The Good Remains - Hardcover

Antihero C.R. Ashs scrambled vision of the world might be due to bourbon; on the other hand, it might be due to Powers addiction to a sort of Faulknerian stream-of-consciousness style. In any case, C.R., the aging neonatal specialist at the center of Powers second novel (after the critically acclaimed Crawling at Night), is suffering from three problems: a chronic nostalgia for the world of his Confederate ancestor, Shrub Ash, who died at the battle of Balls Bluff, Va.; a chronic inability to connect to any woman who mentions the word marriage; and, most pressingly, the judgment of the Balls Bluff Babies Hospital governors, seconded by his conscience, that he is responsible for the death of Baby Hodges, aka Tuffy. Tuffy was the unexpected offspring of a teenage candy striper, Kirsten, for whom C.R. has the hots. The babys father, 16-year-old Todd Redman, learns of his fatherhood through the high school grapevine. It freaks Todd out, sending him to find companionship with his next-door neighbor, the school acid-head, Hermie Carson. Kristens, Todds and C.R.s troubles come to a head at the hospitals Christmas party, catered by Todds mother, Diane. All the ghosts come out on that night, from Hermies suicide father to Balls Bluff battle veterans. It takes a while for the different strands of the novel to develop into full-fledged story lines, but the readers patience will be rewarded by the black humor Power mines from this likably wacky town.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Dr. C. R. Ash is a neonatologist disenchanted with his life. He is a confirmed bachelor with no family left, his beloved dog recently deceased, and his career on the line for intentionally speeding the death of a premature baby born to a teenage hospital candy striper, Kirsten, with whom he is infatuated. C. R.'s secretary, Betty, is desperate to save him and implores Dr. Pendelton, C. R.'s best friend, to help. In a seemingly unrelated story line, Todd, the father of Kirsten's baby, can't get over the loss of his baby and begins to hang out with two other teens who are obsessed with death. It is at the hospital's holiday Christmas party, during a heavy snowstorm and through a series of skillfully rendered events, that all of their lives converge, for better or worse. This story feels disjointed, yet one is compelled to read on. The characters are eclectic and eccentric, tragic and yet sympathetic. It is about love and loss, life and death, and, in the midst of all of the seriousness, it is darkly humorous. Carolyn Kubisz
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