‘Ambitions’ falls short of expectations

Joseph Dobrian's new novel, 'Ambitions,” is itself fairly ambitious. The novel, which is set in State City, Iowa (a re-imagining of Iowa City in which music rather than literature is the predominant art form), is a domestic drama centered on three generations of a few interconnected families. Equally important to the story is Andy Palinkas, an older bachelor whose story intersects with many of the other players in the book. 'Ambitions” recounts the hopes, disappointments, and, yes, ambitions of a range of characters, none of whom find day-to-day life to his or her liking.

Dobrian, who resides in Iowa City and is author of a previous novel ('Willie Wilden”) and an essay collection ('Seldom Right But Never In Doubt”), makes some narrative choices that undermine his project. For example, the book opens in Palinkas' first-person voice, but quickly and, confusingly, transitions to third-person narration. We are made to understand that Andy still is telling the story, but he now recounts all events - including those that involve him directly - as though he were an outside observer.

To remind us that no one, including Palinkas, could know all the facts in such a complicated tale of shifting loyalties and desires, the narration is peppered with distracting equivocation of this sort:

'Didn't it occur to her that starting a family would preclude that romantic crusading life she had once envisioned? Or could she, by then, have abandoned that ambition as a childish fancy? Maybe two years in the Peace Corps had gotten it out of her system. Might she, by the time she took her marriage vows (the second set of them, anyway), have adopted a whole new ambition: to be just like her in-laws?”

The book also is built on a bit of a bait-and-switch. Early on, a teenager vanishes. Palinkas is suspected. A suspenseful mystery appears to be in the offing. But then we move back in time, and the disappearance doesn't re-enter the tale until quite late. When it does, the payoff is small.

Dobrian does have insight into the ways in which his characters undermine themselves, even as they try to manipulate others into acting in certain ways and feeling certain things. Each person muddles through, never quite acquiring the thing - whether it's recognition, undying love, understanding, satisfaction, or something else - for which he or she most longs.