Haven Kimmel

North Carolina writer Kimmel’s third book, Something Rising (Light and Swift), isn’t quite strong enough to justify that optimistic title. But there’s merit in the story of Cassie Claiborne, an emotionally wounded girl from poor rural Indiana whose preternatural talent for shooting pool might be her ticket out of town, or at least toward reconciliation with her self-absorbed father. That skill is the one good thing she inherits from her dad, but even so, it inspires nothing more paternal in him than grudging rivalry. Besides Cassie herself, her father is the most interesting character in the book, and it’s a shame Kimmel drops him from the storyline so early. If their poisonous relationship had been developed further, it could have made for a fascinating book. Instead, we get long sections on Cassie’s life as an aimless teen in rural Indiana—ground Kimmel covered extensively in both her previous books. But despite the unfocused plot and occasionally clumsy description (“his haircut seemed fresh and raw”), Kimmel captures Cassie’s self-destructive nature, and there’s a nice moment late in the book when Cassie sadly realizes that, like Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, she could’ve been a contender. Given another draft, this book could have been one too.
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