Ghost Fish

In Pennebaker’s uplifting if thinly plotted debut, a young Georgia woman attempts a fresh start in New York City after losing her sister, mother, and grandmother. Alison finds work as a host at a chic hotel restaurant “where celebrities sometimes maybe ate” and tells herself she “would be fine.” Soon, her late sister appears in the form of a ghostly fish, “like a scrap of fog or a shadow, silver and hazy and floating near the door of my building.” Not knowing what else to do, Alison lets the ghost swim into an old pickle jar and sets her on the windowsill in her tiny East Village bedroom. It’s an arresting premise, but for much of the novel Pennebaker seems unsure how to capitalize on it. No one else can see Alison’s ghost sister, so the apparition only serves to make Alison appear inward and strange. Her roommates wonder who she’s talking to when she’s alone in her room, and her friends and coworkers are constantly asking her what’s wrong. A later section set in Key West, where Alison goes with a friend from the restaurant, is more successful, as she is at last able to unburden herself of the grief of her sister’s death. The novel tests the reader’s patience, but those who go the distance will be rewarded. (Aug.)