If “The Impossible Thing” were a song, we’d call it a banger.
Like Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” or Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther,” Belinda Bauer’s 10th novel is a pure pleasure machine, all the moving parts of which are designed to delight. It took a while for “The Impossible Thing” to come together, apparently — previously a book-a-year writer, Bauer has taken four years since “Exit” — but, holy mackerel, was it worth the wait.
Buckle up, because it’s not an easy book to describe. Sort of an adventure/family epic/comic thriller hybrid, it takes place in two timelines, which Bauer juggles seamlessly. About half of the England-set novel occurs in the 1920s, inspired by a real-life craze among collectors for decorative eggs stolen from birds that nested on a Yorkshire cliff. The other half takes place in the present, when an eBay listing results in the theft of a similar egg from the home where 20-something Nick and his friend Patrick play “Grand Theft Auto” nonstop.
It’s probably evident from that description that there’s an awful lot going on in “The Impossible Thing.” That could be a big fat warning sign but, instead, Bauer comes off as a generous writer who has lots to share with us and does it with humor and ease. For instance, readers would usually prefer one timeline’s set of characters over the other, and be frustrated when we’re not with them. Not so here.
In the 1920s, there’s the bedraggled Sheppard family, who live in uncomplaining poverty until it’s discovered that youngest child Celie is the only human small enough to squirm over a cliff, hanging from a rope, and swipe bright-red, elongated eggs from their angry guillemot parents. We meet all of the Sheppards, as well as some of their neighbors, and each is a charmer. Especially grimly determined Celie.
In the present, Nick is a likable dope and Patrick is an earnest, kind man who has learned to use his Asperger’s as an asset, as a way to understand what he describes as “the eternally murky dots of what people said versus what people meant.” They’re surrounded by lots of unscrupulous sorts, including a scientist who specializes in eggs and a violent thief who’ll stop at nothing to get the collectibles.
Bauer is a daring and confident writer who’s still introducing new characters in the last 50 pages of her 322-page book. Could be another danger sign. But, instead of thinking, “Egad, more people to keep track of?,” I was thinking, “Great! More oddball people to entertain me!”
I’ve not yet mentioned that “Impossible Thing” contains not one, but two of the best kind of romances there are: the ones where we intuit signs of love before the people involved do. Or that it all climaxes in a high-wire act of a scene that returns us and the characters to the cliff where it all began. Or that some of the characters were in Bauer’s previous “Rubberneckers,” which could mean that “The Impossible Thing” is not the last time we’ll meet them.
