The Keep

Jennifer Egan is bringing my book club full circle. Years ago, I was a part of another book club which was made up of 75% of the same people who are in this one, and the first book we read was Look at Me, by Ms. Egan. In a couple of weeks, we'll be discussing her most recent novel, The Keep. I didn't love Look at Me, which brought together the disparate worlds of high fashion modeling and terrorism, and The Keep was described in a few reviews as "experimental." Experimental fiction can either be awesome or awful, but in my experience it's very rarely somewhere in the middle. So I went into The Keep with hopes but not expectations high and was surprised by how much I enjoyed the book.

As children, Danny was the golden child while his cousin, Howie, was the misfit. When a foolish prank is taken too far, the dynamic between them is changed forever. After years of drifting apart, they reunite at a crumbling castle somewhere (neither cousin is totally sure of which country) in Europe. Having essentially switched roles, Danny is now a tech-obsessed failure in all traditional senses. His panic at being so far removed from a cell tower and wireless internet connection will feel extreme but horrifyingly familiar to anyone who feels that recognizably silly but still present anxiety at forgetting your cell phone for a day. Howie, in the meantime, has reinvented himself as a successful, healthy entrepreneur with a hot wife and scads of money. But is their reconciliation really friendly? Are childhood grudges being held and revenges secretly being plotted? Their motivations and intentions are explored by a prisoner in a creative writing class, and his connection to the tale is only one of the mini mysteries peppered throughout the book.

Imminently readable, The Keep qualifies as a literary page turner and comes with my recommendation.