Harare Review of Books

274 pages. Published February 18, 2025 by Simon & Schuster. Fiction.

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I write about books for The Sunday Long Read, and a recent recommendation is Madeleine Watts’ Elegy, Southwest (screenshot above).

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Elegy, Southwest is suffused with a sense of place—the southwest of the USA, to be specific—that’s alternately expansive, and then stifling. Big skies, then wildfire smoke; the Colorado River, then anthropogenic damage to the land, and drought. While the title suggests this might be an elegy for the Southwest, Watts has combined that lament for what it was or may have been with a journal-like narration of a man’s breakdown, from his wife’s perspective.

I admire how Watts has made Eloise, the narrator, less than completely likeable, and how fully she describes her womanhood. Lewis, the husband, is ghostly throughout, both not fully present and also reflecting Eloise’s lack of awareness and helplessness. But everything feels plausible: their relationship; the road trip they go on through the desert; the life of their brief marriage; and Lewis’s descent into darkness.

So much beautiful symbolism. It’s a teeny bit too self-aware to be perfect, but it comes close. Watts also makes lots of references to other texts, films, music and more throughout the novel (there’s a whole list at the back); so, additionally recommended for those who like their fiction with depth.

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