READ: Three Junes by Julia Glass

Entry No. 2 in my list of 25 books I will read in 2009.

Here is my brief review:

This book won the National Book Award of 2002.

Glass’ book is a family saga of the McLeods, in three parts, during three Junes. Part one, “Collies”, recounts the story of Scots Paul and Maureen McLeod and their three sons, Fenno, Dennis and David. Part two, “Upright”, tells the story of Fenno, an adult ex-patriot homosexual who now lives in New York city and whose love and lust bring into his life a music critic and a nomadic photographer. And finally part three, “Boys”, told by Fern Olinsky, recounts the intersection of lives.

I enjoyed reading Three Junes, although it took me weeks to get through, and I don’t think I’ve fully digested it yet. Glass’ prose impressed me throughout, with fully realized descriptions, spot-on metaphors, and fairly depicted characters. An aspect of the book, its tri-partite structure with its changing of point of view and tense, bothered me at first but won me over in the end. Each part almost illustrates fiction’s fashions over time (third person omniscient, first person, third person present tense), and moves more sure-footedly into the present as the story unfolds, with flashbacks to fill in the backstory as each June moves forward. That structure impressed me as a virtuoso performance from a first-time novelist.

4.5 stars out of 5

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