The Embers

A REMARKABLY ASSURED DEBUT

When asked the theme of her engrossing debut novel Hyatt Bass replied, " Love, loss, betrayal, and the triumph of family bonds." Indeed, the elements of life itself. The Embers is an indepth portrayal of lives interrupted by tragedy, promises broken, and allegiances questioned. Yet it is so much more because Bass is an insightful, probing writer who fully realizes characters, and burnishes narrative with painterly detail. She chose to reveal her story through a series of flashbacks as three voices recall the past and examine the present.

Many might see the Ascher family as one of a fortunate few. Father Joe is a highly successful playwright/actor. A bit self-absorbed perhaps but enjoying a loving relationship with his young daughter, Emily. Matriarch Laura is beautiful and stressed, not at all at home in what seems to be a disorderly household. Upon later reflection she sees Joe as one who "could soak up all of the energy in a room and take up all its space - and while that power had made him extremely alluring it had left nothing for her." Son Thomas is the peacemaker, the one pouring oil on any troubled waters.

We first meet the Aschers in 2007 on a stretch of land in the Berkshires, the site of their vacation home which had burned to the ground. Emily is now an adult, a public defender who is engaged to be married, and wants the ceremony to take place on this spot of earth. Laura and her second husband, Earl, are also here. Joe is persona non grata as he is blamed for the accident that took Thomas's life. Nonetheless, Emily wants her father to walk her down the aisle, yet they have barely spoken since Thomas's death.

At this point Joe is apparently washed up. He hasn't written anything in a dozen years, drinks far too much, cannot even seem to pen a resort review for a travel magazine. He's frightened, despising "the tendency of a bitter and barren public to generate in themselves a sense of superiority simply by passing judgment upon the creations of others. " He has never been able to tell Emily or anyone for that matter what really happened on the night of Thomas's death, yet it is seldom out of his thoughts.

Each surviving member of the family is haunted in some way, each remembering the past differently. Yet they are irrevocably bound by ties that can never be broken, and memories of love once shared. With Emily's wedding in the offing is there a possibility of rapprochement, understanding, perhaps even forgiveness?

The Embers is a story that engages both hearts and minds, one that will not easily be forgotten. With her first novel filmmaker Bass ( 75 Degrees In July) has displayed an amplitude of talent. When asked if her next project would be a film or a book, she said she was already at work on her second novel. I cannot wait to read it.

- Gail Cooke

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

wonderful introspective novel

Playwright and actor Joe Ascher believes he is the greatest artist of all time and expects his family to adulate him. His wife Laura suffers in silence his egomania accentuated by his womanizing. His daughter Emily has always tried to be daddy's little girl, but he only has time for himself. The only member of the family who lives harmoniously is Emily and Joe's son Thomas who was never concerned with what his father thought of him, but now he is dying from lymphoma.

Now an attorney Emily is getting married to half Korean Clay. Their wedding is to be held in Berkshires at family vacation home where she and Tom spent their summers. The ceremony is on a hill where Tom's ashes were scattered as Emily needs her late brother at the wedding. Her parents are divorced; while Laura remarried, still womanizing Joe is a has been who hopes for one last glory hit like a former punch-drunk boxing champion going in for one more title fight long past his prime. His estranged daughter wants him to give her away, which may be his last chance to perform as a father.

Rotating between the past and present, Hyatt Bass provides a fascinating tale that has few events, but differing perspectives as to what occurred. The story line is character driven by the Ascher family who are all fully developed protagonists seeing incidents totally different. Fans will enjoy the Butterfly Effect on a family as minor occurrences lead to major confrontations years afterward; thus the Aschers are victims of self induced inertia and chaos. EMBERS is a wonderful introspective novel though there is for practical purposes no action.

Harriet Klausner

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A Waste of Time

I never cared about any of the thinly developed characters and dreaded picking up the book to continue reading it. These embers left me cold.

These Embers Are Cold

The premise is promising: former wild-child daughter of divorced parents is about to marry.

Emily Ascher decides to have her wedding on property in upstate New York that once held a family retreat from big city living. She recalls the times she spent growing up hear and reminisces about the brother she lost to a devastating disease. Through a series of flash-backs we are meant to learn of the inner workings as well as the dysfunctionality of this family. The bait being dangled before us is that there is a comfortable, if not rosy, to the conclusion of the story.

Turns out this is the story of Joe Ascher, playwright, actor, man-about-town. This character is the pivotal person in the lives of each of his family members and we learn of things mainly through his point of view. It is Joe's actions that have brought daughter Emily and ex-wife Laura to the relationship they now share - mutual tolerance of each other. Both, however, blame Joe for the death of Thomas (son and brother) almost fifteen years earlier.

The use of flashbacks in this story was somewhat disconcerting to me. I felt jolted each time the scene shifted as there was not even the slightest segue from one time frame to another. Keeping in mind the author's experience as a screenwriter I felt that the chapters worked almost like the shifting scenes one would see in a televised drama.

Each of the characters is full of promise. Emily, as the once rebellious daughter of divorced parents, has become the so-called rock of the family: now a lawyer with a brilliant career about to marry a man who is the extreme opposite of her somewhat flamboyant father; Laura, as the long-suffering wife who lives in the shadow of her semi-famous philandering husband until she boots him out the door; Thomas, the true glue of the family who is diagnosed with lymphoma at an early age. Unfortunately, none of these characters was given any depth or complexity even when they interacted with each other.

My favorite character was Ingrid, a young woman that Joe meets while on writing assignment. Sadly, we learn at the conclusion that while she was based on someone Joe sees through the hedges, everything we learn about her is purely fiction made up by Joe.

A rushed ending, shallow characters, and nothing to define what 'the embers' truly are earn this novel a less than average rating from this reviewer.

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