Edgar and Lucy (Lodato)

Edgar and Lucy 
Victor Lodato, 2017
St. Martin's Press
544 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250096982


Summary
Edgar and Lucy is a page-turning literary masterpiece, a stunning examination of family love and betrayal.

Eight-year-old Edgar Fini remembers nothing of the accident people still whisper about. He only knows that his father is gone, his mother has a limp, and his grandmother believes in ghosts.

When Edgar meets a man with his own tragic story, the boy begins a journey into a secret wilderness where nothing is clear?not even the line between the living and the dead.

In order to save her son, Lucy has no choice but to confront the demons of her past.
Profound, shocking, and beautiful, Edgar and Lucy is a thrilling adventure and the unlikeliest of love stories. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
Victor Lodato is am American playwright and novelist. His 2009 book, Mathilda Savitch was deemed a "Best Book of the Year" by the Christian Science Monitor, Booklist, and Globe and Mail. The novel won the PEN USA Award for Fiction and the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize, and has been published in sixteen countries. His second novel, Edgar and Lucy was published in 2017.

His short fiction and essays have been published in The New Yorker, New York Times, and Best American Short Stories. Victor was born and raised in New Jersey, and currently divides his time between Ashland, Oregon and Tucson, Arizona. (From the publisher.)

Book Reviews
[Lodato's] captivating debut novel, Mathilda Savitch, featured the 13-year-old heroine of the title as its fierce, brokenhearted narrator. In Edgar and Lucy, he switches things up a bit. Grief is still the heart of the matter here, but Lodato is working in a broader register that includes other, mostly adult, points of view. Still, he repeats the impressive trick of creating a character so peculiar, vivid and appealing (think of Owen Meany minus the messianic complex) that Edgar becomes this ambitious novel's enduring reward…On every page, Lodato's prose sings with a robust, openhearted wit, making Edgar and Lucy a delight to read.… What makes this disquieting exploration of love and mourning bearable is that Lodato works from a place of compassion. Even in the darkest moments, when his characters are being their worst selves, Lodato bathes them in tenderness and understanding.
Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney - New York Times Book Review


Wonder-filled and magisterial.… Lodato's skill as a poet manifests itself on every page, delighting with such elegant similes and incisive descriptions…His skill as a playwright shines in every piece of dialogue.… And his skill as a fiction writer displays itself in his virtuoso command of point of view. The book pushes the boundaries of beauty.
Chicago Tribune


Edgar isn't like other boys and Lucy isn't like other moms, but grandma Florence keeps them tied to reality. And then their lives take a sharp turn.… This otherworldly tale will haunt you
People


A stunningly rendered novel.
Entertainment Weekly


The novel has the plot of a much briefer book, and, while some readers may revel in its rich description, others will find it self-indulgent. Secondary characters come across as more quirky than credible, and the introduction of the point of view of a ghostly character disrupts the flow of the narrative.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) Flirting with danger on many fronts, this second novel from the author of the award-winning Mathilda Savitch is perceptive, compassionate, and humorous, drawing readers into the lives of these quirky yet recognizable and sympathetic characters. —James Coan, SUNY at Oneonta Lib.
Library Journal


[C]haracters hurtle toward a climax that begins to defy plausibility—the author ties things up with a jarring change in voice at the end—but readers who make it that far are apt to be enraptured already. A domestic fable about grief and redemption likely to leave readers emotionally threadbare.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. The author considers this book “a love story.” Would you agree? If so, what are the various love stories represented? How would you define each of them? As triumphs or tragedies?

2. Look at the epigraphs throughout the book. Read them again and discuss how they relate to that particular part of the novel.

3. Think about Edgar’s relationships with the two women in his life. Does his extremely close bond to his grandmother Florence seem healthy, or problematic? As for Lucy: What do you think of her as a mother? Is she doing the best she can? Do you feel differently about her by the end of the book?

4. Think about the element of grief in this book. How does it affect the characters’ lives? How does it affect their decisions—and, ultimately, their fates?

5. Consider Edgar’s relationship with Conrad. What did you think, at first? Did your feelings change by the end of the book?

6. (SPOILER ALERT) Does Edgar run away from home, or is he kidnapped?

7. The author has referred to this book as “a New Jersey gothic.” Would you agree? If so, discuss the gothic elements in the novel. For instance: Do the characters have a complicated relationship to the past? Is there a sense of the past as a malignant influence? Do you think the dilapidated Fini house at 21 Cressida Drive or the cabin in the Pine Barrens could serve as updated version of the haunted or ruined castle of gothic literature?

8. Think about Lucy and Frank’s romance. Why do you think they were so drawn to each other? What is your opinion of Frank? What is his illness, exactly?

9. (SPOILER ALERT) What do you think of Edgar’s decision to return to the Pine Barrens? Why does he do it? How is he different when he’s finally reunited with his family.

10. How do you think the moments of comedy add to the storytelling?

11. (SPOILER ALERT) Discuss the reunion between Edgar and Lucy at the end of the novel. Why do they not go to each other immediately at the police station? What do they communicate to each other without words?

12. Consider Edgar’s personality: his shyness; his odd habits, such as hiding in tight spaces; his propensity for magical thinking. Do you think the doctor who suggests he might be “borderline autistic” is correct—or do you think something else is going on?

13. Discuss Edgar’s albinism. How does it affect his character? And what do you think is going on when his skin changes color after the fire—and then becomes white again at the end of the story?

14. Why do you think Conrad risks the closed world he’s built with Edgar to take him out to the cafe for pie?

15. How much sympathy (or lack thereof) do you have for Conrad?

16. Who really rescues Edgar from the fire—Conrad or Florence? Discuss the spiritual aspects of the book, including the idea of afterlife and/or limbo. Is the medium, Maria di Mariangela, fake or real? What about Florence’s ghost?

17. Why do you think the narration changes from third to first person toward the end? Who is really telling this story?

18. Think of all the secondary characters, such as Henry and Netty Schlip, Honey Fasinga, Thomas Pittimore, Jarell Lester, Jimmy Papadakis. What does Edgar’s disappearance mean to them? Does it reflect things from their own lives, their own sadnesses and longings? What is each person really looking for?

19. The author was born and raised in New Jersey. What did you think of his portrayal of the state and its inhabitants? Did you know much about the Pine Barrens before reading the book? Did you know the myth of the Jersey Devil?

20. Throughout the book, there are numerous descriptions of tunnels and water: Pio in the Lincoln Tunnel, the tunnels and aquifers under the Pine Barrens, Frank’s submerged car below Shepherd’s junction, even the waters of Consolidated Laundry where Florence worked. What do these waters and tunnels signify?

21. Did Edgar have three fathers: Frank, Conrad, and the butcher? Or no father?

22. Discuss the unfinished carving on the tree: Edgar loves… What is the meaning of this unfinished epitaph?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

top of page (summary)