ZORRIE by Laird Hunt

Some authors have the talent to produce a novel, or at least a short novel, about a fairly unremarkable life.  Such is the case here.  Zorrie Underwood’s life begins with an unfortunate childhood in Indiana, followed by a job in which she and her co-workers routinely ingest radium while painting glow-in-the-dark clock faces during the Great Depression.  Fortunately, she stays only a few months at the clock factory and does odd jobs to get by until she marries a farmer.  Hers is the type of rural life in which tragedy and misfortune are commonplace, but it is not as sorrowful a story as you might imagine.  On the other hand, bliss and passion to be in short supply.  Zorrie is a hard worker who earns the respect of her community but, after her husband’s death, yearns for a close connection like the one she had with her two co-workers, Janie and Marie, at the clock factory.  Her integrity is unquestionable, but she is not perfect, and she pays dearly for her mistakes and misunderstandings.  Her story flows gently, with a few bumps in the road, so that even her early adventures feel pretty tame, due to the tone of the book.  This is neither an adventure story nor a sob story, but it’s a story that reminds us how everyday lives are full of tales worth telling.