Seven Steeples
When one’s world becomes smaller — because of, say, a pandemic, or in the case of Sigh and Belle, a couple who are “too solitary, with a spike of misanthropy…[and who become] curious to see what would happen when two solitary misanthropes tried to live together” — there are questions to be asked:
* Is this stripped-down existence a reflection of humans’ “purity”?
* Is this somehow noble?
* But also: Is this state of being healthy?
* Can one easily return to community?
* Are our lives enriched by the interweaving of place and people?
* What’s inertia and what’s choice?
A reader of Seven Steeples by Sara Baume might ponder these questions; I know I did. I think Baume has written a stellar “pandemic novel” — without it being about that, really. (There are, however, some veiled nods to this time, hinting that Baume may have been using Covid as a “muse.”) If you choose to read this novel (and I would highly recommend that you do), you’ll want to know that there is no dialogue, but you’ll want to pay attention to the details (so many breaking-down appliances, so much accumulating hair) and more importantly, the structure Baume uses…because I wonder if these things to notice reflect the way we “see” things now or the way that we always should have.
originally published on instagram