Stephen Dau's nuanced first novel, The Book of Jonas, is divided into seven parts--processional, remembrance, communion, confession, atonement, benediction and recessional--suggesting a religious aspect. The writing is clean, spare, matter of fact, creating a restrained, hushed tone. The content, too, is spare.
Dau shifts back and forth among three main characters: Younis, a teenage boy who lives in a remote area of what seems to be Kurdistan; Christopher Henderson, a U.S. soldier fighting near Younis's village; and Rose, Chris's mother in Youngstown, Pa. At the heart of their stories is a devastating and horrific bombing and firefight that takes place in Younis's small village. Younis is injured. Chris vanishes. Rose is told Chris is missing in action.
Younis is helped by an organization that treats his injuries and later sends him to live with a host family in Pittsburgh. The family doesn't understand his experiences or his state of mind. He is beaten at school, until he fights back in anger. He meets regularly with a psychiatrist who tells Younis (now called Jonas): "We need to understand what happened."
Jonas goes to college, where he has a girlfriend and drinks heavily. He agrees to talk to Rose, but he can't remember much about the fight or Chris. We learn about a journal Chris was keeping. We learn Chris may have helped Younis. Dau does a beautiful job of creating tales shrouded in mystery, filled with pain and suffering. Gradually, we move toward confession, atonement and a hopeful blessing: "At some point, an accounting is made. Eventually, if you are human, and sane, you examine what you have done." --Tom Lavoie