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REVIEW
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"A thoughtful literary novel"
Following the tradition set by his father and grandfather,
Australian Harry Hull is severely wounded serving in Nam.
Harry returns to live with his father in the Sidney
suburbs. His GI Joe dad, known for drinking beer with a
straw due to a World War II injury, obtains a job for his
son as a reporter with the Herald. While working there,
Harry falls in love with Lucy Whitmoor. They share a seven-
year affair while he observes the deterioration of his
father. When Joe dies, Harry feels alone and withdraws emotionally
from everyone including Lucy. This ends their relationship
as she can no longer reach him. Lucy leaves Sydney
carrying Harry's child. When she returns she informs Harry
she gave up their child for adoption. Harry needs to know
why, but the truth may prove more devastating then he will
ever want to see. Thomas Moran leaves no stone unturned with this insightful
look from within of an "emotionally blind" person that
seems more like an everyman "nowhere man". By the time
Harry learns the meaning of life, he is too acrimoniously
human. The story line is told from Harry's Monday morning
perspective as he begins to understand what he lost. WHAT
HARRY SAW is well written and as deep and baring as a tale
can be, but should carry a warning label that this is also
as sobering as any novel has been in years. The light at
the end of the tunnel is an on rushing train fueled by
despair and hopelessness. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted August 2, 2002
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| SUMMARY |
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The Los Angeles Times compared his debut novel, The Man in
the Box, to works by Elie Wiesel and Cynthia Ozick. His
second novel, The World I Made for Her, reconfirmed his
ability to "immerse you utterly in whatever moment he
chooses to describe" (The New York Times Book Review). And
in his third novel, Water, Carry Me, he created "one of the
most remarkable characters to grace fiction's pages" (The
Washington Post Book World). Now, Thomas Moran brings us a brilliantly flawed protagonist
who captures a failing all too common among men: He sees
only what he wants to see. Harry Hull's short list of things
he'd rather forget includes the last three hundred days of
his father's life; the cold, hard look from a woman who'd
just told him she was pregnant; and the sight of a young
girl's fall from a high bluff overlooking the sea. As he
recalls his stormy but ever hopeful relationships, we see
that Harry's struggles are a test of his capacity to know
himself. In the end, as is true for so many of us, what
Harry saw is not nearly as unsettling-or as vigorously
life-changing-as what he's failed to see.
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