Meg Wolitzer-“Belzhar,” copyright 2014 by Penguin Random House 264 pgs

Well, OK, Meg Wolitizer is not exactly a new author. But she’s new to me as I’m not really conversant with all the latest stuff in the literary world. But I’d like to be. I might have found this book through such a connection. As it was I found it by chance and what a good fortune for me! It was in the “take it home for for free” part of the library because, I guess, no one was taking it– well, their loss, my gain.

I thought at first this looked, at a glance, as if it might be a mystery and/or suspense novel. It’s not in the usual sense of those terms. There is mystery in it about the backgrounds of five young people and it is definitely suspenseful in that you want to know what’s next. It’s often nearly impossible to stop at the end of a chapter and not find out what’s right around the corner. But it is the human story and the human heart you’re tracking here, not whodunit or howdunit(though I deeply respect those books and am reading one now.)

After reading a few chapters of “Belzhar” I took a look at Meg on Wikipedia and at a handful of her reviews. I was not surprised to find that this is a “young adult” novel, although she is mainly an “adult”(in the best and most mature sense of that much abused term)novelist. But don’t let that stop you. Here’s one old adult who enjoyed it immensely.

I was surprised to learn Meg is in her mid-60’s. Although one shouldn’t make these sorts of judgements and I am usually critical of people I notice doing so, her writing makes you think of a younger narrator. I guess this makes sense here since the narrator is a teen-age girl. So good for Meg at being able to do that.

The book is told first person by teenager Jam Gallahue. Jam, a New Jersyite is now in a school in Vermont. Its name is “The Wooden Barn” and it’s no ordinary high school. It’s a high school for teenagers having trouble dealing with “the lingering effects of trauma..” So the students there are special in an unusual type of way. They have survived bad things, things no teenager, or maybe any agers should have to go through. But they are young and looking forward(one hopes)to many more years of life and they need to deal with their trauma and get on with things.

Going there at the beginning of her junior year, Jam is also assigned to anomalous class, “Special Topics in English.” One of the unusual things about it is that students don’t choose to take this class. The class, or rather the instructor, chooses them based upon what she learns about the new class members every school year. She then makes her selections based upon her own criteria. It’s considered somewhat weird and somewhat of an honor to attend by most of the other students.

The teacher, Mrs. Quenell, is approaching retirement. She tells them in her introduction to the class she will retire at the end of the semester. She also tells them a number of other things about the class, about the responsibilities she expects them to take, and about what they will , she hopes, get out of the class.

She is not too specific in some respects, but she emphasizes that they will each keep a journal. They will write twice a week in their journals, write about whatever they choose. She will eventually have them turn their journals in to her and she will keep them, but NOT read them. So, there’s the weird part. They’ll write a lot and turn it in but the instructor won’t read it. So it can’t affect their final grades. So what’s the purpose? Well, as I said, in some ways this is a mystery.

So begins the tale, and, always(I hope)the good mystery critic I’m not going to tell you much of what happens after that. But I will tell you a little bit, as otherwise this whole thing would make no sense to you. Slowly, more or less class by class, we find out, sort of, what the students are writing about. And we find out something more–we learn, slowly, one by one, the traumatic event that placed them each in this unusual school.. And by this means we come to know them, particularly, Mag, very well. We know Mag, however, more by her musings about relationships and other puzzling aspects of life. Her “event” is not revealed until near the end.

There are, of course, parts of the book that do not, at least not directly anyway, deal with the class or the journals. There are jealousies and ambitions and likes/dislikes(of the personal kind, of course) which go on here as much as elsewhere. In some ways they’re a lot like their equivalents on what I guess we might call “the outside.”

But there’s something else too, the most strange and perhaps the most challenging thing in the book. When they write in their journals something odd happens, and we get a close up view or two of this in Jam’s case. When they write in the journals they literally go back in time, back more or less(if not exactly)to the traumatic event. And they get to live it over again and and cringe at the experience again. But they can’t stay in the past with those people, even though sometimes, despite the pain, there’s a temptation. They have to come back to the present world, the “real world” and deal with the whole thing.(There is apparently one exception here, but not one you’d want to take in my opinion-and theirs).

Now there is never an explanation of this. Some may regard this as a big shortcoming, but I don’t. I do, understand it, though. Of course we want to know what this thing is, how it works, what it means. Is God behind it? Is there such a being and does He care about us? Then why is the world such a big mess? How this whole thing happens and who/what is behind it is never explained in any detail, although I guess you’re free to speculate. Some will regard this as a shortcoming. They will want an explanation. And that’s OK–hey, I wanted one. Was God behind this, directly I mean? Was this an indication that there is another life, another realm? Anybody else we haven’t thought of and don’t know about? Does this mean there is another reality, whatever?

I don’t blame anyone for wanting to know. Hey, I want to know those things too. But Wolitizer never goes beyond hinting here, and hardly that very much. The trick is to learn from the experience, but not necessarily to understand it. And what they learn seems to me to be wisdom, wisdom about the world, about people, about that often mentioned but rarely described thing, human nature. It is about how do deal with problems; is it ever OK to give up? Is there a difference between giving up and ceasing to struggle? If so, what is it?

There are no miracles here, but there are some surprises. And we do see young people grow and expand their horizons and get ready to move on. And to that extent this is an optimistic book. But only to that extent. It may not be “happily ever after” for all of them. But they have learned to struggle with that, to give and seek warmth and comfort, to take responsibility and move one. Or at least they’ve learned how to do this most of the time. Not always.

And as a matter of fact, despite some pain and shock, some of them have a good time, temporarily anyway, along the way. If you like to speculate and wonder, and one of the things you wonder is why life is so painful and what you need to make it a little less, so–well, you might find some hints here. No final answers–no formulas. Not the Big Answer everyone seeks. But hints–and sometimes I think that’s the best we can hope for in many ways. That what Meg gives you. I suggest you give her a reasonable chance at it.