The Tree of the Doves: Ceremony, Expedition, War

Merrill (Things of the Hidden God) harnesses his travels into a thoughtful first-person account that unfortunately gets bogged down where it should soar. In three linked essays, Merrill meditates on the effects of terror upon international politics, religion, and society—without stopping to tirade. He travels through Malaysia to watch an illegal shamanistic healing ritual, the main puteri; he then follows the path of poet-diplomat Saint-John Perse’s 1921 expedition from Beijing to Ulan Bator as a frame through which to examine modern China; and lastly, in 2007, Merrill makes his way through the Middle East’s Levant following the American invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. The mongrel work of lamentation, reportage, and memoir are unified by the author’s keen eye and voice—he’s a veteran, open-minded traveler looking everywhere for answers, posing every question with a willingness to dig deep into darker places. The current director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, Merrill is a “writer’s writer”: he spins sentences made of gold, makes essayistic moves like Montaigne—so it’s surprising that overall, his book lacks liveliness, and the density of prose and lack of narrative direction can make the reading a slog. (Nov.)