The Used World

THE USED WORLD: Haven Kimmel: Free Press: Fiction: 308 pages

Hazel Hunnicut, an older woman running the Used World Emporium, an antique and junk shop, helps direct the lives of her two employees—lonely Claudia who is coping with her mother’s death and pregnant Rebekah, still reeling from her boyfriend’s abandonment and her strict religious upbringing.

Haven Kimmel, author of the delightful memoir A Girl Named Zippy, writes beautifully. Like Anne Tyler, she creates familiar, multi-layered characters whose lives are ripped open and displayed for readers. Unlike Tyler, though, Kimmel joins her characters as they are sinking into despair and maneuvers them into relationships that reveal individuals’ significance to one another, creating more hopeful stories. The Used World begins slowly and moves back and forth through history in a way that requires close reading to follow, but after the initial slow start, the story flies along. Although it is a stand-alone title, readers who enjoyed Kimmel’s earlier fiction will be pleased to see Amos Townsend reappear in this eloquent, thoughtful tale.

MBC