Before by Irini Spanidou

I read Before months ago, and I held off reviewing it because I was hoping that a step back would help me pull my thoughts together. Unfortunately, life gets in the way of our original plans, and the book kept moving farther toward the bottom of a pile of books to review. With the end of the year fast approaching, I want to catch up on my reviews of books read this year, so I figured now is as good a time as any.

Before is set in SoHo in the 1970s, and Irini Spanidou does a wonderful job placing the reader directly in the story. You can see the empty factories, the vacant blocks, the few factory-to-loft conversion projects, and the new bars popping up here and there. You can see that the area is seedy before she mentions the robberies, rapes, and muggings. You know this is a neighborhood full of interesting people with interesting stories.

Spanidou focuses on three months in the life of Beatrice, a wannabe writer married to an artist with a bad temper, a drinking problem, and a thing for women who are not his wife. Beatrice is 25, very attractive, and depressed. She took a job at a publishing house in the hopes of getting a chance to read manuscripts and discover new writers; instead, she's forced to read manuscripts by well-known authors whose later works are not so great, and she must look for the positives to jazz up their rejection letters. She never graduated from college, and she seems to completely depend on her husband. For instance, Spanidou writes: She knew him. Her own self she did not know. When things started to fall apart, no ground was left for her to stand on. She had given herself over to him completely. Without him, she believed, she was nothing. (p. 33)

In addition to Beatrice and her husband Ned, Spanidou introduces several intriguing characters: Beatrice's childhood friend, Faye, who is a sultry nightclub performer; Cyril, Ned's brother, a Vietnam vet; Colin, a musician friend of Beatrice and Ned; Perkins, a creep ex-convict who lives next to Beatrice and Ned; Simon, who meets Beatrice in a bar; and Chris, a young boy addicted to heroin and turning tricks to feed his habit. The men all are attracted to Beatrice, but the attractions never really seem to go anywhere. In fact, the book doesn't go anywhere.

Spanidou creates a host of promising characters, but Before lacks any plot to carry them forward. It seems the book is more of a character study, and the reader is forced to watch Beatrice grapple with depression, hysteria, and anxiety attacks and do a lot of thinking about how her life needs to change. But she isn't motivated to take any action. If the character isn't motivated to act on something--anything--how do you build tension or resolve any conflicts?

It also seemed as though a lot of the writing was designed to impress and sound intellectual without really saying anything. For instance: She felt a wholeness in herself that was completely empty... (p. 210). I don't know about you, but when I feel whole, I certainly don't feel empty. And as much as I love character-driven stories, this one left me feeling empty at the end.

Disclosure:  I borrowed Before from the library.