In the first chapter of Await Your Reply, we see Ryan Schuyler, a college dropout, racing down the highway with his severed hand in an ice chest. In the next, it's Lucy Lattimore, recent a high school graduate running away with her history teacher. Then we have Miles Chesire, searching for his twin brother who vanished 10 years ago. From there, it's a wild ride.
Wild, but not chaotic. I could tell you more about these characters, but I won't. (And I'd advise you not to read too many reviews that might reveal more than you want to know.) Dan Chaon masterfully unwinds these parallel stories that seem to have no connecting elements other than identity.
Await Your Reply is all about identity and the possibility of starting over, a concept attractive to many people in these unstable times. But the novel is also about family, relationships, trust and fear. Alternating chapters told across various timelines add an almost insurmountable tension, keeping the pages turning at a brisk pace. Yet read too quickly and you'll miss some wonderfully resonant writing that requires patience.
As soon as I finished the novel, I wanted to start it again just to see if I could find the clues that I'd missed the first time. You may have the same reaction. Don't be surprised. And don't plan to get much sleep once you've started this one.
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