Wayward child returns home for parent’s funeral, and forced to be among family members from whom he has been distant, he faces a whirlwind of personal challenges all in a short period of time. I’ve read novels that follow this basic premise before, but I have to admit that I haven’t met a character exactly like Chase Stoller in any of them. In Grant Jarrett’s novel Ways of Leaving, a series of disaster after disaster await Chase, some brought on by fate or bad luck, and others clearly a result of his own terrible judgment.
Chase is at his arguably lowest point in life yet- newly fired from his job and newly left by his wife- and he is called back home by his brother as their father is close to death. From the very start, Chase is presented as a complete mess, not held in high regard by his brother, and seemingly not in possession of very much self-respect either. As Chase’s thoughts are revealed in the narrative, it becomes clear that he relies on sarcasm as a distraction from facing the dark realities of his life, though he somehow retains a sense of charm, especially with women in the story. As we slowly learn more about Chase’s childhood experiences and relationships, his hurt is given explanation, though he doesn’t necessarily become any more likable as a result.
After delaying his arrival in town by a trip to the bar, Chase shows up at his brother’s house too late. Though he bypasses the difficulty of facing his dying father, the aftermath of his father’s death, along with an increasingly important side story involving his mentally ill sister, remain for Chase to muddle through. How he goes about dealing with these emotionally heavy issues more often than not includes large quantities of alcohol, questionable sexual hook-ups, and various other forms of self-destruction. Without going into details, suffice it to say that Chase sees the inside of a hospital emergency room more than once over the course of these pages.
While there is some eventual maturation for Chase, it is a huge uphill battle, and his character itself was often abrasive enough to turn me off from the book as a whole. At times I was struck by incredibly witty and insightful pieces of the narrative, and at other times, I felt dragged through the mud by the constant whirl of absurd situations in which Chase finds (or puts) himself. Overall, I was happy to see Chase in a better place in life by the end of the novel, but I wished that I hadn’t been witness to his entire journey.