Watermark Books and Cafe

"Three Stages of Amazement" by Carol Edgarian (Scribner, ISBN 9781439198308, $25.00)

Having not read Carol Edgarian’s first novel, “Rise the Euphrates,” I did not know what to expect when I picked up her long anticipated second novel, “Three Stages of Amazement.” From the first paragraph describing the two states of modern marriage—plateau and precipice—and telling us that Charlie Pepper forgot his wife, I was lured into this masterful novel about two marriages, the pursuit of happiness and the human limitations of each.                

Set during the first year of the Obama administration in the Silicon Valley, Charlie and his wife Lena Rusch, are the embodiment of a struggling family; Charlie is on the verge of succeeding in a new business venture, only to have the economy collapse; and one of their children is in fragile health. Lena’s Uncle Cal and his wife Ivy Rusch, successful in everything material even in the final stages of life, long ago succumbed to forgetting one another. Juxtaposed one against the other, each couple is only guilty of the things many of us are:  love, ambition, loyalty and desire.                  

Carol Edgarian establishes herself as a fine novelist in “Three Stages of Amazement” and tells the story of how decent people live their lives today; where hope is pitted against reality and if one does not stop to take note, a whole life can pass by before we know it. This is a true thriller of the heart.   

Review by Sarah Bagby