Jonathan Maas's Reviews > The Ghost Notebooks

Ben Dolnick gets into Book of the Year territory - any category - with The Ghost Notebooks

I knew what this book was going to be from the very beginning - that ultra rare combination of a tale that holds John Updike-levels of insight on every page, and yet makes you want to turn the page.

For example, on the main character's pre-marriage life:

Our fridge had become a collage of other people’s “Save the Date” cards; our credit card bills went all to flights to cities we didn’t want to visit where we sat sulking in folding chairs and pretended to be surprised when the bride appeared. I knew that I could solve our problems by proposing to her, and I knew that any remotely competent therapist would tell me that my reluctance had nothing to do with Hannah and everything to do with the fiasco of my parents’ marriage…but I couldn’t.

Or on his idea of careers:

Just as the function of most furniture is to fill up a room, the function of most jobs is to fill up a life.

But make no mistake - this is a page turner

Ben Dolnick doesn't have the usual tricks in a thriller - The Ghost Notebooks doesn't have many murders, or even ghosts - and the little violence it holds is all off screen.

But the plot moves forward with every word, and you can not put it down.

Call it Ill Will, but just easier on all fronts

Dan Chaon's juggernaut of a book Ill Will knocked me for a loop - and I felt the same themes in The Ghost Notebooks.

But Ben Dolnick pulls his punches, but in the best sense of the phrase.

IE he doesn't go for the dread - he goes for the insight.

And oh wow, can Dolnick bring a character to life with a paragraph

On the main character's father in law -

Bruce was an eye surgeon; this was the first, and possibly the only, thing he thought you needed to know about him. He took yearly trips to Tanzania, where he performed free surgeries for village kids who then hung grinning from his biceps in photos. He jogged a loop of Central Park each morning, and was under the impression that their building’s doorman (“That’s all you running today, Mr. R?”) was personally fond of him. He had a full head of gray hair and pink skin and he interacted with everyone, including his offspring, in a way that managed to convey I’m going to do you the favor of listening hard to what you’re saying right now, but please understand that the meter is running.

On the main character's parents -

My own parents, by comparison, were as involved in my life as an uncle and aunt. (My mom, when I told her that Hannah and I were engaged, said, “Oh, that’s great news. We just love her, love her,” and then asked if she could call me back because she was about to pull into the garage.)

And oh - can he set the scene with a line or two

The character thinking that he didn't hear a voice -

To be clear: I still didn’t hear any voices. But you never quite hear nothing when you’re in an old house in the middle of the night.

In short - book of the year all around

Don't let the title make you think otherwise. The Ghost Notebooks is literature with a paranormal edge.

It's first and foremost literature though - and that is why it should be in the running in more than just a thriller / horror category.

In any case great tale - I recommend it!