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    The Call: A Novel
    The Call: A Novel
    The Call: A Novel
    Ebook254 pages4 hours

    The Call: A Novel

    By Yannick Murphy

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    “Yannick Murphy, while being one of our most daring and original writers, is first and foremost an exquisitely attuned observer of human behavior. . . . Murphy’s work provides pretty much unexceeded reading pleasure.” —Dave Eggers

    The warm, wry, and patient voice of a veterinarian father tells the heartfelt story of his young New England family enduring a moving trial of loyalty, hope, and faith after they are confronted with an unthinkable crisis. Acclaimed author Yannick Murphy’s intimate narrative style and lovely prose will enthrall readers of Rivka Galchen, Padgett Powell, and Murphy’s own Signed, Mata Hari. The Call is a “triumph of quiet humor and understated beauty” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) from an author that the New York Times Book Review calls “an extraordinarily gifted fabulist.”

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateAug 2, 2011
    ISBN9780062092496
    The Call: A Novel
    Author

    Yannick Murphy

    Yannick Murphy is the author of The Call; Signed, Mata Hari; Here They Come; and The Sea of Trees, as well as two story collections and several children's books. She is the recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Award, a Chesterfield Screenwriting Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the Laurence L. & Thomas Winship/PEN New England Award. Her work has appeared in The Best American Nonrequired Reading and The O. Henry Prize Stories. She lives in Vermont with her husband and children.

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    Reviews for The Call

    4/5

    123 ratings15 reviews

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    • 2/5
      Very meh; a few references to Ulysses and we are forced along with the perambulations of an everyman, a New England veterinarian burdened with human quotidian concerns until a pair of events yield resonance to more philosphical concerns. It isn't bad by any stretch but hardly illuminating.
    • 5/5
      LOVED this one! I am so glad that I own it, too. This is a book that I will read and read.

      First, the main character is a veterinarian in a very rural area, where they don't even get good television reception. The radio goes in and out, sounding like spacement are transmitting messages. The flow of the book is in paragraphs detailing one of several prompts: Call, Action, What the Wife Cooked for Dinner, What the Kids Said to Me When I Got Home...and on and on. I love the flow of this and the clever writing style. It was very easy to follow, progressed the story nicely and indicated mood, scene and internal thought.

      The Call was also a very real portrayal of family life. There are spats, tiffs, laughter, a crisis, family time, dinners, another crisis, tears, hospitals. It is one-day-at-a-time living at its best. There are no rose colored glasses here and no tidying up at the end. We never learn what the spaceship is doing (Yes! There is a spaceship). We never find out who volunteers for the Head Potty Cleaner job. Does the dog ever have puppies? What did the doctor say about Dorothy's leg?

      It was like James Harriot, taken down a few notches and made much, much more real. I will read everything by this author.

      Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      This book was okay. At times I really liked it, and it brought a smile to my face. At other times, when I was wanting the story to progress the style became a bit tedious.
    • 5/5
      Do you love epistolary novels - stories written in letters, emails? I do and if you do, you will embrace this clever and remarkable book written in the form of a veterinarian's call log. A rambunctiously loving family - the vet, his willful and hilarious writer wife, and their three beautifully drawn children, are the source of the extreme gentle pleasure that The Call arouses for the reader. Cows and horses, goats and sheep are born, get ill or injured, and seem to randomly die or survive, only partially due to the skill of the doctor. When the same situation arises in his own family, the writer keeps the story taut as the family falls apart and mends, along with their small farming community. An unexpected arrival brings even more medical dilemmas and a most satisfactory closing. Most highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Picked this book up because of the unique narrative writing. Also trusted the endorsement by Geraldine Brooks whose historical fiction I've enjoyed. A veterinarian's story in rural New England, written in a diary format. Terse at the beginning and more involved by the end. Writing style matches the emerging serious plot. Worth reading because of the novelty and the view point. KH
    • 4/5
      The daily rhythm of a veterinarian's family in rural New England is shaken when a hunting accident leaves their eldest son in a coma. With the lives of his loved ones unhinged, the veterinarian struggles to maintain stability while searching for the man responsible. But in the midst of his great trial an unexpected visitor arrives, requesting a favor that will have profound consequences - testing a loving father's patience, humor, and resolve, and forcing husband and wife to come to terms with what "family" truly means.
    • 4/5
      Better than average. Not earth shattering. I liked the plot. A man's son is shot and ends up in a coma. The man spends this time searching for who shot his son but instead learns more about himself and his family. It's written pseudo journal entry style which I normally like I just think some of these really were just so disjointed. While you never miss much some actual dialogue would be kinda nice.
    • 4/5
      Written in a terse diary format: Call; Action; Result;Thoughts; what the children said, what his wife cooked for dinner, etc. Charming and quirky at first, and although it opened up after awhile it grew tedious by the end. The diarist is a veterinarian, so the calls and actions were interesting, as were his thoughts about physics, philosophy, his family. All in all, a captivating book.
    • 4/5
      I'm always drawn to books that are unique in their narrative style, so when my librarian friend showed me the Call/Action/Result etc blocks of narrative in this book I was immediately intrigued. I didn't even care to read the description on the back cover, I just knew I wanted to read this book. (Incidentally, I did read the description on the back after I finished the novel, and it's obviously written by a publisher, not the author, because it too neatly says what the book is "about." The book is more nuanced than the blurb allows.)

