Casebook
Miles Adler-Hart discovers an addendum to the old adage that eavesdroppers never hear any good of themselves. In his case, the Santa Monica boy never hears anything good, period, in Mona Simpson鈥檚 poignant sixth novel, Casebook.
鈥淚 was a snoop, but a peculiar kind. I only discovered what I most didn鈥檛 want to know,鈥� Miles tells readers.
Afraid that his parents are considering divorce, he and his partner-in-crime, Hector, use a walkie talkie hidden under his parents鈥� bed and an old phone with the mouthpiece stopped up with cotton balls, Silly Putty, and nail polish to eavesdrop on Miles鈥檚 mom, a professor who calls herself 鈥減retty for a mathematician.鈥�
Eavesdropping is immediately painful 鈥撀� 鈥渢he words pressed on me, like sharp cookie cutters鈥� 鈥� but his childhood feels so shaky that Miles can鈥檛 make himself stop. Both boys adore The Mims, as Miles calls her 鈥� with Hector renaming her Irene Adler, known to Sherlock Holmes as The Woman, in the book. (鈥淐asebook鈥� also gets its title from the legendary consulting detective, and Miles receives the complete stories as a gift.)
鈥淒oes everyone want his mother honored?鈥� Miles wonders when one of his twin sisters complains about having a nerd for a mother. 鈥淏ut I valued her. I wished I could take what I knew was inside her and show it around, like a mineral you could bring to class.鈥�
鈥淐asebook鈥� is written as a novel within a novel. It鈥檚 ostensibly a prequel to a cult comic book, 鈥淭wo Sleuths,鈥� written by Hector and Miles and published by Neverland Comics, their local hang-out. The snooping starts when Miles is nine and continues after high school, long after his fears have become a reality.
Simpson includes excerpts from the boys' comic book and the occasional footnote from Hector, but these are too sporadic to be entirely effective. At this point, of course, the unhappy hollowness lurking behind the manicured lawns of upper-middle-class homes has become such a literary staple that one can imagine Oliver Twist patting private school pupils on the back on their way to violin lessons, murmuring a sympathetic 鈥淭here, there.鈥�
But Simpson (鈥淎nywhere But Here鈥�) is more accomplished than most at suburban angst. And the boys鈥� adventure tale 鈥� complete with a mystery, walkie talkies, and a treehouse 鈥� ultimately is an extended love letter by a son about his mother.
鈥淲e were different from other families. My dad had chosen to be. The Mims just was. She couldn鈥檛 help it. She probably would rather have been more like everyone else,鈥� Miles writes. After his parents divorce, his mom starts dating Eli Lee, who works for the National Science Foundation and holds out the promise of happiness, or at least security, for both Miles, his mom and his twin sisters, whom Miles nicknames The Boops.
Happiness, and its elusiveness, is a running theme throughout the novel. Miles tries to define it, as if, by pinning it down, he might be able to secure more of it for his mom. 鈥溾�楬ope for happiness is happiness,鈥欌�� he tells Hector, and later thinks, 鈥淗appiness really may be just a form of relief.鈥�
One of the most poignant scenes comes early on, in the kitchen of a friend. 鈥淢y mother never seemed happier than on that day, eating chocolate pudding in the cold. A mother鈥檚 happiness: something you recognize and then forget; it didn鈥檛 seem to matter much at the time, though it spread through our bodies. How did I know a moment like that was something I鈥檇 collect and later touch for consolation?鈥� Miles writes.
As time goes on, the boys start uncovering discrepancies in Eli鈥檚 story. Realizing they鈥檙e in over their heads, they enlist the services of a real private investigator and embark on an inventive course of revenge.
Simpson is equally adept at capturing the world of moneyed life in a California beach town once there is less of it and the uncertainty of children navigating the new rules of divorce. 鈥淸T]here鈥檇 been lots of asking how we felt. Not that how we felt made any difference,鈥� Miles remarks. 鈥淲e had what we had before but less of it. And we never knew when it would end.鈥�
