New York Review of Books Review
There are three things the former professor Arthur Opp wants to own up to: He weighs around 500 pounds, he hasn't worked in 18 years and he never leaves his house. The letter in which Arthur sets out these confessions opens Moore's second novel, and though they seem directed at the book's reader, Arthur is actually baring his soul to Charlene, an old flame he hasn't seen in nearly 20 years. The pair have kept in touch by mail, but it's not just Arthur who's been judicious with the truth: Charlene has a teenage son, Kel, whose existence she finally reveals just before her death by sending Arthur a snapshot of the boy. "Heft" tells the stories of Kel and Arthur, two tender, thoughtful souls, adrift in life for want of the anchor of family, slowly being drawn toward each other. Arthur, alone and lonely, imagines that those who eventually discover his body will find "a fat old corpse who has no relations and nothing but a pile of papers to tell them: This was a human being and this was a man with a story." Kel has lots of friends, but they don't make up for his absent father, whose uncertain identity stalks the novel. "On the street I looked for my father in every man I saw," Kel recalls. "I looked for him in my sleep."
Library Journal Review
The characters in Moore's second novel have both physical and emotional weight-heft to be lifted, balanced, and carried. Arthur, a professor-turned-obese urban hermit, and Kel, a high school student yearning for a life in professional baseball, have a known and unknown connection through Charlene, Kel's mother and Arthur's former student. Her decisions shift the balance in everyone's lives. Narrators Kirby Heyborne and Keith Szarabajka do an excellent job of portraying Arthur (late 50s with a gravely, lonely voice) and Kel (young and brash yet old before his time), leaving the reader gasping for a sequel. VERDICT Recommended for readers who enjoy evocative, emotional, absorbing, and intriguing fiction. ["Moore's lovely novel...is about overcoming shame and loneliness and learning to connect. It is life--affirming but never sappy," read the review of the Norton hc, LJ 10/15/11.-Ed.]-J. Sara Paulk, Wythe-Grayson Regional Lib., Independence, VA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
