Rowing to Tomorrow

Rogers Rosenblatt was a good friend to The Open Book.  He patiently endured our unusual book signings and made an effort to stop by to personalize books and to just say hello.  Roger and his wife, Ginny were always charming and very welcome visitors to the store.

From Rules for Aging, to Lapham Rising and last year's, Unless it Moves The Human Heart, I have enjoyed and taken something different from each of Roger's books. His wicked humor and deft use of language come through whether he is offering nonfiction, essays, fiction or memoir.

Roger Rosenblatt's latest book, Kayak Morning, was released recently. This small volume is not always easy to read.  You may need to approach it with both a dictionary and a handkerchief, but it is worth your time, your attention and your emotions.

A few years after the death of his daughter, Rosenblatt is dealing with anger, pain and the giant hole left in his life by the absence of his Amy.  He takes to the creek in a kayak, not, I think, to find solace, but to find a little space to reflect on the world in its changed form.

The setting is familiar: Quogue, Hampton Bays and Southampton.  Rosenblatt writes of driving the LIE and the streets of a Sunday-quiet Quogue.  But he is living in another world as well, a world that is both missing a piece and filled with a pain that does not seem to abate with time.

Kayak Morning is lovely and heartrending and so very smart.  It is both a meditation and a lament.  This book is a celebration of the beauty of words and a comment on the way that life can knock you down and sit on you.  To me, Kayak Morning serves as an acknowledgement that even when faced with the impossible and unthinkable, the world keeps turning, the creek keeps flowing and there are moments that make life worth living.

Keep those pages turning........