The Used World: A Novel Paperback – June 3, 2008

I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did. I like it very much.I became captivated by the three main characters, complex women born about 20 years apart, and representing very different aspects of Midwestern America. The book illuminates religious separatism and fanaticism, sexuality, morality and evil, America's changing character from farm to dead- end small towns. Rich and poor have secret lives, and the sordid coexists with the noble. In Haven Kimmel's novel, the bad guys are human-- they operate from a world view that vindicates them in their own eyes. We are invited to see through their eyes as well.When big box stores drive away those in the heart of this small town, there are mourners, but also some who are scornful of the folks who do: One character is overheard saying, "You show me a place downtown where I can get new tires for my truck, bullets for my rifle, and a six-pack of briefs all at once and I’m there. Oh, and don’t forget the popcorn and Slushie I’ll need on the way out the door.’” He is one of the once- strong men who grew up on farms but have grown slack and bewildered within their own culture.I've seen criticisms that the novel skips around in time. I feel that those skips are essential to the plot's suspense. I did sometimes find it confusing, because the transitions between plot segments weren't always immediately clear. It's possible that may be a characteristic of the e-book version and not of the print novel.With some modern writers, I wince at poor choices of words or a weak description that is out of character. Kimmel's writing has no hint of that: her use of language is both elegant and eloquent. She creates a moving meditation on the difficulties of consigning people and their choices to tidy categories of good and evil.

Almost immediately, I became totally immersed in the "used world" of the primary characters, all of whom are part of an antiques emporium in this small Indiana town. We have the owner, Hazel Hunnicutt, whose own history is presented to us in flashbacks; her voice is revealed through descriptions of her life - her parents, who are deceased, and her sister, whose drug abuse has complicated Hazel's life, provide the backdrop for her choices - and now, her employees at the emporium assume the role of family for her.Claudia, a large woman who is often mistaken for a man, has lived a loveless existence, but then an unexpected blessing arrives in the form of an infant - a new life that she takes responsibility for - and when she adds Rebekah to the mix, she has a family of her own.Rebekah, abandoned and cast out by her father, a fundamentalist Christian who expects her to abide by his rules and restrictions, accepts the love and support of Claudia - and later Hazel - in order to create an acceptable alternative to the life in which she was born.These three characters could be metaphors for the "used" goods that they sell in the store - castoff individuals - unwanted, but serving a purpose of their own.The three women, who support one another, serve as a balm for the ills of the world in which they live.Ms. Kimmel's  The Used World: A Novel  draws the reader in. I cared about the fate of the characters and enjoyed the book immensely. In the beginning, I had a little difficulty keeping track of the time and place of events, that seemingly went back and forth continuously; hence the deduction of one star.

I don't know what I'm going to do when I've read all the books Haven Kimmel has written. She's become one of my favorite authors. Her prose is so beautiful, and I was stuck over and over in The Used World---just as I've been with her other books---how she can convey so much about a character or a scene in only a couple of wonderfully constructed sentences. They are dropped like tiny gifts throughout the books. And as with all Kimmel's books, I loved the main characters. In this case Hazel, Rebekah, and Claudia. As the story unfolds, these three weird and wonderful, lonely women become a family. Kimmel also includes as a character Amos Townsend, the minister who was one of the main characters in The Solace of Leaving Early (TSoLE). This time, Amos is a minor character, but because I knew him so well from TSoLE, the part he plays in The Used World had more significance. As I reached almost the end of the book, there were scenes that made we wonder if I'd read the book before, but those memories were only associated with a few scenes, so perhaps part of the book appeared in some literary publication. No matter, I thoroughly enjoyed The Used World.

The Used World has too many awkward phrases and religious diatribes to rate five stars but it's a captivating story with characters who are revealed slowly and I have to appreciate a writer who holds back the core secrets until they are completely ready to go forth on their own. Lots of suffering but purposeful mothers and new babies. Martin Buber appears obliquely.

I loved the female characters in this book and their relationships with each other, and I was glad to reconnect with Amos (from THE SOLACE OF LEAVING EARLY). The more Haven Kimmel I read, the more I associate the word "redemptive" with her. Her characters have messy lives, but they manage to find their way, however imperfectly, to something fine, something good, something worth living for. It's true (as some reviewers have pointed out), that the story isn't completely linear and includes some digressions, but I like a book that keeps me on my toes.

After reading both of Haven's memoirs, Zippy and She Got Up Off the Couch I couldn't wait to read her novels. Now that I'm on the 3rd one I have to say reader beware. They are nothing like the memoirs even in writing style and are so jumbled up with confusing dialogue and jumping around in place and time that they really are not enjoyable reading. I wish she had a better editor who would know how to hold back her obviously huge imagination. Her mind might think so quickly there aren't pages enough to say it all but the average reader does not have that issue. I would say emphatically that less would be much much more.