The Edge of the World

In Leigh’s short and sluggish contemporary, the relationship between a musician and a filmmaker fails to catch the reader’s interest. Shay Maloney is the charismatic frontman of Smuggler’s Beat, a popular fusion folk pirate band. When the adopted Shay agrees to take part in a genealogy documentary, he meets Ollie Pietruska, a filmmaker who joins Shay and his band on tour. As Ollie teaches Shay how to research his family history, Shay becomes obsessed with Ollie. He wants to know more about the enigmatic documentarian, but Ollie is “hiding his whole self” from Shay. Both men are ciphers , and their relationship, which develops in fits and starts, is as boring as the genealogy lessons. The effort to add depth to the characters—Shay is diabetic and has episodes of his sugar levels dropping, while Ollie has been traumatized by an incident that literally and figuratively scarred him—also feel lazy. Leigh’s book is not unlike Ollie’s Polish goulash, but this stew made from disparate elements is not so much comfort food as a tasteless hodgepodge. (July)