He Wants by Alison Moore

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This might contain some spoilers…

Once again Alison Moore unsettles us in the ordinariness to this tale. 

Lewis, his Father Lawrence, his Daughter Ruth, and Grandchild ‘the Boy’ share the multi-generational tale. It is a tale filled with regret, although exactly what that regret relates to remains ambiguous.

Lawrence is in a nursing home, living with confusion. Lewis seems to be struggling too, living without a purpose, shrinking into himself.

And then a childhood friend returns, Sydney, memories return, often uncomfortably – Lewis had a crush on Sydney, and maybe the feeling was mutual.

We watched the film Moffie while I was reading He Wants, and the shame Nicholas holds in that film is the same shame that Lewis holds – despite their radically different contexts.

Lewis and Sydney appear not to have crossed a threshold when they were young, but there is an intimate encounter when they meet again in old age – however on Sydney’s part it is policed as a one off. Nicholas gets one brief kiss, and then rejection when they are reunited after military service is over. These are honest rather than ‘Hollywood’ endings.

Perhaps the most radical thing about Moore’s writing is its focus on middle age – to pay real attention to those at or beyond the point of retirement is a rare thing.