In the beginning, it was easy to imagine their future. They were young and giddy
, sure of themselves and of their love for each other. "Dept. of Speculation" wa
s their code name for all the thrilling uncertainties that lay ahead. Then they
got married, had a child and navigated the familiar calamities of family life--a
colicky baby, a faltering relationship, stalled ambitions.
When their marriag
e reaches a sudden breaking point, the wife tries to retrace the steps that have
led them to this place, invoking everything from Kafka to the Stoics to doomed
Russian cosmonauts as she analyzes what is lost and what remains. In language th
at shimmers with rage and longing and wit, Offill has created a brilliantly susp
enseful love story--a novel to read in one sitting, even as its piercing meditat
ions linger long after the last page.
