THE LISTENER

Don’t you love it when you can’t wait to get back to the book you are reading? This seems to happen less and less to me. A notable exception is THE LISTENER, a novel by Rachel Basch. The story features a psychologist and his circle of family and friends. The setting is a college campus in a New England town. It is about intimacy in many permutations…between therapist and client, father and daughters, mother and son, friends, colleagues…and about secrets…and about identities, both public and private. Sexual and gender identities are at the heart of some of the relationships. This is a “talky” book – appealing to readers who like to consider the psychological aspects of life. And like life, it ends in mid-process with no clear-cut conclusion. Skillfully drawn characters trying to know each other and find ways to connect make this a memorable read.