Summary

In “Overture (1962),” the novel begins in third person limited, in which Ernest Young watches the fairgoers of Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair. Despite the allure of the fair, Ernest thinks that going inside “was like saying he wished he could dine alone at Canlis restaurant on Valentine’s Day, cross the Atlantic by himself aboard the Queen Mary, or fly first class on an empty Boeing 707” (3). He experiences feelings of loneliness due to the absence of his wife, Gracie, who can barely remember him. Gracie’s doctor says that her condition is “a rare type of viral meningitis” (5), but Ernest knows that his wife’s worsening mental condition is a consequence of “red-light districts past” (5). The reader does not know why Ernest is at the fair yet--Ernest is absorbed in recollections of his family life. With his two daughters grown...