Review: A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle (1960)

Compared with the Resurrection of Christ, Tolkien's Return of the King, or Grover Cleveland's second election, my return to internet regularity is duly humbled. Nevertheless, I'm back! If you look, you'll notice there's something different about me: I now have a bachelor's in English literature. Thus I come triumphantly down the mountain to do the only thing for which this degree qualifies me: writing this blog.

Into the fray comes Peter S. Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn, one of the cornerstones of my pantheon of fantasy books. I present A Fine and Private Place.

Michael Morgan is a newlydead who wakes up in his grave to discover that Hades is not a netherworld of fire and physical torture, but the next stage of being in which the consciousness gradually forgets all vestiges of its past life. A stubborn narcissist at heart, he struggles with all his will to remain as human as he can, although only a few people can see or hear him. These include a sarcastic raven, a tragic young ghost named Laura, and Mr. Rebeck, a wispy little man who hasn't left the Bronx cemetery for nineteen years. Eternity is put to the test when Mr. Rebeck begins to flirt with Mrs. Klapper, a feisty woman visiting her husband's morgue. Michael and Laura work and talk to discover whether even death can span the abyss that separates people's true experiences from each other's.

The main thing that attracts me to Beagle's books is his ability to stand somewhere very humble and do great things. Not every book has to be Narnia or try to contain the entire scope of human morality within a single adventure. In plain words, the book's three themes as I see them--death, love, and human decency--look like impossibly high mountains of rich thought. But so many fantasy books try to leap such heights, and so many, that there's room only for a single one-liner for each. Not so with Beagle. The narrative perspective leaves the cemetery only a handful of times, and so little happens in the plot, that there's plenty of room for wisdom. But don't let the slow speed of the action fool you. The ongoing dialogue, especially its hopes and doubts, is better than a sword fight. To me, that's an art to which any writer should aspire.

Beagle also scores points in my book with the freshness of his writing. Each of the characters has a voice, and the voices dance with each other in a way that illuminates real conversation rather than setting it up as something quippy, narcissistic, and unrealistic, as modern movie audiences seem to want. Beyond that, his description is simple but catching. It makes you want to slow down and appreciate it.

Unless you're looking for wild adventure, read this book. It has neither real thrills nor spills, but it's as thought-provoking as they come and easy to follow.