Joan Silber's Novel IMPROVEMENT Wins the Nat'l Book Award ('17) and PEN/Faulkner Award ('18)

Joan Silber (b. Amer 1945) has previously been nominated for the Nat'l Book Award (IDEAS of HEAVEN" '04).  This year, Silber received the honor for her novel IMPROVEMENT which also earned the PEN/FAULKNER Award.  The crafty writing and interwoven & thinly connected characters makes for an intriguing and unexpected work.  The main character Kiki, is somewhat reminiscent of an "Auntie Mame" heroine; bohemian, unorthodox, world traveler and beloved great aunt to Oliver.  Oliver's single mother Reyna is also unpredictable and apt to follow her heart rather than rationale.  The plot's twists & travels takes Kiki to Turkey where she marries Osman.  They live in Istanbul until his rug business goes bust and they move out to barren & uneventful rural farmland consumed with endless chores.  A vagabond group of young German antiquities thieves pass through and stir Kiki's inner passions for adventure & excitement.  She leaves Osman who leaves her with several Turkish rugs that are metaphorical magic carpets that transport Kiki & Reyna's lives with the financial windfalls they provide.  "Say what you will money has the power to improve circumstances."  There are shifty New Yorkers who also have get rich quick illicit plans that prove profitable but then fatal and love connections that derail.  One shifty small time gifter, aptly named Wiley, is the unlikely member of the novel's motley characters to find a lasting love and turn his life around.  But, "Maybe love was raising him up, turning him around, starting him over."  Silber's expansive storytelling weaves in themes of love and improvement and perhaps, love being at the heart for changing betterment.   There's the power of regret, the perpetual pondering of what could be fixed and what might provide redemption.  I was stirred by various thoughts on motivations for change "the tooth of regret tore at her heart" and the capacity of love's omnipotence.  "People thought love was everything, but it could do so much and no more."   IMPROVEMENT is a spellbinding read.  It has a nomadic & unconventional style that is puzzling and poignant.  I admired Silber's writing and enjoyed IMPROVEMENT but I've read other books this year I believe were better candidates for this year's Nat'l Book Award.  "The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement."  (H. Schmidt)