Telephone by Percival Everett

An astonishing new novel of loss and grief from “one of our culture’s preeminent novelists” (Los Angeles Times) Zach Wells is a perpetually dissatisfied geologist-slash-paleobiologist. Expert in a very narrow area—the geological history of a cave forty-four meters above the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon—he is a laconic man who plays chess with his daughter, trades puns with his wife while she does yoga, and dodges committee work at the college where he teaches. After a field trip to the desert yields nothing more than a colleague with a tenure problem and a student with an unwelcome crush on him, Wells returns home to find his world crumbling. His daughter has lost her edge at chess, she has developed mysterious eye problems, and her memory has lost its grasp. Powerless in the face of his daughter’s slow deterioration, he finds a mysterious note asking for help tucked into the pocket of a jacket he’s ordered off eBay. Desperate for someone to save, he sets off to New Mexico in secret on a quixotic rescue mission. A deeply affecting story about the lengths to which loss and grief will drive us, Telephone is a Percival Everett novel we should have seen coming all along, one that will shake you to the core as it asks questions about the power of narrative to save.

Didn't want to know where the student/teacher relationship was headed, tired of reading about that stuff. Realized I was skimming/not reading the interspersed science stuff (despite being an avid science type reader) and realized this book was not for me.

Had I known what Telephone was about I never would have saved it for last. I read the entire TOB shortlist for 2021 and threw Telephone at the bottom because I had to buy it (so I didn't have to worry about a due date) and it was the shortest book. Easy-peasy, right?

except, except, except....this book is about a dying kid. It's also about academics (tops in my “no thanks!” list). It's also got a pretentious vibe because there are multiple versions? I have no idea which one I have. I don't care.
It took me three weeks to read this 224 page book because I did NOT want to watch Sarah die. Why were all of the women throwing themselves at Zach? His daughter is dying. Is this what is going to happen? I have to watch this idiot sleep with a coworker or a student because he is grieving. What bullshit!

I took the sentences of this book down like nasty medicine. It was, if it was lucky, going to be a two star read. I was already plotting what I would read to wipe this from my mind.
And then, we get to New Mexico and it becomes an entirely different book. Then, I couldn't put it down. I actually laughed, and grew to love Zach's invented ploy of hunting for oil in order to stage a giant rescue. I loved the poets.
The ending just...ends. Boo! But I went ahead of taking the liberty of giving everyone on the bus a happy ending.
So there we go, Telephone done. I bet I'll be thinking about parts of this book for a loooong time.

Lonely, awkward, poignant. Ayúdanos. I didn't know there were three different versions of this book until I finished it, and damn. Now I have to find and read them all.