How to Leave the House, Nathan Newman
“A clever story told over 24 hours from numerous points of view, tracing several interweaving plotlines that revolve around the eve of Natwest’s departure for university.”
Early in How to Leave the House, Mrs Pandey, the former secondary school teacher of our hero Natwest, suggests Natwest is being too critical of a work of art; “What would happen if you treated every work of art as perfect, and then worked backwards?” she asks. This scene felt like an authorial challenge, so it was in this spirit that I read Newman’s debut – a clever story told over 24 hours from numerous points of view, tracing several interweaving plotlines that revolve around the eve of Natwest’s departure for university.
Having ordered an embarrassing package that never arrives, Natwest is forced to race around his small town to track it down. As he does, we bounce through the minds of the diverse cast of characters living in the town. Exploring these perspectives was what I enjoyed most about How to Leave the House. Through their stories, we build a more complex picture of who Natwest is.
On the surface, Natwest is 23 years old and intelligent, although he has missed the boat on attending university with the rest of his school cohort. Perhaps because of this, he is self-conscious and often feels an uncomfortable need to overcompensate intellectually. In his own point of view, I found Natwest to be anxious and peevish; however, to his ex, he’s sophisticated and put together; to an older woman he had never spoken to before, he’s charming if a bit self-involved; to the local imam, he’s a nihilistic philosophical sparring partner; and to Mrs Pandey, he’s both a symbol of her success and all that she has failed to achieve.
Over the course of the day, these interactions chip away at Natwest’s guarded personality. While once he saw himself cinematically as the main character in his small town, he begins to open up to new connections when he is confronted with the rest of the cast, learning from and empathising with them. In the finale, we’re presented with two endings, as the pathways diverge between a picture of resolution and agency, and one of surrender to an inevitable fate.
Editorial Picks
