Life #6

by Diana Wagman

Critically acclaimed author Diana Wagman brings us the suspenseful and emotionally exhilarating story of a woman facing death today, as well as thirty years ago. Fiona's marriage is crumbling, and she has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. Caught up in a wave of memories as she faces her own mortality, Fiona recalls the previous times in her life when she nearly died, including a fateful boat trip with her former boyfriend, Luc. Fleeing her struggling marriage, Fiona rendezvous with Luc. In the process, she relives the harrowing boat trip from three decades earlier, which permanently altered her life. Now that Fiona desperately needs Luc to save her, will he be the man she remembers? Or will she discover heartbreak again?

An adventurous and stirring tale inspired by Diana Wagman's own experience at sea, Life #6 explores the hope and folly of youth, how we react when we're pushed to the brink, the regrets of love lost, and the many ways we die and are renewed throughout our lives.

Genres: Fiction

280 pages, Hardcover

First published April 20, 2015

About the author

Diana Wagman is the author of five novels. Her second, Spontaneous, won the 2001 PEN West Award for Fiction. Her latest is Life #6 from Ig Publishing. She is an occasional contributor to the Los Angeles Times and has been published in many literary journals, most recently Black Clock and the n+1 anthology, MFA vs NYC.

Reviews

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in a single gulp. Could not stop. A woman, diagnosed with cancer but keeping it a secret from her family, for now, is jolted back into the memory of another perilous time in her life (In fact, Life #6 in a series of brushes with death) --when as a college girl, she signed up to crew on a boat being sailed down to Bermuda (of course, Bermuda, you already know it's going into some Zone) who neither swims nor has been on a boat in her life. But she is following her charismatic dancer boyfriend, and does' t hesitate--a theme of her personality. Like the protagonist of Rachel Kushner's The Flamethrowers--and in the same period, the 1970s--Wagman's girl, Fiona, drifts into danger because she allows other people to make decisions about her life, she expects that other people know what they're doing, even in the clear presence of proof they do not. I remember that girl, I think most women do. Living in a fog of romantic stories we tell ourselves, and finding ourselves, literally, in deep weather. Wagman masterfully and nonjudgementally portrays that mindset, in this adventure story on the high seas. . I loved this book--it's the very essence of the anti-adventure at sea thriller with the layer of a mature woman who still carries that drifty girl inside her. What a perfect storm.

[♑︎♑︎♑︎ ♑︎♑︎♑︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel charmed me completely. I felt the author took tender care of me as a reader, that she had something to say about the human condition, and that she said it with a gentle beauty that made reading the novel a pleasure. I'm very impressed that Wagman could write such a hopeful book while never becoming sentimental.

I've made the book sound like afternoon tea rather than a novel that includes, as this one does, scenes of suicide, rape, child abuse, drug abuse, social injustice, and mental illness. There is more than one scene so graphic and startling that its only excuse might be "it really happened that way," which is possible, since the author is drawing on her own experience for some plot elements.

Even so, the traumatic scenes don't define this novel. The entire book, in both the introspective scenes and the violent, is framed by a wise presence of mind that gives each scene meaning. We see these events through the eyes of a protagonist in mid-life, a woman who is in the process of taking stock of her life after receiving news that her tumor is malignant. She is a failure by some standard measures of success, like marriage and career. But you feel throughout the novel that she is journeying toward wisdom and forgiveness.

It's very easy to write a cynical book. It's very difficult to do what Wagman has done here, to write a wise book.

[Bonnie Schroeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel carries a lot of heft and portrays so many different kinds of conflict: woman against nature, against her own body, against man/woman. Fiona, the supremely unreliable narrator, has had one too many brushes with death in the course of her life. At middle age, she is faced with yet another adversary: cancer. Contemplating that diagnosis, she recalls other times in her life when she cheated the Grim Reaper, most notably during an ill-fated ocean voyage aboard a cursed sailboat with Luc, a man whom she believed was the love of her life. Now married, not especially happily, to Harry, and the mother of a grown son, Fiona is presented with a chance to relive/redeem her past. The novel’s interesting structure plays out in two voices: the older Fiona speaks in first person, and the ocean voyage is told in third person. Seamlessly, the author takes us back and forth between the two and deftly depicts the twin themes of love and survival. Since the novel opens from the viewpoint of the older Fiona, we know she survives that perilous voyage, at least physically, but we get a sense that some part of her did not make it safely back to land. Although Fiona is not a classically sympathetic protagonist, it’s a tribute to the author’s skill that the reader cares about her and wants her to be all right in the end.

