Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews
Written on Jul 8, 2013
Enon is elegantly written and reread sentences due to their excellence. This would be an opportune moment to quote such passages as one does Shakespeare; although there are far too many and would face carpel tunnel if I were to do so.
As epilepsy takes such a major role in Tinkers I expected the disorder to be spotlighted in Enon as well only for it to be the contrary. In hindsight, I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was knowing that seizures are not genetic nor should a family be overshadowed or defined by a disability. Everyone has their own story to tell and Enon is Charlie Crosby's
Enon is a continuation of sorts, sloping down the Crosby family tree to George's grandson Charlie. To connect these generations, the reader is given vivid memories of Charlie's daughter Kate and with his Grandfather George with these reminisces woven together seamlessly.
Paul Harding's book is one of grief, an emotion we can all relate to. Charlie bares the worst kind imaginable -- the loss of a child. Charlie's maddening decent through grief leads him to prescription drugs. Enon hit a low point for me (as it did for Charlie) when he visits his neighborhood drug dealer, it became too deep a hole for me bare and found it difficult to dig myself out. Although one cannot imagine how they would handle such a situation. Life is not an episode of Growing Pains whose problems can be solved in thirty minutes.
In the end, Enon is a novel of sadness, love and redemption and is beautiful to behold.