“Dept. of Speculation” by Jenny Orwill

If I could write like any other writer, I just might choose Jenny Orwill. A friend loaned me DEPT. OF SPECULATION, and I devoured it in a couple of days, not only because it’s short (a hundred seventy-nine pages), but because the writing itself impacted me so much.

DEPT. OF SPECULATION follows a couple’s relationship from its passionate beginning through excruciating marital struggles to an ending—well, you’ll see. The couple’s code name for all the uncertainty that happens in life and in the confines of a long relationship is “Dept. of Speculation”, and they exchange love letters, using “Dept. of Speculation” as the return address.

The story is told in vignettes and discourses, not at all arranged and tied together like most books I read. “Husband” and “Wife” are called just that, and never named.  And yet, the continuity flows beautifully, and the characters are real and accessible, and the emotions “Wife” goes on and on about for longer than I can tolerate in most novels, touched and resonated with me, both as a prior couples’ therapist and a present-day, long-time wife. I found the story so believable, that, at one point, when Wife says, over and over and over, at least fifty times, “I’m so scared. So scared. So scared. So scared,” I was breathless.

I read that Jenny Orwill was overwhelmed with readers wondering if DEPT. OF SPECULATION is autobiographical. It doesn’t matter to me. It is fiction at its best, and it succeeds in telling truths  my deepest self knows.

I’ll be reading more Jenny Orwill.

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