[Uwe Hook · Rating 5 out of 5]

ife #6 is a rich, satisfying story that toggles back and forth, mostly between two separate eras in the life of the protagonist - when she was in her 20s, and starry-eyed enough to follow her boyfriend and a damaged, half-mad crew onto a sailboat that set off on a harrowing and doomed trip to Bermuda, and her situation at mid-life, when she is older and wiser, but finds that the ground is once again shifting beneath her feet. Somehow, Life #6 manages to be adventurous, suspenseful, contemplative, wrenching, funny and bittersweet. Diana Wagman writes with compassion, a gift for psychological insight and a keen cinematic eye.

Highly recommended.

[James Rolle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dissapointing; pointless. How a female author can refer to herself as a slut I do not understand.

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

A recent New York Times review praised Wagman, and Life #6, for her "great facility with structure and pacing," noting that "the narrative is controlled and assured" and concluding that "this is a book that engages touchingly and earnestly with the unknown." The "unknown" is actually more known than the reviewer seems to know. What she failed to mention, and what I believe is also especially important for readers to *know*, is that this book is based on Wagman's actual experience of being lost at sea, with versions of those seemingly fantastic but actually quite real characters as well as all the incredible, frightening, miraculous events she describes. This, in my opinion, provides a powerful and meaningful layer to this already wonderful and compelling story -- it is drawn, as all the best writing is, from the author's heart and truth. And it will leave you wondering how she managed to survive, live on, and eventually find the courage to write about this part of her life!

[James Sie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wagman has done the almost impossible—created a book with the taut pace of a suspenseful thriller, but with the tender, regretful heart of a memoir. Fiona, the narrator of the book, recounts a doomed, horrifying sailboat voyage off the Atlantic coast she took as a young woman, but through the eyes of an older woman, one who has recently received a cancer diagnosis and is contemplating an impetuous life change. Fiona is a maddening character— weak and willful at the same time, deeply flawed and altogether too recognizable. Though framed as an ocean disaster, at its core the book is about obsession, delusion, and addiction— to drugs, to love, and ultimately, to life.

[Deborah Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard Diana Wagman talk about this book at Squaw Valley Writer's (in fact, that's where I purchased it). While Life #6 is not a memoir, it is based upon a situation in which Diana found herself as a young woman. The juxtaposition of young Fiona with older Fiona was a perfect foil, and I liked how the author separated the two ages by using first- and third-person POVs. At times both heartbreaking and hysterical, Wagman helps us face our own youthful indiscretions by sharing Fiona's so honestly. It's a great read!

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an interesting way to structure a book! The author lists every time in her life when she almost died as "Life #1", etc. Most of the book was about Life #6 when she and her boyfriend signed on to be crewmembers on a sailboat even though they had no experience. The owner had a death wish so the boat became more and more incapacitated as days went on, and in the end it was a miracle that they survived at all. Truly a fascinating read.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hooked as soon as I started this book. I couldn't put it down. I am in counseling now, facing traumas that happened to me going back to my childhood and often think that I'm the only one who has lived through these experiences. Life #6 is the sixth experience for Fiona when she faced death, and now she is in life #7, facing cancer. Fiona is a woman who has finally discovered who she is & what she wants as she faces the possibility of death.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

an amazing book! so layered and a real page turner. i seriously wanted to call in sick so i could stay home to finish reading it! I'm so happy to have discovered Diana Wagman and now i want to know more about the true story!

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps 3.5; there were several typos,mistakes which tends to bug me. Good yarn.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Great story. Especially those who still think of someone and wonder "what if".