In Dave Eggers’ latest novel “Heroes of the Frontier” (Knopf, $28.95) the protagonist’s son often asks if the things he encounters are “good,” anxious for his opinions to be right. I found myself asking the same question — is this good? — about “Heroes of the Frontier” itself, increasingly doubtfully.
Josie, from whose perspective the story is told, is driving across Alaska in a rented RV with her two young children, Ana and Paul. The excuse for her trip is to visit her pseudo-stepsister (it’s complicated), but really she’s trying to get away from her ex, the lawsuit that cost her her dental practice in Ohio, and her guilt over a young man’s death. Armed with Old West magazines and $3,000 in cash, Josie moves her family further and further from civilization as she tries to escape her past and the wildfires consuming the state.
Like Mr. Eggers’ 2013 novel “The Circle,” “Heroes of the Frontier” is full of anxiety about modern society and the desire to get off the grid. Instead of the dystopian potential of the internet age, however, these heroes are running from the miseries of daily life: unexpected lawsuits and aggressive yoga moms. Mr. Eggers spins a fantasy of their escape, where — maybe — it’s not too late to strike out West and make one’s life anew.
While “Heroes of the Frontier” fortunately isn’t quite as didactic as “The Circle,” it shares many of the same weaknesses: most critically, characters that seem animated more by Mr. Eggers’ need to push his theses rather than by any real life of their own, and a tendency to over-explain.
The novel’s opening paragraphs set up a contrast between Mr. Eggers’ graceful, meditative prose and Josie’s cynical humor. It’s an interplay that has potential but fails to bear fruit, largely because “Heroes of the Frontier” — with a couple of hilarious exceptions — isn’t that funny.
Josie’s digressions, a feature of Mr. Eggers’ style, range from thoughts on her ex’s overactive digestive tract to her own troubled childhood, and too often aren’t thoughtful or surprising enough to be funny or interesting — they all seem to grind along to their inevitable points. She imagines musicals in her head, with titles such as “Alaska” or “Disappointed,” but instead of giving a new perspective on the topics, the musicals just repackage Josie’s already sarcastic thoughts on them in a slightly more sarcastic form. Rather than drawing us in closer to Josie, these meditations make her feel like a friend who won’t stop repeating the same rants to you.
All of Josie’s flaws could add up to make an interesting character, if not a likable one. But memories, traits, themes and people slip in and out of Josie’s consciousness without managing to give her substance. She never fully becomes more than a vehicle for social criticism, and that flatness makes much of Josie’s journey ring false — such as a scene, late in the novel, when she attempts to actually create a musical.
“Heroes of the Frontier’s” best moments come when Mr. Eggers dials back Josie’s internal monologues enough to let us absorb ourselves in a scene. The places and situations he imagines — a sad zoo, an abandoned archery range, a wedding at an RV park — as well as the cast of side characters, are often vivid and interesting. The same goes for Josie’s children: They’re cute without being saccharine and say surprising things. The moments when Josie observes, rather than explaining or creating metaphors, end up being the most affecting.
In 400 pages, there’s all too little of this feeling. “Heroes of the Frontier” left me wishing Mr. Eggers would spend less time repeating familiar critiques of a familiar world, and instead let us escape, for a few pages, into the unknown.
Libbie Katsev, a student at Yale University, is a Post-Gazette summer intern (lkatsev@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1936).
First Published: July 24, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
