Improvement

Improvement is a novel by American author Joan Silber, first published in 2017 by Counterpoint Press. It tells the story of Reyna, a single mother in New York City, her eccentric aunt, Kiki, and how the choices they make reverberate throughout their lives, across the world, and among the experiences of several other characters. Improvement won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

The novel begins as Reyna discusses her aunt Kiki, who, as a young woman, went live in Istanbul, Turkey, for eight years. Now, Reyna is about the age Kiki was upon her move to Turkey, but Reyna had fled instead to Harlem, where she struggles to raise her four-year-old son and put food on the table. Both Reyna and Kiki have become largely estranged from the rest of the family, but their wanderlust spirits unite them. The women don't have much else in common, yet they maintain a connection.

Reyna has an African American boyfriend named Boyd, and only Kiki knows of their relationship and the fact that he is in prison for selling pot. After he gets out, Boyd starts a cigarette-smuggling operation, moving cigarettes between Virginia and New York City. He initiates a few other people to help him. Before one daring run, the group gets in a pinch and asks Reyna to drive. She initially says she will, then backs out. Another member of the group, Claude, drives instead and gets into a car accident, leading to his death and the end of the smuggling operation. As a result, Boyd leaves Reyna, blaming her for the tragedy.



Claude's girlfriend, Darisse, unaware that he has died, thinks he has abandoned her. She lives in Richmond, Virginia, where she tries to get primary custody of her daughter, Jeshuana. Darisse soon meets a new man, Silas, and begins to forget about Claude.

Meanwhile, Ted is the driver of the truck that Claude collided with on that fateful drive. The crash causes Ted to reevaluate his life; he carries an enormous burden of guilt over Claude's death. Ted eventually decides to end an extramarital affair and return to his wife and stepdaughter.

At this point, the novel moves backward in time to flesh out Kiki's youthful adventures. From her upbringing in Brooklyn to her time on a farm in rural Turkey, Kiki is constantly searching. In Turkey, she loves a carpet-seller, Osman. After circumstances force them to move in with his family, Osman grows distant and moody. Kiki develops flirtations with other men and finally leaves Osman. Then, at last, she returns to New York City—the only memories of Osman being the rug he gave her.



Then, the narrative focuses on a period in the 1970s when Dieter, a German smuggler meets Kiki at Osman's family's farm. Kiki captivates Dieter, though her restless spirit soon has her moving on. Dieter ultimately leaves his life of crime behind, settles down, and gets a job as a graphic artist…but he cannot forget Kiki.

The narrative switches back to modern-day New York City, in the months preceding the accident in which Claude died. Monika works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she investigates the origins of the artwork in the museum's collection. Though Monika doesn't know it, Dieter and Monika's mother, Steffi, were part of the same smuggling operation, and a piece now in the Met collection is an item that Steffi once stole. As Monika attempts to juggle her work with the pressures of her unhappy marriage, she receives a phone call informing her that Steffi has had a heart attack.

Monika and her artist-husband, Julian, visit Steffi in Berlin. The tensions between mother and daughter run strong and deep. They manage to put some of their painful past behind them, but Monika isn't confident that it will be a lasting peace. In the meantime, her mother's ex-boyfriend, Bruno, helps Julian secure an exhibition at a prestigious art gallery.



Upon returning to the states, Monika goes to have her eyebrows done at her favorite salon. There, she chats with the young woman working on her brows. The young woman, Lynette, talks about her brother Claude, who is saving up his money so she can open a salon of her own. Lynette tells Monika that Claude is young and has his whole life before him.

In the present, Reyna runs into Boyd on the street. The two have a profound conversation, and both seem to be at peace with where their lives are. However, Reyna still feels tremendous guilt about Claude. She sells the carpet Kiki gave her and sends the proceeds, anonymously, to Lynette. Lynette receives the money and moves to Philadelphia, opening her own brow salon as she had always dreamed.

Though the carpet was the only thing Kiki brought back from Turkey as a reminder of Osman and her time there, Reyna knows Kiki would have no issue with her decision to sell it. The carpet gives Reyna the means to take the emotional journey she must take, just as Kiki had taken before her. Both women were, at one point, confined by their lives and circumstances, but they each found their paths to identity, purpose, and freedom.