BOOKMONGER
Growing up in and beyond the grunge era
Bellevue, Washington, author Jennifer
Haupt delves into fraught family relation-
ships in her second novel, “Come As You
Are,” which follows her 2018 debut “In the
Shadow of 10,000 Hills.” In this tale, char-
acters roam across the American West seek-
ing the right place and the right people to
call home.
Haupt’s latest work is an ambitious eff ort,
a series of non-chronological chapters told
over the course of a quarter century from
the perspectives of multiple generations of
characters. The novel, which borrows from
a song title by Nirvana, traffi cs in dreams,
mistakes and repercussions.
In a Seattle neighborhood in 1987, Sky-
ler, 12, and her sister, Lauren, 13, notice that
a boy has just moved in across the street
from them. Zane, 14, takes to being alone
and likes to play guitar. He’s a bit too much
of a misfi t for Lauren, but catches the inter-
est of Skyler. Zane soon accepts her pres-
ence the way he might a stray puppy. She’s
amusing, asks good questions and really
likes his music.
Over the next few years, Zane puts
together a band. Grunge is rising in popu-
larity in the Pacifi c Northwest, and Zane’s
group, T he Bipolars, soon begins to gain
traction. He and Skyler, who have now
become close friends, dream of moving
to California together, where he’ll sign a
recording contract and she’ll be a successful
artist. Instead, a terrible accident causes the
two to turn to each other for comfort as lov-
ers, and young Skyler becomes pregnant.
As these teens grow to become adults
and try to forget the tragedy that changed
their relationship, they begin to grapple with
new responsibilities. They chase ambitions
that evaporate into thin air. They’re faced
with regrets and disappointments. And they
have to fi gure out how to move forward.
To tell the young couple’s story, Haupt
moves between years and perspectives,
off ering insight from Skyler’s mother, Caro-
lyn, and in time, the couple’s young daugh-
ter. Haupt loads her fi ction with sensory
detail, documenting smells, textures, sounds.
While Zane’s soundtrack is heavy on ‘90s
grunge, Carolyn relies on Handel and Viv-
aldi. The author captures the essence of
This week’s book
‘Come As You Are’ by Jennifer Haupt
Central Avenue Publishing – 320 pp — $27
place as her characters try settling in spots
as diverse as Montana, California, New
Mexico, Washington and even Belize.
Perhaps even more impressive, Haupt
layers the insights of diff erent characters
and the juxtapositions of time with almost
architectural precision. This is no small feat.
Still, readers may wonder whether the story
might be served well by a much simpler
chronology.
While a measure of healing does hap-
pen in “Come As You Are,” an overarch-
ing sense of bittersweetness prevails. Peo-
ple can reach out to support and learn from
one another, but too often this isn’t the case.
Sometimes, signals get crossed when they
try.
The music that kept going through this
reader’s head while reading Haupt’s book
derived neither from the grunge nor classi-
cal genres but instead from folk singer Pete
Seeger’s melancholy refrain, “When will
they ever learn?”
The Bookmonger is Barbara Lloyd
McMichael, who writes this weekly column
focusing on books, authors and publish-
ers of the Pacifi c Northwest. Contact her at
Barbaralmcm@gmail.com.
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