Paul La Farge, author of novels such as Haussmann, or the Distinction and Luminous Airplanes, has, with The Night Ocean, crafted yet another that defies categorization. La Farge frequently mixes fact and fiction with wild abandon, and The Night Ocean is no exception: its characters, real and fictional, orbit around the life of H.P. Lovecraft, the genre-defining horror writer from the early 20th century.
Marina Willett is a psychiatrist forced into the role of amateur sleuth in order to discover the whereabouts of her husband, Charlie, who recently disappeared after escaping from a psychiatric hospital. The police believe that he drowned in a nearby lake, but Marina isn't so sure. Her investigation delves into Charlie's notes and his obsessive, unhealthy research concerning the relationship between H.P. Lovecraft and the real-life fan and fellow writer Robert Barlow.
La Farge reveals his nesting-doll narrative structure gradually, leading readers to feel as if they're participating in the investigation into Lovecraft's life and the lives of his enemies and devotees. Along the way, La Farge delves into controversial subjects such as Lovecraft's rumored homosexuality, his racism and the merit of evaluating works of art using the lives of their creators as context. La Farge rarely delivers neat conclusions--his method somehow produces insights while muddying the historical waters even further. Instead, the fact of what may have happened becomes less important--maybe even less fun--than the many imaginative possibilities La Farge provides. --Hank Stephenson, bookseller, Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, N.C.