Blue by Sarah Van Arsdale

I was taken from the very beginning by the subtle, propulsive mix of lyrical and analytical prose in this compact but deep novel about identity and loss, memory and the moment, dream and the everyday life. Blue deals with the mystery of normal experience without clouding the events with so much misty plotting that the reader loses his way. At the same time, it moves along with ease without giving up its claims to seriousness. A young woman, who comes to be known as “Blue,” turns up in a small New England town, an amnesiac, and the psychiatrist who takes up her case attempts to guide her back toward some understanding of who she is. The effect of this treatment on her and on him, and on others in the town make up a small canvas. But large issues arise from it—those aforementioned polarities of memory and experience, dream and waking, etc. So this is a small and relatively short novel with big effects. Best of all, it is a novel that rewards you immediately by its engaging story and rewards you after you read it by its pensive (and memorable) approach to the lives we live. 

                                                               --Alan Cheuse