REVIEW Tale of unrequited love lacks fluidity

The college professor says to beware of that first embrace.
By DONNA LIQUORI
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"All He Ever Wanted" by Anita Shreve (Little, Brown, $25.95)
Nicholas Van Tassel, the narrator of "All He Ever Wanted," is not a likable man. He's pompous, self-righteous, anti-Semitic, jealous and difficult to bear. His students refer to him as "Scrofulous," Latin for "wild boar."
But Van Tassel does have a decent story to tell. He's writing his memoirs during a long train ride to a relative's funeral years after the events depicted in Anita Shreve's novel take place.
The story begins with a fire at the Hotel Thrupp in an uninspiring New Hampshire college town. As Van Tassel flees the hotel, he spots a woman standing near a lamppost. That vision propels Van Tassel for the rest of his life.
The object of Van Tassel's desire, Etna Bliss, has just moved to town to stay with her uncle, and Van Tassel immediately begins pursuit.
Shreve portrays a man who is consumed by an unrequited love and is, at first, a sympathetic character. The voice of this turn-of-the-century professor is a bit hard to take, feeling somewhat stilted and severe. The style lacks the fluidity of Shreve's previous quick-moving novels.
The point of view is often limited, with only a reflection of Van Tassel's thoughts and observations. Except through a series of letters, found later, between Etna and a friend, it is hard to understand Etna's character, leaving her and an underdeveloped feminism subplot rather flat.
However, the attempt is admirable: putting the narrative on an unlikable male character. The story is compelling and worthwhile in the end. Van Tassel's greatest handicaps are his pretensions and insatiable ambition.
His story
A young college professor when the story opens, he condescends to his students. He has an air of superiority as he goes on with his life, which he eventually divides into "before Etna" and "after Etna."
When he proposes marriage, he embraces a stiffening Etna, who was not giving or receiving. He writes that the entire marriage was "written in that embrace," and goes on to warn young lovers to be wary of the first embrace.
One of the strengths of the book is its sense of place, which, in Shreve's works, is inevitably New England, with its challenging storms, rocky terrain and endless forests.
It's not entirely clear why Van Tassel is putting his life to paper; it's not to assuage guilt because he does not seem familiar with that emotion.
Van Tassel is not someone you'd want as a friend or a relative, but, as the story unfolds, his obsession and lack of contrition make him an interesting literary figure.