R. N. Ausable’s novel So Easily Swept Away is a poignant, character-driven work set against the backdrop of a rare inland hurricane bearing down on a small New England community.
Jarvi Poelk and his wife live in an old farmhouse in the town of Parsonage. As a disgruntled, middle-management employee at Cromwell Lighting, Jarvi’s latest project involves correcting an electrical overload problem. With approaching weather concerns, he enlists the help of a co-worker to find a solution.
Meanwhile, Scotty Guzman, a service technician for Putnam Oil, is attending to air conditioning repairs at Jarvi’s home. Expelled from college for pushing boundaries on the campus radio show, Scotty is now consumed by conspiracy theories, presently those concerning the cause of recent erratic weather patterns. Soon, Scotty begins to share with Jarvi information from his favored website “The Day Is Coming” and interests of the resistance movement.
As the storm approaches, tensions are heightened: from town meetings that raise worries of flooding, loss of electricity, etc.; to Scotty’s clandestine projects concerning the cause of this catastrophic event; to Jarvi’s newfound concern for area residents, particularly those of the Marsh District, often the last to receive disaster help.
Throughout, Ausable weaves themes of isolation. Readers learn of Jarvi’s shameful forced move after confronting a bully at his daughter’s school, and his retreat to self-imposed isolation; while Scotty’s own thoughts and beliefs underscore his disconnect from the current of social acceptance.
The story’s first part moves at a slow pace, but momentum increases with the encroaching crisis. The narrative also seems weighted with technical jargon when Jarvi and his co-worker discuss their company project. Similarly, Ausable intermittently inserts information from a news feed that Jarvi follows regarding two scientists and a Canadian research vessel, which distracts from the story’s main thrust.
Overall, though, readers should be attracted to the main characters’ quirkiness and the appealing idea that a destructive force can be a catalyst for healing within a community.
Also available in hardcover and ebook.