Osprey Island [Hardcover]

Reviewed by Amy Westervelt Sunday, July 11, 2004

"The Good People of New York," Thisbe Nissen's first novel, was extraordinarily well received and not at all a bad piece of fiction, but I remember thinking that I liked her short stories better -- a fairly common reaction to the first novel of a short-story writer. Thankfully, Nissen's second novel, "Osprey Island," blows her short stories out of the water. Whereas in "The Good People of New York," she took what had worked well in short form and then just made it longer, in "Osprey Island" she uses that extra space to develop rich, real characters.

In keeping with the almost theatrical feel of the story (the narrative is very dialogue-driven, most of the action is set at a particular locale -- the Lodge at Osprey Island -- there is a slow climb toward a tragic climax and then a slow decline toward resolution), the characters are introduced at the front of the book, along with their age and "role." These characters' lives are each complete stories in their own right (perhaps also because of Nissen's beginnings), but because the majority of them also grew up on a tiny island together, their stories overlap, then diverge, then meet again in increasingly interesting ways.

At its core, "Osprey Island" is the story of small-town America. Everyone knows his neighbor's business, everyone looks out for the other members of the community, and there are just a handful of businesses -- one pharmacy, one lunch counter, one post office, one bar. Much as the town of Osprey and its inhabitants, its primary business -- the Lodge -- is a dilapidated structure with just enough fresh paint to qualify as quaint instead of shabby. Every summer the island plays host to a herd of pretty young Irish girls who work at the lodge and to uppity East Coast tourists from the mainland. The tourists' money keeps the island running the other nine months of the year, but we only hear about them thirdhand, as the entire novel takes place in the month before the lodge opens one summer in 1988.

As with any small town, the Osprey locals grow up with an itch to leave, and few return. And like most small towns, there is plenty of action brewing beneath a deceptively calm surface. In just one month on the island there are love stories and a tragic accident, familial drama and sordid affairs, but the overarching plot is almost secondary to the individual stories of Osprey Island's characters. These are real people, and Nissen makes us care for them. We cry for the drunken housewife who wants to do better, knows she can do better, but doesn't. She is our lovable cousin who will always be a loser. We feel sorry for her equally alcoholic husband, who's a complete ass, but only because he's been so abused his entire life. It's no excuse, but it does make it easy to feel sorry for him. We worry about their child. He reminds us of that neighbor kid, the hooligan about whom our mothers used to shake their heads and say, "That poor kid never had a chance." We get frustrated when a 36- year-old woman petulantly back-talks her father, over and over again, but we can understand why she does it, and know that he sort of deserves it.

In fact, so enchanting are the characters that the story they inhabit is not only secondary, but almost seems to get in the way at times. There are entire passages of description that readers will be tempted to skim over just to get to what is happening with their favorite character. This is especially true of Nissen's descriptions of romantic interactions. These paragraphs are forced and fumbling; they seem to have been tweaked or rewritten by an editor. Nissen's voice is not natural in these scenes; she's better suited to innuendo than describing the nitty-gritty details.

Another obstacle to our beloved characters is the osprey-related material from various books and poems that precede each chapter. The osprey is a bird, and obviously the namesake of Osprey Island. There is, undoubtedly, a shed- load of symbolism in the bird, but again, we don't care. We don't have time for other books, other authors, other protagonists. And we certainly don't have time for birds. We want to find out if our sad housewife is going to turn it around. We want to see if the reunited high school sweethearts are really well matched, or if it's just a summer fling. We want to make sure that young boy doesn't become a delinquent because of his parents. Ironically, we are trapped on Osprey Island and we love it. We're not looking for ways to leave the island, but ways to stay there, and blend with the locals. •

Amy Westervelt is a San Francisco writer.

OSPREY ISLAND's major plot is a compact story, but the novel explores a multitude of smaller stories. At its heart is Squee, a little boy whose mother is killed in the aforementioned fire and whose alcoholic father is a danger to himself and others. Suzy and Roddy, two former island residents who have returned and brought various demons with them, struggle to help Squee and to define their own smoldering relationship. Roddy's imperious mother, who knows every secret but cannot bend this situation to her will, is a key figure and perhaps Nissen's finest creation in the book.

Nissen's first book --- and still her best --- was the finely wrought collection of short stories OUT OF THE GIRLS' ROOM AND INTO THE NIGHT. Neither her first novel THE GOOD PEOPLE OF NEW YORK nor OSPREY ISLAND is as consistently strong as that collection, but the new novel shines when its chapters most resemble a Nissen short story. For example, the chapter titled "The Broodiness of Hens" is a highlight of the book despite (or perhaps because of) its departure from the main plot to pursue back story and character development. It is here that Roddy's mother --- the overly symbolically named Eden --- comes to life on the page in a way that makes her the book's de facto center.

Similarly, the chapter titled "Grief-Spurred, Swift-Swooping" is a devastating passage featuring Squee's father Lance and a young Irish girl named Brigid, who is on Osprey Island to work at the tourist lodge for the summer. Nissen builds a suspenseful exploration of sexual gamesmanship gone horribly awry through a series of small but seemingly inexorable moments and decisions. Both chapters confirm Nissen's mastery of the short form and are the most powerful moments in her larger narrative.

The accumulation of such small moments makes OSPREY ISLAND a gripping, if somewhat uneven, novel.

--- Reviewed by Rob Cline