The Day

Quietly and subtly, in a seamless style composed of wonderfully crafted sentences, Hobbie's second novel (after the award-winning Boomfell ) burrows deep into the psyche of architect Jack Fletcher. ``The Day'' is Thanksgiving; Jack, his attractive wife Gwen and their delightful children are visiting Gwen's efficient sister Penny and her successful husband Peter at their Connecticut home. Jack finds himself looking beyond the stuffing, smiles and ceremony to question his ideas about who he really is. Through his unique perspective, which mingles haunting memories of his sister-in-law Clare with musings on the braid in Gwen's hair and the painkiller in Penny's bathroom, Hobbie gently unfolds a moving story of illusions, antipathy and love. As James Joyce did in ``The Dead,'' he captures the nuances of character and situation in a way that adds a startling dimension to a familiar family holiday. Hobbie's unnerving tale twists slowly and subtly, turning a routine highway drive into a narrative climax and a simple grocery list into a script for a character's life. The meaning of events, metaphors, even idioms, shifts gradually yet inexorably under Hobbie's carefully controlled pen, which makes deft use of irony and repetition. This wry, stirring, richly allusive novel is sure to please readers who delight in literary excellence. ( Apr. )