"Somehow, over the course of two hours, his disillusion with corporate politics led to his disillusion with Scott. And in this singular acknowledgement, Grey began to disassemble the divisions of the social compartmentalization he had spent years constructing."

And so Drew Banks acknowledges the shifting tide within the character of his first novel, Able Was I. Grey Tigrett began his journey more than a decade before on a post-graduation trek across Europe with his two closest college friends (actually his girlfriend and a man with whom he was infatuated), as well as an annoying stray acquaintance who threatened the camaraderie of the small group. As a diversion (or perhaps a slightly puerile prick) to the growing tension among the friends, Grey proposes a side trip to the island of Elba, just off the Western coast of Italy. Although the group is on a budget, they find themselves spirited by ferry from the coast to the tiny plot of land, which also had the unlikely honor of hosting Napoleon during his period of exile. The undulating ride there mimics the rolling, water-infused central theme of the novel as Grey and the reader drift from past to present and back again.

Able Was I is a palindrome for the key moment of the novel, when Grey first saw Elba. Grey uses this moment to define the most important decisions he makes over the next fourteen years. For instance, Grey is able to see the beauty emerging over the horizon line in the craggy form of Elba that interrupts the shimmering sea. Likewise, he looks past the trash-covered steps of his prospective home and recognizes a familiar New York street, one he visited while he prepared to leave for Elba years before, a street which becomes a home to Grey and his partner Scott as they lovingly renovate the open loft with a fantastic view of the Hudson River. The moment, however, also forces him to confront the growing feelings of distaste Grey has for the superficial, social-climbing life Scott is attempting to construct and maintain for the couple. A company cruise without Scott to Europe, complete with a visit to Elba, provides the perfect opportunity for reminiscing about his experiences there as a younger man.

"The olive grove was still there, its stone wall jagged from stones dislodged over what looked like years of neglect. The trees were much the same as he remembered but as it was November, their branches hung dormant, the ground free of netting. Grey turned to see the faucet, small against the brick of the house. Like the branches, it too was denuded, hoseless. Its rusted handle turned easily. Into Grey’s cupped hands the brown water bled clear."

The complexity of Banks’ language as he describes scenes like these is what drew me to the book initially. Banks has a business background; his previous books, according to his brief biographical note, examine personal relationships and behaviors as they affect business. His novel has much of the same focus on personal relationships and their larger effects. The "deconstruction" he mentions about his writing holds true for both genres as well. He takes apart the physical and emotional aspect of a scene to give the reader a collage of images and words that seem to be reflected in splinters of a shattered mirror. The reading of the novel is slow; it’s not so much assimilation of a story as it is a process of picking up the pieces Banks presents and reconstructing the whole. I teach English to juniors in high school; this is how I ask them to read Fitzgerald’s Gatsby. Banks’ technical love affair with words is obvious and somewhat mesmerizing.

Banks apparently understands that the frequent flashbacks in time can be confusing for the reader, so he uses Grey’s journaling habit, begun during his initial Elba trip, to create a thread among the scenes. The writing is also a way for Grey to gauge his growth and forget his second-guessing of his life. Elba has become the marker for so many experiences, and Grey spends his final trip to the island considering the hold the island and its inhabitants have had over him, even as his geographic proximity lessened.

Overall, Able Was I is an excellent example of a story that is both fluid and structured. A compelling read, the novel is able to embody a philosophy of personal growth as well as maintain an interesting linguistic format. The book is available through booklocker.com, a small press company, or at several stores in the area.