Review: All the Living, by C.E. Morgan

All The Living, novelist C. E. Morgan's first offering, presents a familiar story - that of coming of age - in an unfamiliar way. Aloma, who was orphaned as a child, is working at the Kentucky school she attended when she meets Orren, whose family has recently been killed in an auto accident. The two are instantly drawn to each other on a very primal level, both mentally and physically, as their shared pain and loneliness are assuaged by youthful lust. When Orren asks Aloma to move with him to the small-town farm he has inherited, she accepts, imagining a settled, routine life she has experienced only in her mind.

Once Aloma arrives at the farm, however, it is to live in a run-down shack on the property with no running water, because Orren cannot bear to live in the larger, modern home a few acres away where his family had lived. As lust diffuses into daily life, the two must face their reality: Orren with his deep-seated grief and insecurity, Aloma with the emptiness she had expected Orren to fill. When Orren does not, as her domestic fantasy had led her to expect, ask her to marry him, her fantasy evolves into seething petulance. Disenchanted, she applies to play the organ at a local church as a way to escape the farm, and meets a young pastor, who is himself searching for something. From there, Aloma must decide what her life will be, and where she will decide to go.

Although it may sound like one, this is not a romance novel. Rather, it is an investigation of how the human soul copes with difficulty, and the unanticipated repercussions of choices we make, especially the naiive choices of the young. One of the best qualities of this book is its tone, which is very true to its Kentucky farm roots, with the spare speech and practicality of the midwest giving an honest portrayal of two humans grasping at their surroundings to forge together some kind of concrete basis for existance.

All the Living is not exciting, or mysterious. It is quiet, sneaking up on the reader, who all of a sudden realizes that she is actually interested in these two people, and is not just tagging along. Its very quietness is what enables it to slip into the brain unnoticed, nestling down and nagging at you to follow Aloma as she decides which parts of herself to hold onto, and which to wash away. Some sections are more engrossing than others, and none of the characters are perfectly endearing, but that's what makes the book real. The ending is very well-written, and I didn't realize that it was what I had been hoping for all along until it actually happened.

Review: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars: Well-crafted, slightly subdued, honest