Ride On, See You by Ann McGlinn (review)

Abstract

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Reviewed by:

• Ride On, See You by Ann McGlinn
• Edward M. Bury (bio)

ride on, see you Ann McGlinn
Cuidono Press
https://cuidono.com/McGlinn_RideOn.html
167 pages, Print: $15.00

Life perceived in the present, of course, can be considered as being fluid, defined by minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years. Fiction allows the author to re-create life that transcends the clock and calendar, that offers a virtual canvas of seemingly disparate and perhaps incongruous events which can be recast and molded into a cohesive and compelling story.

To tell the story of how a widower and a troubled young boy find solace in the wake of personal trauma, Ann McGlinn follows a somewhat formulaic process in the compact novel Ride On, See You. A prologue provides a basic account of the defining story line in the novel: the crash of a small plane in the Florida Everglades during a short, routine pleasure flight that resulted in a fatality. The account of this tragic event is followed by alternating short chapters chronicling the past and current life of the protagonist, David, journal passages from his late wife, Marie, and the personal struggles of Emmett, an Irish kid saddened and confused following the death of a classmate's mother and the continued, palpable tension between his parents.

Mostly set in and around modern Dublin, Ride On, See You captivates the reader through the intermingling of a somewhat standard plot—seeking redemption, solace, and closure following great personal loss—with memorable anecdotes and colorful characters. McGlinn employs short, poignant passages that frequently deviate from the chronological order to craft the tale of how teenage Indiana-born David, the son of academics, meets and falls in love with St. Christopher's School classmate Marie while he and his parents take up residence in the fabled city. Years later, as a married couple, David and Marie leave Ireland and settle in Miami, where he pursues his career as an academic. Longing for her home across the Atlantic, Marie, a fledgling author and artist, finds temporary work at a restaurant as a way to adjust to life [End Page 76] in a place quite different from her home, a place where most neighbors prefer to stay in their air-conditioned homes rather than venture outside.

The plane crash and loss of his wife brings David, who was the pilot, back to greater Dublin in order to put their home in the nearby coastal community of Dalkey on the market and sort through Marie's belongings. Not only was the trip painful due to his wife's recent death, but David also realizes after wandering down Grafton Street and into the Temple Bar neighborhood—the embodiment of the very fabric of the city's music, art, and cultural scenes—that Marie's passing may have been more encompassing:

Turning from the river, David thought about how so much of Dublin had changed since he and Marie were teenagers. Then, the city was economically depressed but, to David, so much more intriguing than what it had become with the Celtic Tiger. But for David, Marie had been Dublin's soul and he wondered if his loss of her meant his loss of the entire city.

Made more evident later in the novel, Marie's "memory book" entries provide a deep perspective into her zest for travel within Ireland and to the Continent, appreciation of art and culture, unwavering love of David, and ability to find beauty and truth in some of the simple aspects of life. Marie writes in the first entry: "And as memories often have the habit of emerging without any chronological structure, I won't impose upon them a narrative cohesion. Instead, I will let them come—messy, unlinked and factually flawed as they may be." It is through this opening commentary from Marie that McGlinn somewhat justifies the reasoning behind the novel's repeating chapter structure. Set in italics, Marie's recollections provide the reader with a sort of welcome buffer from the anguish David faces as he tries to move on to the next chapter of his life.

Meanwhile, nine-year-old Emmett, who resides in the house next door...