Raymond and Hannah
by Stephen Marche
Doubleday Canada
A week before she's due to leave for Jerusalem, Hannah meets Raymond; a one-night stand surprisingly expands into a week-long, passionate love affair. While Hannah leaves for nine months to study Torah at an orthodox yeshiva, Raymond stays behind, researching his doctorate on love in Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy, struggling with loneliness and Hannah's increasing religious fervor.
Can this new love affair survive the six thousand miles, cultural dissonance, and out-of-sync, late-night emails?
Stephen Marche has created a daring and witty structure: A parallel narrative in marginalia illuminates the short, dramatic encounters of the lovers. In this contemporary love story, carnal love confronts religion and culture, and modern passion finds its counterpoint in ancient texts.
Stephen Marche
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Raymond and Hannah is Stephen Marche's first novel. He is currently a Pforzheimer Fellow at City College, New York. - Photo credit: Ingrid Punwani |
Excerpt from Raymond and Hannah
Preliminaries
"What are you here for?" Hannah asks Raymond.
"What am I here for? I was invited."
"You know Paul."
He nods. "And you?"
Hannah sips her champagne. "I'm here to meet men."
A moment's pause, while he casts a critical gaze across the offerings of the room. "What about Jim?"
"Which one's Jim?"
He points to a hippie leaning on the radiator across the room, a large-bearded man in jeans and a check flannel shirt whose laughter drunkenly booms like dropped tympani over the light chatter. "I realize that I've just ruined it by pointing, but maybe it's all for the best. It wouldn't have worked out with Jim anyway. He's married or something. How about Roger?" He bugs his eyes in the direction of a man in overalls. Hannah looks, arching her elegant neck to see the scruffy poseur affecting boredom beside the refrigerator. "The one in overalls. His name's Roger. Actually I have no idea who he is. I made up the name."
She frowns. "That one's not bad. Excuse me." She reaches over to the table for the champagne and refills their cups.
"My name's Raymond," he says.
"Hannah," she replies.
They touch cups, and Raymond again scans the room, apparently displeased with its contents. "The pickings here really are a bit slim. I suggest we inspect the other rooms to see if this is all the night has to offer."
From Raymond and Hannah by Stephen Marche. Published by Doubleday Canada. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
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