Carol's Comments August 2019

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 4^th 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 42^nd 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!