The Little Things

The American critic John Gardner once wrote, “Detail is the lifeblood of fiction.” In Chandelier, David O’Meara puts this claim to the test. An accomplished poet, O’Meara has a history of creating verisimilitude through vivid description, whether sketching a harsh autumn field in his poem “Field-Crossing” or moments of innocence and injury in “Recess.” But can a novel stand on expertly crafted images alone? In an interview with his publisher, he admits that a lifetime of honing the craft of poetry might be, at first, “a ghastly hindrance” to writing prose. There is no doubt that O’Meara deploys an envious eye for minutiae, but at times his vibrant scenes and free association of ideas distract from the narrative. While detail is indeed vital, O’Meara’s debut novel is a reminder that the real lifeblood of fiction consists of the right details, carefully chosen to connect to the story’s characters and themes.

The author’s grasp of language and...