Artie Dam is an outwardly stable high school history teacher, but the inner turmoil he is experiencing, specifically whether he wants to go on living, makes for a highly conflicted person. Hiding his inner feelings from his wife and adult son, Artie is caught up in the 2024 presidential election, which compounds his feeling of doom. Serendipitously, he is almost drowned in a boating accident that makes him appreciate life and those around him with renewed vigor. As for the presidential election, he still has his misgivings.
This is an empathetic look at how isolated a person can become even surrounded by family and friends. In Artie, a seemingly normal person, Strout has created a tool for self-examination and takes a magnifying glass to society as a whole. What the reader finds can be both uncomfortable and illuminating. The politics are left-leaning, but do not dominate the storyline; instead, it looks at where we were as a country and the power of the presidency. An entertaining and highly satisfying book.
5/5 stars.
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