Margins Review: Glaciers, by Alexis Smith

The following review was originally written for publication in The Willamette Collegian (@WUCollegian).

          To begin, “Glaciers” is not a story about melting icecaps or old ships wrecked at sea. It’s about a young woman who is beginning to understand that life as we know it is only temporary and will one day become the distant past, leaving behind only remnants to be remembered by. Isabel is a collector of these remnants, and the plot of “Glaciers” is fueled by her desire to find the perfect vintage dress for a party that she believes will play a decisive role in her future. Populated with just as many beautifully constructed sentences as dresses, “Glaciers” is an eloquent love letter to the antiquated charm of times gone by and a work that stresses the symbolic importance of preserving the past. But, before I delve into any more of that, let me introduce you to the narrator.

          Isabel is a 20-something Portlander who lives on the second floor of a rambling Victorian house with only her cat and an eclectic assortment of old-fashioned knick-knacks to keep her company. Working in the dimly lit basement of a public library, it’s her job to tend the ‘wounded,’ or damaged, books and knit them back together again after years of being neglected. Reminiscent of “Mrs. Dalloway,” the novel’s main plotline follows Isabel’s mental journey as it unfolds over the course of a 24-hour period, broken up by a series of snapshot-like scenes featuring past conversations and reflections on memories from her childhood in Alaska.

          The cast of characters is small, but includes Isabel’s co-worker and forlorn love interest, recent war veteran Spoke. Smith’s subtle way of portraying their restrained, but quietly hopeful relationship is both insightful and endearing as she painstakingly constructs the little moments that work to bring these two lonely people together as well as those that persist in keeping them apart. Mid-way through the narrative, Isabel muses that to experience infatuation is to enter into a kind of heightened “awareness” that “suddenly sharpens your senses, so that the little things come into focus and the world seems more beautiful and complicated.” This description also serves as an accurate representation of Smith’s overall writing style as she utilizes poetic language to transform seemingly mundane scenes into inseparable parts of the overarching message; namely that moments, when studied carefully, are like photographs that allow us fleeting glimpses into the lives of others, and so deserve to be cherished and remembered.

          Essentially, this is the kind of book you can have a brief, yet satisfying romance with without having to worry too much about time commitment or being thrown into any kind of emotional turmoil. It’s the literary equivalent of a glass of wine after a long day and would serve as the perfect palate cleanser for a reader caught between best sellers and draining reading assignments. 

  
And so, since it’s definitely the kind of sweet & sentimental read well suited for getting into the Valentines Day spirit, I’m giving “Glaciers” a solid...

 ... three and a half lovely vintage dresses out of five. 

~ * * * .5 ~

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