      If I had read only the blurb and not known about the unique style, I probably would not have the read the book, because I have little direct interest in farms and vets and horses or hunting, which are all included in the narrative. However, I did enjoy the book, because I do like stories about families, honest relationships, struggles, a touch of whimsy (the mother "receiving" signals from the spaceship), some unexpected developments, and a lack of sap.

      It's the "lack of sap(piness) that I most appreciated about the book. There's a tragedy and doctors and hospitals, but the book does not dwell on the drama of any of these events, it just goes through the actions with some objectivity and resolve. That is not to say that emotion and struggle are removed. The turmoil is implied and seen through the character's "What I Thought While Driving" moments and the conversations with wife and daughters. Human struggle is felt in a very refreshing way.

      The same is true of the characterization of the other family members. Through the few actions and discussions of the wife and daughters and son, they are round characters even if they seem like background characters.

      This book is well crafted and original. That alone is recommendation for reading.
    • 4/5
      Written as entries from a rural veterinarian’s call sheet, The Call is a pleasing and odd little book that had a lovely sly sense of humor that pleased me. I was surprised how the author managed to tell the story (which involves a hunting accident and the vet’s son) and convey the details of one family’s life with such convincing warmth, humor and goodwill. I also felt it told the story of a marriage that felt real and lived-in—something you don’t often come across. Make time for it.
    • 5/5
      This novel lets you live vicariously in rural Vermont, with Martin, Jen and their three young children. They have a simple, full life (not quite homesteaders), but the post 2008 downturn is increasingly affecting his veterinary practice. Theirs are the typical joys and stresses affecting couples raising a family, and Yannick Murphy portrays these extremely well. When tragedy strikes, you share the pain and worry, and witness the changes in the family dynamic, but it is well worth the trip. I finished the book wanting to read her other novels.
    • 4/5
      The Call by Yannick Murphy is narrated by a rural vet whose son has been precariously shot by an unknown hunter. As the boy lies in a coma, the man makes his calls and realizes it is most likely that, in his rural home of 600 or so people, his customers know who shot his son, causing him to become obsessed with uncovering the identity of the mystery hunter. All the while, he and his family continously sight an unidentified flying object, which becomes a beacon of hope during their time of crisis.This novel was fresh and beautiful. The narration was original and the author was able to develop the characters with an ease and natural ability that few writers possess. Every sentence in this book seems well thought out and deliberate. In fact, certain passage can be taken for tiny poems. For example: "What is taking place is as layered as something in nature. I won't ever be able to figure it out. It is the pond surface rippling, the meandering grooves of bark on a tree, the tall grass and milkweed leaning over in a strong wind looking like a form of a man lying down on it, only there is no man." (p. 220) "WHAT THE WIFE SAID IN BED WHILE THE LIGHT OF THE FULL MOON CAME IN THROUGH THE WINDOW: Somebody turn off that light." (p. 13) "WHAT THE COYOTES SAY: You have crossed over to where we live and now our howls could be the howls of your own heart you are hearing, or just us, our coats slightly ruffled from the November wind." (p. 34)I highly recommend this book. It would make a wonderful selection for a book club.
    • 4/5
      Great quick read!
    • 1/5
      I always try to say something positive, but the best I can come up with here is that many people seem to like this book. To me, it was mediocre at best. In fact, I actually disliked it. The author can put together a polished sentence. But the narrator is annoying, as is his wife, and since this is the story of a family, it's hard to keep reading about them. And the book's format, which is set forth as entries in a journal, was extremely annoying.There are many better books to read. I kind of want those hours back.
    • 4/5
      A highly original structure moves the pace of this little novel along briskly. As the seasons go by in rural Vermont, a mildly eccentric large animal vet catalogs his work, his family, his dinner and his thoughts. He cures some animals and kills others. He reacts with thoughtful wonder at the beauty and drama of his wife and children. He ponders physics and the recession. And he watches matter-of-factly as the lights of an alien spacecraft circle his house. I found this pretty delightful.

    Book preview

    The Call - Yannick Murphy

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