Harris's dissection of what constitutes the self is very interesting here, pitted against a story of adventure and intrigue on the sea and its port counterpart. Philosophy, existential crises of individuality and subjectivity, and the gritty cinematic noir-meets-Conrad atmosphere in this book are wonderfully executed. It's a shame that Harris is virtually unknown: this is a title a publisher like NYRB should bring back into print to shed more light on Harris's work. ( )

I’ve been afraid of writing this review because I know I’m not a good writer, and I want to find the words to express how I feel about Mortal Leap, but I realize I can’t ever really find the perfect way to describe this book, so why bother, right? But I guess that is what this book is really about, not some idiot trying to write a book review, but taking the “leap” into the unknown and trusting that you will find yourself, or whatever it is you are looking for, on the other side. Let’s see if I have found myself at the end of this review.

I think what I noticed most about this book is similar to what Ben Loory says in his review: that this book calmly meanders its way to its end. This book appears aimless as its protagonist, “Ben,” abandons his Mormon childhood, becomes a merchant, gets arrested, becomes shipwrecked, loses his identity, etc. But it’s not loose and unstructured, Harris is just not anxious to show everything up front. Rather, he has certain ideas running through the whole book. I marked in my notebook something that struck me when first reading it: on page 112, after a crucial moment in his moral development, our protagonist concludes, “Well, it’s better not to look in mirrors.” What impressed me was that this continues a thought he has on page 2, 110 pages earlier. (Note: I no longer have the book, so I can’t double check this.) What interests me even more is that I am not sure that the protagonist would even agree with such a statement by the end of the book. He becomes so many different people in the course of the story, and many of his developments are steps in the wrong direction and will need to be undone by the end. This faux-messiness is probably what makes this book so interesting, plot-wise.

But it’s this inability to look at one’s self that really struck me. It turns out that Ben’s habit of making life changing decisions quite rashly is not just a way to rid the parts of himself he dislikes, it’s a way of jumping into something entirely new in order to find a self that is in some way truer. He hates himself. He wants to run away from love and the burden of having a self, but cannot. Ben is given a chance to actually rid himself entirely of everything that he was, which is still fascinating even though I’ve seen the first season of Mad Men, and yet one wonders if such a thing is ever possible. Can Ben actually hide his past from his new life? And if he pretends somewhat successfully, is he really rid of it?

Look, to wrap it up, this book is refreshing. It’s an adventure story without the fast pacing, it’s philosophy with a plot, and it’s all completely compelling. Read the damn thing, you’ll get street cred because it’s out of print.

(And look, there I am! I found out that I am totally and only interested in what people think of me! Maybe I’ll run away from home and see if that changes. Thanks, Mortal Leap!)

PS. I suggested this title to be picked up by New York Review of Books for a reprint. Perhaps if we all go to their website and do the same, it’ll happen! ( )

This book's been out of print for probably a good four decades, which is a shame because it's terrific. Actually, none of Harris's books are in print, which is hard for me to fathom considering what a truly great writer he is (or was--he died in 1993). The only other novel of his that I've read was also by far his most popular, The Balloonist, which was excellent, but Mortal Leap is even better in my opinion. I won't go into a synopsis; I recommend reading the writeup at the Neglected Books page. http://neglectedbooks.com/?p=206 ( )

This book's been out of print for probably a good four decades, which is a shame because it's terrific. Actually, none of Harris's books are in print, which is hard for me to fathom considering what a truly great writer he is (or was--he died in 1993). The only other novel of his that I've read was also by far his most popular, The Balloonist, which was excellent, but Mortal Leap is even better in my opinion. I won't go into a synopsis; I recommend reading the writeup at the Neglected Books page. http://neglectedbooks.com/?p=206 ( )