Feb. 28--"A beautiful book." This coded and cliched phrase, usually associated with a novel, generally speaks to an elegant use of language, a finely chiseled work of imagination.
"Aquarium" by David Vann may be elegantly written and fiercely imagined, but it is also a beautiful book in a different way. Physically, this book is so gorgeous it enhanced my reading experience. I found myself turning pages slowly, then running my hand across each smooth page. The photographs throughout the text, along with the turquoise capital letters that begin each chapter and mark the author's name and book title on every creamy, thick page, reminded me that no electronic reader could provide this tactile and visual experience.
From the first sentence -- "It was a fish so ugly it didn't seem to be a fish at all" -- 12-year-old narrator Caitlin brings readers into her alternative universe of the Seattle Aquarium, where she spends time after school until her mother, a dockworker, ends her shift and brings her back to the rooms they share.
The ugly fish, which resembled a cold, mossy, overgrown rock, was a male "three spot frog fish," which keeps and protects its mate's eggs. Embedded throughout the novel are vivid photos of sea creatures, and the gifted Vann integrates them into his narrative of this girl who dreams of being an ichthyologist in Australia or Indonesia or on the Red Sea and spending her days in warm water. "The problem with the aquarium," Caitlin muses, "was that we couldn't join them."
"Aquarium" is suspenseful and difficult to describe without revealing details that will undermine revelations that give this book some heft, elevating it beyond the tale of a sensitive girl and her frustrated, angry mother struggling to make ends meet.
"Welcome to the adult world, coming soon," says Sheri, Caitlin's mother. "I work so I can work more. I try not to want anything so maybe I'll get something. I starve so I can be less and more. I try to be free so I can be alone."
Caitlin does not want to be alone; she longs for love and a sense of connection in a cruel world.
Like the ugly fish that opens the novel, the world is an ugly place; but by the end of "Aquarium," it is -- like the physical book itself -- a beautiful one. The aquarium makes Caitlin's life bearable, and she derives strength from imagining a universe where healing powers of forgiveness and empathy prevail. At times, this is a painful novel, but its beauty propels it toward redemption.
Elizabeth Taylor is the Tribune's literary editor at large
"Aquarium"
By David Vann, Atlantic Monthly, 266 pages, $24
