Dearth by Lynda Schor

Abstract

Reviewed by: Dearth by Lynda Schor Voyo Gabrilo (bio) dearth Lynda Schor New Meridian Arts https://www.newmeridianarts.com/dearth 380 pages; Print, $23.00 Lynda Schor's debut novel, Dearth, published by New Meridian Arts, encapsulates the innate horrors, both personal and social, of national borders. What begins as a seemingly innocuous friends' trip south of the US–Mexico border to Juárez for a bullfight is quickly transformed into a muddled, life-or-death survival between two worlds. As the plot weaves back and forth between Mexico and the United States, and simultaneously between the personal and the social, Schor unravels a narrative that blends the two at every turn, mirroring the harried lives experienced in such a space as borders. Ray, the novel's central figure, a geology professor and widower who reluctantly agrees to join his married friends Felix and Stella for the trip to Juárez, soon realizes that he (like the reader) is not quite sure what he has gotten into. Shortly after the bullfight—an event Ray can barely stomach—it becomes known that Felix is involved in "border issues." The ambiguity of these issues only raises Ray's suspicions; but, embodying the docile ignorance of unassuming Americans, he is unsure how to react: [End Page 67] In fact he doesn't recall that any of them were especially political in the old days. Mexico was Mexico. They went there sometimes to drink. And to find a cheap dentist. Texas was Texas. The border was the border. There were poor people on both sides of the border—but what did that have to do with them? Yes, they were poor too, but they knew it was temporary. He flushes, embarrassed by what he recalls. Such dichotomies the narrator continually fleshes out purposefully characterize Ray's reluctance to insert himself in the border issues. It is more than merely believing Texas was Texas and the border the border. Ray's status as widower and self-proclaimed introvert add to his incapability for concern. He is, after all, on the trip with a goal to "loosen up." And as an American from Boston, living far away from the border, he sees himself as nothing more than an innocent bystander who wishes not to get involved. However, when Felix goes missing, Ray loses the luxury of apathy and finds himself in the middle of a personal/social quest not only for his friend but also for the truth about "border issues." For most of the novel, these "border issues" remain opaque and shrouded. The world of the border is opened up slowly, painfully, and confusingly. The reader only discovers as Ray discovers. And, as a geologist, it is no wonder Ray uncovers bits and pieces of information in a stratified manner. Transformed into an ad hoc investigator, Ray unearths what he can with what he knows. But finding answers is difficult, and this is due in part to the complex character of Stella, who, though along for the investigation, seems to be withholding knowledge from Ray and the reader. Referred to as a storyteller and, metaphorically, as El Coyote—the "creator and destroyer, giver and negator, one who dupes, and the one who can be duped"—Stella substantiates the interrelationship between personal and social. Her seeming knowledge of Felix and the border issues are always almost coming to light, but as a storyteller, her words cannot be taken without some skepticism. Ray must place some trust in her as the only person left whom he personally knows, but when Stella and Ray begin having a sexual relationship, the truth (if there ever was one to begin with) becomes increasingly jumbled. Ray must find balance in separating what has become personal (his [End Page 68] newfound sexual intimacy) with what is glaringly social (the ever-mysterious "border issues"). This balance, however, is never struck, and never meant to be struck. The coeval dealing of the personal/social in an unbalanced and unfruitful way underscores the volatility that is always present surrounding borders. Just at the point Ray finally makes headway on Felix and the "border issues," his personal relationship with Stella ends. There is no room for...