Arcadia by Lauren Groff

            Last month (January 2013), I attended the monthly Book Club gathering at my local library, where the discussion centered around a 2012 New York Times Bestselling Novel, by Lauren Groff: Arcadia. In much the same fashion as my previous post for The Cat’s Table, I am going to leave you rate-less for this novel (fun!!). But, I will tell you a little bit about how my fellow “Book Clubbers” (in addition to myself) reacted to Ms. Groff’s psychedelic new novel.

            Arcadia is a novel that chronicles the life journey of Bit, a boy who spends his childhood being raised on a commune in western New York. The commune, lead by a deeply appealing and magnetic man named Handy, is established on the grounds of Arcadia House, a dilapidated and ruined mansion (which is subsequently renovated to accommodate for the families of the commune). Bit, a sensitive and thoughtful young boy is raised in the world of Arcadia: a world of freedom, hunger, drugs, and communal working and living. His boyhood is filled simultaneously with hardships and blessings, and of course, the presence of the beautiful and profoundly disturbed, Helle who shapes his life in a plethora of ways. As a young man, Bit witnesses the commune predictably fall apart, and he is forced to begin his expedition into adulthood in our corporate, bustling, big-city world.

             Reading this novel, I wasn’t sure that I would have the heart to finish (but not for the reasons you might think!). Bit is loveable, and selfless, a character who loves unconditionally and truly (and I applaud Groff for her ability to write such a believable protagonist). However, at its center, Arcadia is a heart wrenchingly pensive and melancholy story. Some days, it was hard to pick up and read such a depressing novel (if you man up and finish though, there is hope at the end- a light at the end of the tunnel- I promise!).

            What I loved the most about Arcadia was Lauren Groff’s writing style. Ms. Groff’s writing was lyrical and fast moving; she was descriptive, and profound as well as perceptive and insightful. I am including two of my favorite Arcadia quotes below (you know how I love to include quotes- it gives you a taste of the story!). In the first, Bit uses the medium of photography in an attempt to capture the essence and the truth of Helle; he wants to help her find her way in the world and to find herself. In the second quote, a minor character named Sylvie relates how she sees the world when she is unencumbered by the presence of technology:

“He takes photograph after photograph of Helle, and she vamps for him, blushing under his attention, flaring her fingers like gills, moueing like a model. Every photo takes him a hairsbreadth closer to her, to the essential core of Helle, a purified Helle that he will one day hand back to her on a sheet of photographic paper. Here, he imagines himself saying. This is you. She will look at the print and know herself, at last, and she will wonder how she missed herself all along. Helle, seeing Helle as clearly as she sees the rest of the world: this is something to be dreamed of.” (125)

“It was strange to go outside without music in her ears. The city seemed so loud, and now that she could hear its regular noises, she could sense other things, too, the smell of the pretzels from the cart, the deep blue color in the folds of the stream from a grate. She sat for a long time in a park and watched the iridescent throats of pigeons. It seemed miraculous, this glorious color in such filthy birds. The people sped by, and she noticed how naked their faces were, as if they had become so used to nobody looking at them that they allowed themselves to be seen again.” (181)

Lauren Groff’s stylistic approach really resonated with me (although I cannot say the same for my other Book Club Biddies). Almost every Book Clubber surprisingly disliked the writing in Arcadia. The overriding complaint (writing-wise) was the lack of quotes throughout the entirety of the novel. I adjusted fairly easily to a novel without quotes to fence in the dialogue (to me, the narrative flowed more smoothly without quotes), but others said they found it overly distracting.

I think the biggest endorsement for Arcadia came from a Book Club Biddie who continuously doesn’t read the “Club Picks”; if she doesn’t like a novel within the first 50-ish pages, she typically stops reading. BUT, (dun. dun. dun.) she LOVED this novel (seriously!).  She couldn’t stop going on about how wonderful it is! If that doesn’t convince you to get out and read Arcadia, then I’m not sure what will!