BOOKS: Specimen Days

Walt Whitman's House, Camden, NJ. Walt Whitman was the inspiration for, "Specimen Days."

Walt Whitman promised future readers: “It avails not, neither time or place…I am with you, and know how it is.” As such, Walt Whitman presides as the voice over three stories that make up Michael Cunningham’s 2005 novel, “Specimen Days.” The setting: New York City, past, present (21^st century) and future. The first story, “In the Machine,” takes place at the height of the industrial revolution. Machinery rules here. The main character is a Whitman quoting 12-year old boy who believes that the ghost of his brother lives in an iron works mill. This story is laced and interwoven with the depressing and alienating factors of the “machine age.” The next story, “The Children’s Crusade,” takes place in the 21^st century and tracks the pursuit of a terrorist band as they detonate bombs around the city. And finally, in “Like Beauty” the plot shifts to a New York 150 years in the future when the city is filled with refugees from another planet. So how do these seemly disparate stories fit together? Well, you have to work to see the connections in this book, but they are there and the discovery worth it. Essentially the same three parallel characters appear in each story and each must live and cope with the society and time in which they find themselves. All three stories are then fused together in one way or another with the presiding voice and inspiration of Walt Whitman. “Specimen Days,” draws not only its title from Walt Whitman’s 1882 autobiography, but its thematic soul. The aspect that does not work perfectly in this beautifully written book is trying to fuse the lyrical voice of the romantic Whitman with a disturbing plot. Hmm__that’s difficult, but Cunningham seems to come as close as humanly possible. Some readers may be left with a feeling of an irresolute conclusion. But life can be like that sometimes, irresolute. Is this book worth reading? Yes, but those wanting to experience an unadulterated Whitman might want to look into his life celebrating, “Leaves of Grass.”