Await Your Reply
By Dan Chaon
(Ballantine Books, Paperback, 9780345476036, June 2011, 368pp.)
The Short of It:
Identity and self are of importance here, yet it’s an identity other than their own that drives these characters. The inability to accept who they are is the main focus of this tragic tale.
The Rest of It:
In a collection of seemingly, unrelated stories, a group of characters come together in unexpected ways. Miles goes on a quest to find his missing brother, Hayden. Hayden is afflicted with mental illness and although Miles is well aware that anything could have happened to him, he somehow senses that Miles has gotten himself into trouble. Ryan is a young man going nowhere. He receives a call from his birth father Jay, who he originally thought to be his uncle, and decides to join him in his life of crime. Lucy, a recent high school grad, decides to take off with George, her high school history teacher to live in an abandoned mansion in Nebraska.
Interwoven between these stories is an email scam that is all too familiar in this day and age. The old phishing scam where someone emails you to tell you that you’ve been left millions of dollars and that all they need is your personal information. This is where the title of the book comes into play.
As the story plays out, and the relationships between these characters make more sense, you can’t help but feel sorry for these people. None of them are particularly likable and none of them are strong enough to pull themselves out of the hole they’ve dug for themselves. They are a miserable group of people, depressed in different ways, yet depressed just the same. Their desire for a better life tugs at the heartstrings because they are so real. So desperate and so real.
This is one of those quiet books that forces you to consider the human soul and its desperation and utter loneliness. It’s bleak. True. Yet hope exists, it’s just a tad out of reach for these characters and their struggle to find it is what keeps you reading.  Dan Chaon knows people and is not afraid to expose all of their insecurities. This is what I appreciated most about this novel. His ability to expose all of their vulnerabilities in a realistic way. Overall, a very satisfying read.
Source: Borrowed from the library.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Book Chatter 
I’ve been hearing about this one for a long time. I was never inspired to pick it up, but you may have changed my mind on this one.
I’ve been wanting to get to this one for a while. It sounds like something I would enjoy.
I’ve been wanting to read a Dan Chaon book for a while – so many good things are said about his books.
This doesn’t sound like a fun or easy read but it does sound worth it.
It’s certainly not fun in the traditional sense, but I enjoy flawed characters and these guys were pretty flawed! Kept me thinking.
I’m not sure I’ll be in the mood any time soon to read something so bleak.
I measure bleakness against Wuthering Heights and Ethan Frome and compared to those two, this one is practically happy. Practically 😉
Flawed characters are interesting and human. The group of characters in this book sounds pretty despairing and grim but you mention that there’s hope although not necessarily for them. I don’t have a problem with dark books and depressed characters so long as there’s some light somewhere!
Ooh, I REALLY liked this book a lot. I was completely fascinated the whole way through and the one-two-three-punch ending was just killer. So glad you enjoyed it to!
I mean too, sorry I pressed the “Post Comment” button too fast.
I figured out the one-two punch thing early on, but me knowing it didn’t lessen the impact of seeing it in print.
Interesting…it just sounds interesting.
I had this one on my TBR list from last year I believe….I still my read it as I liked the way you described it.
This was a very different kind of book, but I did enjoy it as well.
I’ve read “You Remind Me Of Me” with my bookclub and we weren’t too impressed, but ti was his first, back in 2004 and I’ve read that this one has much better reviews.
I’ve seen this author’s name around but have never tried him. I like the description of this book and you made me curious to give it go at one point.