shocked to grieve, she lets herself remember the defining moments of their long union, beginning with their meeting in Paris. She is an artist, he a highly accomplished mathematician--a collision of two different worlds that merged to form an intricate and passionate love. As we move through select memories, real and imagined, the author reveals the most private intimacies, dark secrets, and overwhelming joys that defined Nina and Philip's life together.
Booklist Reviews
This short, affecting, original novel, by the author of the National Book Award–winning The News from Paraguay (2004), which was also an effective and unique novel (about a nineteenth-century South American dictator), takes readers of literary fiction to a place that could have afforded a macabre experience but is saved by the sensitivity of the author. The premise is not complicated. Late-middle-aged Nina discovers that her husband, Philip, who appears to be napping, has actually died in his sleep, and she sits by his bedside for a whole night. Of course, Nina's thoughts are going to be centered on their life together, but, naturally, they do not follow in any logical order. These mental perambulations through their marriage form the substance of the novel. Tuck thoroughly understands why a wife would desire to do this and, as a consequence, makes the act a sweet one, rich in sentiment, poignancy, and honesty. The result is that the reader imagines that this kind of personal tribute to a now-deceased loved one is absolutely appropriate. Copyright 2011 Booklist Reviews.
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