Simon’s Night (including Simon’s Night Journal) by Jon Hassler, edited by Joseph Plut. (2013. Nodin Press. ISBN 978-1-9356666-53-0)
Jon Hassler. My wife’s favorite author. A Minnesota original. I’ve met and spoken to Hassler’s friend and former colleague, Joseph Plut, and reviewed Plut’s extensive conversational memoir, Conversations with Jon Hassler, over the years. I’ve also spent a fair amount of time chatting with the owner of Nodin Press, the publisher of this edition of an early Hassler novel. So, there’s both a familial and a personal interest behind my reading Simon’s Night, which, at 256 pages, is not one of this author’s longer or more involved works. Putting aside my ties to the Fredenberg Chapter of the Jon Hassler Fan Club (membership: one, my wife), and my personal relationship (meager at best) with the book’s publisher and editor, I have come to the conclusion that this unique combination of novel and authorial journal/memoir is a winner.
First, the novel itself.
Simon Shea is an old man, a college professor, who is suffering memory lapses and decides, without medical confirmation, that he’s in the throes of dementia and in urgent need of round-the-clock care. He rents a room in a local boarding house for oldsters after he nearly burns down his riverside cottage outside mythical Ithaca Mills, Minnesota; the sort of stereotypical town in the western hills and river country of Minnesota that Hassler knew like the back of his hand. Simon’s time at Norman House, where he encounters an assemblage of old folks not unlike the cast of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (featuring, coincidentally, a big Indian bent upon shooting one last goose for dinner) includes memorable dialogue, comedic scenes, an engaging backstory, and ample ruminations by Simon Shea on his marriage to his wife, Barbara. Barbara. Maybe the only real difficulty I had with the book’s plot is the notion that, despite thirty years of separation from each other, Simon and Barbara remain married. They live separate lives; Shea in Minnesota, Barbara in Texas, have only sporadic contact, and yet, due to Shea’s Catholic roots, never divorce. There is the obligatory affair; Simon beds a twenty-something former student in Ireland where both end up on vacation; but, despite time, distance, age, and this indiscretion, Simon and Barbara’s connection to each other perseveres. I wasn’t completely sold as to this aspect of the plot, though I will concede it’s possible. Plausible? I’ll leave that determination for the reader.
Like all Hassler novels, there are humorous twists and scenes, religious digressions, and a slow, meandering story arc that eventually finds conclusion. If you’re looking for things blowing up, nubile vixens being bedded, or international intrigue, this book won’t do it for you. But if you enjoy methodical, richly constructed prose with a bit of Irish wit, Simon’s Night won’t disappoint.
Perhaps more valuable to me as an author is Simon’s Night Journal. Editor Plut has assembled over 100 pages of letters written by Hassler to Dick Brook, one of Hassler’s lifelong friends, all of which have direct ties to Hassler’s writing of Simon’s Night. Just as the title of this review suggests, the author’s letters to Brook (along with a few other notes scribbled to friends, his agent, and former students) allow readers into the inner sanctum, indeed, into the author’s mind, as he works on the book from early gestation to publication. We are privileged to listen in as the author reveals his struggles with writer’s block, character delineation, and the writing process. We, the readers, are along for the ride: from the lows, as when Hassler believes he may need to trash the entire project, to the highs, when he has not one but two novels-including Simon’s Night-being selected for publication in the same year. Plut has done a fine job editing out the extraneous and preserving the intimate. I was enthralled by the exposition of Hassler’s deepest fears and ambitions as a writer and would highly recommend that this volume, novel included, be utilized in college writing courses. An excellent combination full of teachable moments.
Novel: 4 stars out of 5. Journal: 4 and 1/2 stars out of 5. A notable and well-conceived idea!
Peace.
Mark
