Pepper Harding

The Heart of Henry Quantum

Henry Quantum works in advertising in a nondescript office that looks into an apartment about be a strip joint. It’s December 23rd and he realizes he has yet to buy his wife a gift. Opting to buy her a bottle of Channel 5, he sets it as his goal for the day.
Henry has a mind that wanders more than Grandma Gatewood did and tends to miss a lot of stops along his way.
Reminding me of Ignatius J Reilly, he’s a man of his own mind. Analytical, subjective, goofy, and endearing.
His latest promotional campaign is for “Protox” .. a purported skin enhancer that, in truth, is no more than a laxative for which “The reason your skin glows is that you are totally dehydrated and feverish.”
The revelations he encounters as he tries to tout virtues are hilarious! His fear of becoming a sophist slave to the firm more so. I like Henry. We think so alike. (An ongoing train, dazzled with graffiti, with cars from every whichwhere.)
Henry happens onto Daisy, an affair he had some 5 years ago. She is not so freshly divorced, while he remained wed. He was on his way to get the Channel. She tells him she still desires him. He tells her he loves his wife, Margaret. She flees. He ponders.
The voice of Margaret follows as she heads out for a nooner with her lover. She no longer loves Henry and contemplates life with Peter, as the two unite for the day.
The voice of Daisy makes the next chapter glow. Vibrant, loving, needed. She survives the day, reminiscing and surrendering. She yearns as it rains.
Henry has not bought the perfume yet. There are too many distractions, mentally and physically, for him. We follow their leads. We all end up at the same place.… (altro)

I am not sure what to say about this book. The other reviewers and ratings are all over the place and I understand why. This book takes place over one day, however a lot of the story is made up of remembrances so it seems like there was a lot of time and a lot more happening than there really was. The story is told by three narrators, Henry Quantum, his wife Margaret and his ex-lover Daisy. It is about relationships, life in general and making decisions. It was not very exciting and there were a few times I almost put it down. I enjoyed parts of the story, especially Daisy. She was really the only character I liked. I found Margaret selfish and self-centered and Henry was way too much of a pushover who got into the position he was in because he was afraid to let anyone down and make the decisions necessary. It was an okay read and the ending did bring everything together in a satisfactory way, which is the only reason I rated it 3 stars. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley.… (altro)

The Heart of Henry Quantum is a very interesting novel that will elicit extreme reactions from readers. Many quite understandable, some a bit less so. I found the book to be a compelling character study (not just of Henry) as well as a realistic study of the dynamics of relationships. These topics interest me and Harding delivers in these areas.

Henry is like the person you probably know who can't seem to take anything at face value, always questioning how or why something is. He is not so much bothered to the point of wanting to make the world different but more as a state of constant curiosity. These thoughts range from mundane to philosophic in nature with the result being that he misses much of the nuance that takes place around him because he lives more in his head than in the world.

He has life changing effects on people, both Margaret and Daisy in the context of this novel. His personality contributed to Margaret making the changes she made in her life during the time of their marriage. While the traits Margaret finds annoying moved her away from Henry those same traits were endearing to Daisy and moved her closer to him, at least in her heart.

The sections on Margaret and Daisy provide a wonderful understanding of the thinking behind how and why people make major decisions. This isn't to say it makes complete sense but I'm not sure all of our decisions are ever completely rational or well planned, they develop and seem at times to just happen, even though it takes an action to actually implement it.

The characters say and do some things the reader may find offensive if taken out of context, try to remember these comments are meant to portray who this character is and not as a social or political statement. This is fiction and making insensitive comments gives an idea how that person thinks and interacts with the world.

I would recommend this to readers who appreciate character-driven minimal action novels, particularly those readers who enjoy getting inside another person's mind even when that person doesn't do as you might think you would do. I do have to admit that I find it amazing the number of people who can't read a book with adultery in it because it makes them dislike the character and thus the novel, but they have no qualms (based on other book reviews) reading about murderers and their motivations in novel form. Do they like murderers more than adulterers? Do they consider murder a minor thing while adultery is major? Are they better able to relate to a murderer than an adulterer? Anyway...

Reviewed from a copy made available through Goodreads First Reads.… (altro)

Really had hopes for this one, but alas. Kirkus Reviews misled me. They said "In Harding's wry debut fiction...the San Francisco setting is perfectly mapped on the page Henry's a perfectly sketched character, his interior monologue...at times funny, at times profound." Only one statement was true. the San Francisco area is so mapped out that you can count the steps Henry walks downtown, and if you know the city, follow the journey exactly in your head, and maybe suggest alternatives. I almost gave the book up at page 103, but then saw there was a character POV shift in the next part, and was hopeful I'd get drawn into the story, but Henry and his women just didn't work for me.… (altro)