Oola

In Newell’s debut novel, young writer Leif develops an all-encompassing obsession with his lover Oola as he attempts to pen a book about her. After growing up in New England and graduating from college, Leif travels the world, staying in hostels and house-sitting for relatives and parents of his friends. He meets Oola through a mutual friend at a party in London and tumbles into a physical relationship with her, asking her to accompany him to his latest house-sitting gig in Arizona. Leif peppers Oola with questions about her life, learning about her poor childhood in Los Angeles with parents on the fringes of the music scene. While it’s ambitious of Newell to chronicle Oola along with Leif, documenting his unhealthy descent along with her life story, the obvious pitfall of this book rears its head. The reader’s enjoyment will ultimately hinge on whether he or she finds Oola as fascinating as Leif does. The best parts of the novel happen when Leif isn’t saying things like, “Could you have resisted her, even if you’d had an inkling that this beauty was an act?” The plot comes to life once Oola is off the page and Leif engages with his childhood pal Tay, or goes out in a full Oola outfit, complete with hair bleached Oola blonde. Shortly after she’s fled him, Leif slowly loses it when he finds a diary that chronicles a wild part of her life that she’d never told him about. He sets out to find her musician ex-boyfriend Le Roy, and the book hurtles toward an unsatisfying ending. (Apr.)