by Nathan Williams
Daily Lobo
Upon picking up The Sorrow of Archaeology, initial instincts were that this would turn into a dull science read.
Readers will be pleasantly mistaken. While it does use archaeology to advance the mystery of a dead girl, the focus is on the main character Sarah and her husband Henry and their struggles through their complicated, yet rather normal lives.
Written in first person, this fictional story reads like a memoir piece. It's Sarah's story as she deals with her multiple sclerosis and what that means to her marriage. The discovery of a Puebloan girl with a deformed leg bone forces Sarah to explore her own life. She reflects on what she has accomplished, and what more she can still do while dealing with her deteriorating condition.
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As she explores the mystery behind the ancient girl's death, she looks into her own family relations and how things tie together. The symmetry between the two plots is well done.
Russell Martin, the author, uses archaeology as a backdrop to advance Sarah's story and to allow for an exploration of culture. He focuses on Sarah in a way that makes her larger than just a character, using her as a metaphor for more timeless issues. The use of the science was enjoyable without being overwhelming.
There is a strange balance between the chapters and sentences. The sentences tend to be verbose, packed full with a flowing style rather than crisp, short sentences. It can feel bulky in places, but usually carries a lyrical quality that is still easy to follow. Martin certainly keeps the language easy to understand. He makes no attempt to impress the reader with an excessive vocabulary or scientific jargon.
In contrast, the chapters are brief, usually no more than a few pages. The chapter length contributed to the memoir feel of the book. It breaks everything into smaller segments, which can be jarring if frequent chapter breaks disrupt the reader.
Written in first person, readers get to spend a lot of time in Sarah's head. The self-reflection explores the character, and we get to see larger issues through her. Martin wove the characters in a way to make the personal development of a character touch on the universal aspects of humanity.
With the brief chapters, easy language and manageable 271 pages, The Sorrow of Archaeology offers a simple read about a woman's life with a nice tie to a mystery and an ancient culture. The novel is manageable over a few sittings, helping to keep it from being a book that gets started and winds up half-finished at the bottom of a "to read" pile.
If you want a book about archaeology that doesn't feature Nazis, whips and crazy plane chases, this book should hold your interest. Even if archaeology isn't your thing, the well-developed and interesting characters should be enough to grab your attention.
