Carol’s Comments August
2019
Hello Everyone! Welcome to another issue of
Carol’s Comments. This summer I just wanted to relax and
immerse myself in some escapist fiction. My first selection, City
of Girls, the new novel by one of my favorite authors Elizabeth Gilbert
was an easy choice. After I discovered on Gilbert’s Facebook page that her book
would be published on June 4th and Entertainment Weekly featured it
as the top book in its Summer Preview issue, I quickly put a hold on the novel
at the library so I’d be one of the first people to read it. I definitely
wasn’t disappointed.
Told through the perspective of the novel’s central
character, 89 year old Vivian Morris, she breezily recalls that in 1940, after
being expelled from Vassar at age 19, her parents send her to New York City to
live with her eccentric Aunt Peg who owns a rundown theater company called the
Lily Playhouse.
An expert seamstress, Vivian soon becomes the
costume designer at the Playhouse for all the actors and showgirls especially
Bronx-born Celia Ray, who introduces her to a hedonist bohemian lifestyle
Vivian adores. Celia and Vivian soon become the 1940’s version of Zelda
Fitzgerald,
However, in March 1941, Vivian’s provocative sexual
escapades nearly ruined her life forever when columnist Walter Winchell
threatened to name her in an unsavory public indiscretion with Celia and a
famous actress'’ ex-husband. Fortunately, her Aunt Peg’s best friend and
business associate surprisingly rescues her and saves Vivian’s reputation.
Although very entertaining and fast moving, I
thought City of Girls lacked depth. For instance, the characters,
though very quirky and colorful, had no dimension. They seemed more like
caricatures rather than real people the reader could relate to or empathize
with. Furthermore, the book’s depiction of the 1940’s New York theater scene
seemed quite bland and pedestrian. The plot needed more elements from Cabaret
and Victor/Victoria and less Stage Door and 42nd Street.
Most importantly, Vivian’s transformation from innocent and naïve college
student to promiscuous party girl seemed rather forced and unrealistic. Gilbert
needed to borrow some erotic scenarios from Judith Krantz or even E.L, James to
make the main character’s sensual adventures more believable.
Finally, the chapters focusing on post -World War II
New York and the rest of Vivian’s life seemed a bit rushed. I wished the author
had spent more time describing Vivian’s later years- especially her 20 year
designer wedding gown business venture with her friend Marjorie Lowtsky and her
intriguing and elusive platonic love relationship with Frank Grecco. Despite
these obvious flaws, City of Girls is a delightfully
frothy summer treat that transports the reader to a simpler time.
After finishing City of Girls, I just couldn’t find
a current fiction title that appealed to me. Feeling a bit discouraged, I
decided to browse the general fiction shelves at the River Park Branch Library
for inspiration. Thankfully, I found one of Sarah Waters’ older novels, The
Little Stranger. Its sinister theme suited my literary taste precisely.
Set in England after World War II, Waters’ novel
centers on the Ayres family who own the once elegant Hundreds Hall, located in
Warwickshire. Narrated by Dr. Faraday, who returns to Hundreds Hall almost 30
years later (he first visited there as a 10 year old boy in 1919) to treat a
servant’s stomach ailment. There he meets the family matriarch Angela Ayres and
her two surviving children: 24 year old Roderick who is wounded and physically
and emotionally scarred in the war and her 26 year old daughter Caroline.
During his visit, Dr. Faraday also learns that an older sibling, Susan, died of
diphtheria at age 6 shortly after World War I in 1919. Dr. Faraday will shortly
become entwined in the family’s upcoming gruesome travails.
Soon afterward, a menacing force casts a spell of
horrifying foreboding after a tragic accident occurs involving the family dog
Gyp and a young neighbor girl Gillian Baker-Hyde. Only Roderick is fully aware
of the immense danger this force poses while everyone else- including Dr.
Faraday believe it’s a delusion. This terrifying spirit eventually encompasses
the entire house leading to the ghastly destruction of the whole Ayres family
within a year.
Waters’ very atmospheric plot uses psychological
terror rather than graphic horror to build irresistible suspense. The
Little Stranger reminded me a lot of Shirley Jackson’s The
Haunting of Hill House and Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. The
book was so spellbinding and spooky that I couldn’t stop reading it even when
it gave me a few nightmares. In addition to the primary frightening ghost story,
Waters’ novel also features a second underlying sub-plot focusing on the
disintegration of the aristocratic family estate system after World War II. I
recommend The Little Stranger to anyone who enjoys Gothic or
psychological horror fiction.
Next I decided to travel back in time to 1985 and
re-read one of my favorite contemporary fiction classics The Accidental Tourist by
Anne Tyler.
Tyler’s marvelous novel revolves around travel
writer Macon Leary who ironically hates travel and drastic change. After his 12
year old son Ethan ‘s senseless murder
at a fast food restaurant a year ago and then his wife Sarah divorces him soon
afterward, Macon feels suddenly adrift and overwhelmed living alone in his
house in Baltimore. To ease his grief, he becomes extremely attached to his
son’s dog, a Welsh corgi named Edward. He fervently insists on keeping Edward
even after the dog becomes very unmanageable mainly because the dog is Macon’s
last emotional link to his dead son.
When Macon needs to board Edward when he takes a
business trip, the veterinarian rejects the dog due to excessive biting.
Desperate, Macon stops at the Meow-Bow Animal Hospital where the quirky
receptionist Muriel Pritchett, who is also a freelance dog trainer, accepts the
dog enthusiastically. Almost immediately Muriel has a strangely calming effect
on Edward. Muriel eagerly offers to train the dog when Macon returns from his
travels.
A few months later, after breaking his leg in a
strange mishap, Macon returns to his unconventional family home to recuperate
and live with his two divorced brothers Porter and Charles and his nurturing
unmarried sister Rose. While living there, he eventually hires Muriel to train
Edward to stop misbehaving. Muriel’s grueling obedience lessons gradually have
a therapeutic effect on the dog as well as Macon. As Macon’s unlikely
relationship with Muriel deepens, he begins a personal journey that leads him
away from uncertainty into acceptance and confidence about life’s true purpose.
This intensifies when Macon starts living with Muriel and learns more about her
life and her 7 year old son Alexander. Macon’s outlook becomes more optimistic
as he truly begins to live again. He develops a zest for life he has never
experienced.
Ironically, a business trip to Paris, where Macon
has a brief reunion with his ex-wife Sarah, unexpectedly brings back what he
truly desires- an unconventional happy life with Muriel Pritchett. Focusing on realistic multidimensional
characters and authentic settings, Anne Tyler, especially in The
Accidental Tourist, is a fantastic storyteller of everyday modern life.
After I read The Accidental Tourist, I planned to
watch and review Lawrence Kasdan’s wonderful 1988 screen adaptation starring
William Hurt, Geena Davis and Kathleen Turner. Unfortunately after an
exhaustive search, I couldn’t find a copy of the movie anywhere- not even at
the public library. If the film ever becomes readily available on DVD, Netflix,
cable television or any other streaming service again, I highly recommend it especially
for Geena Davis’ charm delightful Oscar winning performance as Muriel
Pritchett.
The books reviewed in this blog can be found at most
local public libraries. My readers in St. Joseph County, Indiana can visit the
St. Joseph County Public Library’s web site at sjcpl.lib.in.us for additional
information. My blog may be taking a brief hiatus this fall so I can see the
new Downton
Abbey movie at the theater and watch all six seasons of the original
series at home. Thanks for reading! See you all next time in 2020- or maybe
sooner!
