The Reconstructionist [Paperback]

Ellis Barstow is a forensic reconstructionist; trying to figure what causes automobile accidents. He works with John Boggs as they investigates and discuss crash sites. Boggs is married to Heather (who had introduced Ellis to Boggs) and is also the ex-girlfriend of Ellis' brother Christopher who died in a car crash when Ellis was young (and still haunts him). And Ellis had a boyhood crush on Heather. Things begin to heat up between the two.

This character driven story is detailed when it comes to reconstructing the crashes and one can learn what a forensic reconstructionist does. But then at somewhere in the middle of the story it becomes bizarre as Ellis searches for Boggs after he learns of the affair. It lost me and I lost interest.

This is a novel that will stealthily walk into your consciousness
without giving away the underlying messages. You'll have to dig a little for
the treasures, and the hunt is well worth it!

My Measured Perspective:'
Nick Arvin writes in the brief, blunt style of an investigative reporter; this befitting the narration of his character's reconstructionist lifestyle. The staccato "voice" is one of an isolated, socially inept man who is used to self-commentary and introspection. It was this controlled inner dialog method that made his book so compulsively readable to me at the beginning. It was this and the story as it developed that kept me whipping through the pages for answers. Who would have thought that a book about car accident reconstruction would be so absorbing? I wouldn't have. But something about the summary made me take a chance on it, and I'm so glad I did. This is a book I'll never forget.

While this appears on the surface to be the story of an average boy who grows up living a couple of blocks from a dangerous intersection where there were many car wrecks he was able to witness in the nearly immediate aftermath, it cuts much deeper than that. It's the story of how that intersection and the accidents shaped him, his perceptions of people, and his life in total. It's how living within range of continuing, inevitable danger and death, witnessing it regularly, and finally experiencing it personally by way of his brother's death, made him into the man he became. Life's circumstances, the author seems to tell us, our physical surroundings outside the home, can be critical to who we become.

Through the course of the book, we come to understand that old adage, "there is no one so blind as he who will not see." Human beings often know, but can't "know" the truth of horrendous happenings. We can't "see" them because if we do, they might destroy us or the love we have with others. In Nick Arvin's book, he causes his characters to wrestle with this issue in several ways. It's a powerful struggle that works in juxtaposition with the very meticulously detailed job his protagonist Ellis and his boss Boggs have of seeing, looking over, measuring and configuring, reconstructing automobile accidents. Their very livelihoods come from the ability to see!

While Arvin's characters are seemingly adept at reconstructing the accidents of others' lives, they have blind spots in their own lives. Both Ellis and Boggs are non-conformists, anti-social, odd and inept in their own ways. They fail to see how to fit in with others. The same goes for Heather, Bogg's wife and Ellis's brother's former girlfriend whom Ellis obsesses over. She creates art projects making tiny, nearly indistinguishable diaramas from trash, and takes odd overexposed pictures made from tiny homemade cameras while hidden in her van. She won't look at the real world around her, but makes fake, bearly distinguishable mini worlds, instead.

Boggs tells Ellis when he first comes to work they must remember it is an "analytic, emotionally odd job...you have to remind yourself that people died." Disassociation is a part of the job, yet they find crushed Mardi Gras beads, a Babies R Us receipt, a tie...blood...other evidence that there was a human connection to the measurements and numbers coldly calculated and gleaned on sites. This disconnect is seen in other areas of their lives: they both love books, and Boggs loves classical music; cultured and intelligent, you'd think. But, each generally can't relate to human beings and suffering when they first begin their association.

Through the course of the book, we see Arvin's beautifully sculpted characters develop psychologically, socially and humanely. It is ultimately love that brings them together and saves them. It's love that helps them see everything they need to see. And the journey is one that I traveled with them wide-eyed all the way.

I'm wondering if I've said enough to convince you to read his book. Let me quote Nick Arvin one more time through one of his characters, "...no one lives an average life." This may appear to be an average novel about average people in average circumstances. It's not. I hope you'll try it for yourself. Guaranteed not to be missed, though not perfect in every way. The end is a shocker!

4.5 stars

Deborah/TheBookishDame

Roads equal freedom--and risk. Driving equals freedom--and risk. Cars equal freedom--and risk.

The Reconstructionist is a stunning novel that lives in this uncomfortable space. It is also, through Arvin's sharp eye, a beautiful piece.

The Reconstructionist focuses on two men--one mentor, one student--whose job it is to understand, analyze and draw conclusions about how accidents happened.

It also focuses on a woman who is married to the mentor and who was involved in a car accident that was a formative event in the early life of the student. But we don't know precisely her role in the accident and neither does our main point of view character, Ellis Barstow. In a few unique ways, The Reconstructionist is a sort-of mystery novel but in this case the erstwhile detective is also the injured, the aggrieved.

The prose carries on with that clean, clear Arvin voice, full of interesting imagery and crisp scenes. The prose pops into full 3-D mode.

The book unfolds against the hard-working Midwestern landscape. At first, Ellis is the pupil of John Boggs, following the wild-eyed man around accidents and trying to uncover the story of each wreck.

Soon, however, Ellis is taken--and takes up with--Boggs' wife, the same girl from his youth. The majority of The Reconstructionist involves Ellis causing wreckage across his own personal and emotional landscape and then trying to put the pieces back together. Along the way, he's involved in a car accident--to what degree was he at fault?--and must come to grips with all the little decisions that led to that moment, all the decisions that could have left the day unblemished if he had just done things differently.

Understanding is what drives Ellis and what leads Ellis on a long drive--chasing Boggs across the countryside and revisiting scenes of accidents they had worked on together.

It turns out that a keen ability to analyze car accidents, to understand how certain pieces ended up here and there, doesn't necessarily mean you're good at understanding your feelings about your boss, your lover or your dead half-brother. If you work hard enough, think hard enough, analyze enough, can you get to the bottom of it?

The Reconstructionist is about memory, risks, and looking back. It's a clash of science and the heart. It's one of the most memorable novels you'll read--and it might play a role in your thoughts each time you get behind the wheel.