The Reconstruction

Kimberly Fahner is the author of You Must Imagine the Cold Here.

Margaret, a sculptor, is hired by a museum to reconstruct the physical
body and presence of Lucy, the female Australopithecus afarensis who
linked humankind to the primate world. Emerging from the ruins of a
failed marriage, she works on reconstructing Lucy and ends up
reconstructing and redefining herself. She begins to take on some of
Lucy’s characteristics—slouching and making chimpanzee sounds when
she’s had too much to drink.

An intricate pattern of images and symbols links past to present, Lucy
to Margaret, and death to life. The recurring image of falling ash
reminds us that our lives are temporal, although Casper’s ultimate aim
is to emphasize the comforting nature of ancestral continuity. In coming
to terms with her ancestral and biological mothers, Margaret is able to
feel comfortable in her own skin.

The Reconstruction is a stunning achievement —poetic, intriguing,
introspective, and always engrossing.