Guest Reviewer: Douglas Gordy
Occupation: Retired, taught Theatre at the University of San Francisco and St. John's University, NY.
Note: He lives in Walnut Creek, CA., almost exactly halfway between Karen Joy Fowler's residence in Santa Cruz - and Davis, where most of her book is set.
Although to a certain extent, all works of art, literary or otherwise, depend on an element of surprise, certain such entities are more dependent on one's prior knowledge than others (for example, one's enjoyment of Hitchcock's "Psycho' will vary greatly depending upon how much one knows about the identity of Norman Bates' mother going into it!). Although the big reveal in Karen Ann Fowler's Man Booker Prize longlisted novel, "We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves' occurs fairly early on (exactly a quarter of the way in - on page 77 of 308), whether one knows the nature of the character of Fern beforehand or not will ultimately determine how much one appreciates the author's achievements. I DID know, having read about it in a spoilerish review, and until such point found the book to be almost annoyingly coy ... which Fowler's narrator herself sheepishly admits. Since it is difficult to speak about the book WITHOUT talking about that central element, those who haven't read the book and want to retain a pristine reading experience should depart NOW!
My only prior acquaintanceship with Fowler was with her most successful book, 'The Jane Austin Book Club', which I enjoyed, but probably never fully appreciated, since I read it as a result of having already seen the very fine film adaptation. I was rather surprised to see her name on this Booker list, and initially chalked it up to a perhaps misguided attempt for gender parity (and the inclusion of some American authors with the revised eligiblity rulings) in the selections. But Fowler's new work is a most worthy selection, creating a funny, harrowing, emotionally upsetting and thoroughly immersive experience for the reader. The novel centers on the lifelong effects on an American family of undertaking the raising of their biological daughter with a similarly aged chimpanzee. A mystery remains till almost the end as to why the chimp had to leave the family, what happened to her, and how that impacted the lives and destiny of her two siblings. As the 'brother' becomes an animal rights activist and fugitive from justice, the book includes some rather gruesome descriptions of experimentation on animals that are not for the weak of stomach, but are entirely necessary for the book's plot and message.
The novel is narrated by the 'other' daughter, Rosemary, looking back on the events which shaped her family and created all their disharmony and dysfunction, while she is a college student attempting to make sense of how she got to be the mess she is. I was initially turned off by her somewhat snarky persona, but realized it provided a much needed dusting of humor to what eventually becomes quite grim. The final chapters 'cheat' by jumping ahead almost a decade (wait, aren't we narrating from her college years?), but the jump is necessary for resolution and heightening the emotional denouement.
The book is also otherwise far from perfect, and I suspect it will NOT win (and may not even make the short list), due to the fact it will NOT be to everyone's taste. With all the backwards and forwards and sideways segues, I found myself at odds at times in pinpointing exactly WHERE we were in the story, but eventually was able to piece everything together. Also had to backtrack in order to remember who one minor character even WAS, since he had disappeared from the story for a good 100 pages. Another niggling point, but I also noticed a few annoying inaccuracies - for example, Rosemary mentions the family's bread maker in their kitchen in 1979, although such machines were not even invented till 1986, and did not become commonplace in the US till the mid-90's! All in all, I am glad I read the book and that it DID make the long list, although there are several other tomes I've read recently I would consider worthier selections (i.e., Tom Rachman's 'The Rise and Fall of Great Powers', Smith Henderson's 'Fourth of July Creek', Mira Jacob's 'A Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing').
No comments:
Post a Comment