The Dark

Now housebound, the narrator looks back on his time with Delia, a young woman who works in a factory. The novel is written in Chejfec's distinctive manner, which concentrates on the layout of the mind and the way thoughts travel. Through their daily strolls, the narrator gradually sees how working-class life is organized. He examines its structure and outlook, and finds it remarkably ordered, easy to read, and even lovely. He keeps trying to use what he has read in books to make sense of what he observes and of the life Delia leads, which he cannot fully grasp. The gap between their social classes first draws him in, almost to the point of fixation. Eventually he learns that the line between watcher and participant can vanish very quickly.

The narrator's voice keeps a cool, scholarly distance while still asking for close, personal attention from the reader. The book shows Chejfec's singular approach to narration at its most striking, and it is a thoughtful novel about the wish to understand another person, and about what that wish may cost and what can follow from it.