TRIANGLE
By Katharine Weber
Picador/FSG, 2006
Category: Adult Fiction
Library books on the seven-day shelf are not for me. First of all, books on the seven-day shelf are usually novels for adults, and I just don’t read many these days. Second of all, seven is not a lot of days; seven is a lot of pressure. But my friend Jane, reader extraordinaire and director of my local library, handed me a copy of Katharine Weber’s TRIANGLE and told me to read it. When I tapped the Seven Day Sticker taped to its spine and raised my eyebrows, she said “We’re closed on Labor Day, which buys you an extra day. Read it.”
So, I did.
The opening chapter is a fictionalized first-hand account of the 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York, and it leaves little room for turning back. The long shadow of this tragedy and, incidentally, of the 9/11 attacks, shades the rest of the novel. The author’s ability to use the former to evoke the latter surprised me, and reminded me how permanently the events of September 11, 2001 are embedded in my psyche. Weber’s characters are vibrant and, in one case, completely unexpected. I’m glad I read TRIANGLE (Thanks, Jane!) … and pleased to report I returned it to the library on time. No pressure, no fines.