In “Icebergs, Glaciers, & Arctic Dreams: Developing Character,” author Kim Edwards writes that “characters reveal themselves through their exchanges with others” (Edwards 52). Lauren Grodstein’s Our Short History already differs from many other forms of prose in its epistolary format; this long-form letter written from the perspective of dying mother Karen Neulander to her son Jake invites readers into the very private world of their relationship, giving strong voice to Karen and revealing a great deal about who she is as a character. In many ways, the entire fictional memoir serves as an extended conversation between her and Jake. However, Grodstein includes flashbacks to exchanges with other characters, including Karen’s sister, Allie, and Jake’s father, Dave. Although we learn a great deal about Karen simply in her first-person narration to Jake, these interactions with other characters provide even greater insight into the nuances of her personality. More specifically, the way Grodstein writes Karen’s exchanges with Dave and Allie demonstrates the complete lack of control Karen feels in slowly losing her life to ovarian cancer, making her act in ways that we, as readers, view as frustrating but understandable, irrational but believable; in other words, these outside conversations supplement the central dialogue Karen has with Jake throughout the novel to show her true depth of character.
Grodstein firmly establishes Karen’s voice through casual, conversational language and a personal, epistolary format that frames Jake as the center of Karen’s universe. Interspersed among Karen’s motherly anecdotes, wishes, and pearls of wisdom are abrupt, heartfelt messages in which she addresses Jake directly to share messages such as, “You know that if it were up to me, I would live forever with you in my arms” (Grodstein 5). These messages become tiny anchors throughout the novel and demonstrate the urgency with which Karen feels she must communicate her love to her son, creating an emotional reading experience for Grodstein’s audience. Although novel acts as a sort of one-sided conversation between Karen and Jake, Grodstein flirts with the possibility of reciprocity with the inclusion of questions posed to the Jake of the future, including, “do titles matter if you have only one reader?” (Grodstein 7), Is Dustin still the sweetest of Allie’s children? (Grodstein 8), and “Do you remember Ace?” (Grodstein 9); these questions allow Karen, as a narrator, to continue playing an active role in her son’s life, even after her passing. We, as readers, understand the emotions Karen feels about her situation, in part, because she explicitly tells Jake, meaning Grodstein explicitly tells the reader; however, these direct statements read differently than the moments where we see Karen’s feelings in action.
To show a side of Karen that Jake, alone, cannot, Grodstein uses characters like Dave to reveal her protagonist’s very human fears and anxieties surrounding the future. Dave becomes a threat to Karen and her relationship with Jake, leading her to act defensively and out of self-protection. For instance, when she is rushed to the hospital and Jake calls Dave for help, her narrative tone shifts from casual and sentimental to desperate and fearful; she tells her former significant other, “’You can’t have him, Dave’” because Jake was “[hers]. Only [hers]” (Grodstein 175). As Edwards writes, “For a character to be convincing…[r]eaders must feel a certain empathy so that a character’s actions seem both unique and understandable” (Edwards 45). Grodstein creates this empathy through Karen’s hostility towards Dave, cementing her as a very believable, very human character. We can see that she is being irrational, but we can empathize with her feeling defenseless against her former significant other. We understand that her behavior is likely the result of feeling a lack of control over Jake’s relationship with his father after her passing. She does not want to lose her son to the man who, from her perspective, showed no interest in him for the first six years of his life. Although she frames her behavior as a desire to protect Jake, we understand that it is more so to protect herself.
Karen’s conversation with Allie about Jake’s future demonstrates Grodstein’s craft in allowing the protagonist to surprise her readers. Karen tells her sister that it is her responsibility to not “let [Dave] worm his way in to Jake’s life” (Grodstein 61) and even goes so far as to frame it as her “dying wish” (Grodstein 62). At this point in the novel, the reader knows Karen well enough to understand how much she loves Jake and wants him to have a happy life after she passes. However, this particular display arguably fails to align with Jake’s potential happiness (i.e., the pursuit of a relationship with his father, should he want one, especially after already losing one of his parents), leading both Allie and the readers to feel “slapped” (Grodstein 62). It demonstrates a level of selfishness in Karen with which the readers are not entirely familiar, as she gives so much of herself to Jake even when her declining health makes it difficult.
Although jarring initially, Karen’s manipulative dying wish still exists very much within the realm of possible behavior for a single mother who feels her only child quickly slipping away from her, however. As Edwards writes, “There is no single way for each character to behave” (Edwards 51), and in this moment, Grodstein makes an authorial choice to lean into the jealousy and desperation characteristic of a woman afraid of losing control. Karen’s ability to reflect on this moment later and admitting to being “manipulative” (Grodstein 62) invites readers to forgive her for her selfishness and, perhaps, restores a level of trust that her surprising behavior attempted to disrupt. Ultimately, Karen’s behavior humanizes her, but it also forces the readers to call her reliability into question. What is her goal with this project? Is this book truly written just for Jake, or is part of it for her own peace of mind? Perhaps these are the questions Grodstein invites us to consider in choosing to write this story the way she did.
Works Cited
Grodstein, Lauren. Our Short History. Algonquin of Chapel Hill, 2018.