Dept. of Speculation

While some readers are drawn to books in the "Young Adult" category, I think "Middle Adult" is more my speed -- stories about middle-aged people undergoing marital crisis are the kind of thing that tend to fire my pleasure centers, or that can play on my hopes and terrors in a way that makes me aghast, or wince in recognition, or laugh in admiration. In a way reminiscent of David Markson, "Dept. of Speculation" proceeds by way of linked anecdote -- pungent morsels in themselves -- drawing the reader irresistibly forward (this is a one- or two-sitting book). If you're a fan of Markson or Rachel Cusk, check this one out.

As a guy who's come around to the comforts of athleisure as everyday wear and is semi-seriously considering buying a "going-out" track suit, this passage spoke to me:

"How has she become one of those people who wears yoga pants all day? She used to make fun of those people. With their happiness maps and their gratitude journals and their bags made out of recycled tire treads. But now it seems possible that the truth about getting older is that there are fewer and fewer things to make fun of until finally there is nothing you are sure you will never be."

I'm speculating that Jenny Offill taught in the dept. where my brother
was head of Creative Writing. I could ask him but we don't really talk.
We don't talk about why we don't really talk either.

What Tolstoy says, "Happy families are all alike." There's a blandness
in the beginning but digitized--there are gaps between the sentences. Why don't
Buddhists vacuum in the corners? No attachments. And all those astronaut
facts, none of which I can remember right now. But later it turns on
you. Now I remember the angry dying cosmonaut. The turning occurs during one of the gaps so you never see it happen. Me
and you become the husband and the wife. Bed bugs show up but they're
only the outer manifestation. But it's the ordinariness of it all,
suitable for a listicle.

How can the kindest person do this? It must be just a different kind of
kindness, focused elsewhere. The universe is vast. Pluto is no longer
a planet, yet life goes on just the same. Between attention! and
attention! there is inattention. You can miss a new diningroom table.
You must have known it was there. How could you not have known?

What John Lennon says, "Life is what happens when you're busy making
other plans." When you write the meeting of the two women, the
interesting part is the lead up to the encounter. With all the science,
do we know what's going to happen? Everyone has their certainties. The
lady in the park says Blue Jays spend every Friday with the Devil.

I'm speculating that they work it out in the end. My evidence: The
husband is called "you" again. Maybe because he slipped his story of
their lives into the pile she's grading.

Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill tells the story of an unnamed narrator known only as The Wife. This novella charts the narrator through all her uncertainties, as she overanalyses everything in her head from the small things to big things like her marriage. The analysis can invoke anything from Kafka to doomed Russian cosmonauts. The title comes from the letters the wife exchanged with her husband which are postmarked as Dept. of Speculation; the letters were a way to voice her uncertainties. However as the two drifts further apart she starts to lose this outlet, which could be her inherit downfall.

This novella offers a very real look at a person’s life who overanalyses everything. Now I am not going to tell you whether or not this narrator is unreliable or anything like that. I think this is something the reader needs to determine for himself or herself. It doesn’t matter either way, this book takes something intensely real and, at times, this can be a little too real. The way Offill has captured this character’s thoughts and emotions is what makes this book both deep and meaningful.

There is however a huge flaw in this novel, something that was pointed out by a friend before I went into this book. In the edition I read there was a huge amount of italicised text and not all of it was referenced. There are times that the author states who said the quotes and then for the most part leaves quotes unreferenced. While normally I have no problem with no referencing within fiction, but when it takes up a large chunk of the writing, it starts to become a problem. Especially when you find text that speaks to you but it is italicised. Was it a famous quote and was she trying to pass this off as her own words?

There is great beauty within this novella and there is a lot to love about it. This large flow I found with the novel really caused a problem which is a shame. I love books that explore complex human emotions and thoughts, Julian Barnes does this really well and Jenny Offill is just as good. I wanted to love this book and jump on the bandwagon but I couldn’t. I try to wonder if I would have the same problem if it wasn’t pointed out to me before I started this novel, I like to think I would but this friend always puts me to shame when it comes to critical analysis.

This review originally appeared on my blog; literary-exploration.com/2014/10/03/dept-of-speculation-by-jenny-offill/