Brand New Human Being

The inadequacies of the father are visited upon the son in this touching, if uneven, debut. Logan Pyle had been on track to get his American history Ph.D. when his new girlfriend, Julie, got pregnant. Now, five years into their marriage, 36-year-old Logan is a stay-at-home dad to their four-year-old son, Owen, who is having difficulties at his Montessori preschool. Julie, a “knockout” and high-powered lawyer, is consumed by her latest case, and Logan is struggling to preserve his recently deceased father’s legacy, a highly-taxed “rocky rhomboid” on Missoula, Mont.’s Clark Fork Riverfront, the last remaining parcel of privately owned land. When he walks in on Julie kissing another man, Logan snaps, seizing Owen and heading on a journey that forces him to confront lingering elements of his history with his father. Compre-hending the complexities of one’s father through the lens of one’s own imperfect fatherhood is nothing new, but Miller explores Logan’s resentments and insecurities with sensitivity and nuance. The portrayals of young Owen and particularly Julie, however, remain largely flat, leaving readers to wonder whether narrator Logan will ever see his family with as much clarity as he hopes to view his own history. Agent: Lisa Bankoff, ICM. (June)