LitPicks - October '07

Novelist as master-weaver: this month's selections fall under the category of "social novel"—sprawling works that weave in multiple plot strands and a large cast of characters. They attempt to reflect the complicated fabric of life by encompassing social and political issues of their day.

A Lighter Touch | Wonderfully Written | Great Works      




Can't Wait to Get to Heaven
Fannie Flagg, 2006
375 pp.

By Molly Lundquist
You can't help but love this book. It's warm, funny, and at times a real belly-guffaw. While not a "social novel" in the classic sense, it's close enough for A Lighter Touch.

Flagg returns her readers to Elmwood Springs, a small tightly-knit community (see how effortlessly that weaving metaphor works?) in Missouri, whose residents fret and scramble and cogitate when one of their own lies near death...or is dead... or hangs somewhere in between.

Eighty-something Elner Shimfissle falls off a ladder and lands in an emergency room. She vacillates between this world and the next—at one point wondering why the hospital staff is wearing green shower caps and paper booties instead of smart white uniforms (oh, and by the way, she wonders, whatever happened to those uniforms movie theater ushers used to wear...in fact, whatever happened to ushers?). At another point Elner meets her dead sister Ida who serves as her escort to heaven. Ida berates Elner for allowing Tot Whooten, the town's favorite hair dresser, to do her casket coif. This was expressly against Ida's dying wishes.

Elner's ties go deep into the community: niece Norma and her husband Macky, Verbena, Ruby, Tots, Luther Griggs, a journalist, a lawyer and even the radio station—each reacting to Elner's accident in his own peculiar way. Elner's death...or near death (which is it?) leads to a meditation for the living, what constitutes a good life and where it is found? Is heaven only in the next world, or can it be in this world, too?

Check out our Reading Guide for Can't Wait to Get to Heaven.


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The Whole World Over
Julia Glass, 2006
512 pp.

By Molly Lundquist
Dejected, depressed...I'd just finished a number of books by well-known authors but couldn't recommend any of them. Then I picked up this beautiful book. Along with Bel Canto, it may be my favorite.

Julia Glass (author of Three Junes, a 2002 National Book Award winner) populates this novel with a large cast of characters, each provided with a rich past and generous inner life. Glass weaves their lives together—deftly, without being overly manipulative or controlling. Her characters' stories are so beautifully rendered that when she switches from one character to another, you follow eagerly.


The story opens with Greenie, a successful Manhattan pastry chef, who is offered a job by the charismatic governor of New Mexico. But that's only the warp through which the woof of multiple subplots are woven. (Yeah, I know, an over-worked metaphor.)

Characters yearn for connection and love. Dogs, infants, and children—of which there are many in this book—offer loyalty, even unconditional love. They alleviate loneliness but can do only so much. True intimacy must come in the form of consenting adults, an imperative that creates numerous missteps along the way.

In this work, accidents as well as deliberate decisions play a large role. The sky overarches all (the whole world over), providing both a sense of uncontrollable fate and connectedness. Things drop out of the sky—some beneficent, some not, most changing lives forever. And the actions of one individual affect the lives of the rest, directly or tangentially.

Whole World is a luscious read. If there is one criticism, it is that the ending drags somewhat, then comes to a sudden halt on a rather pat note. Things get wrapped up a bit neatly. But that's a minor carp compared with the huge pleasure this work offers. Read it!

Be sure to see our Reading Group Guide for The Whole World Over.


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Middlemarch
George Eliot, 1871
880 pp. (incl. commentary)

By Molly Lundquist
This is one of the great works in English literature. And like reading many such works, it's an ambitious undertaking. You'll need time and perseverance (my copy comes in at over 800 pages).

Have I scared you off? Well, you need to know what you're in for. But if you choose to read this work—and stick with it—you will become enthralled. There is good reason why Middlemarch sits at the pinnacle of the realistic novel.

For starters there is the plot, rich and highly complex. Its multiple strands weave together some 20 or so characters, all of whom live in the fictional town of Middlemarch. Their separate lives impinge on one another in unforeseen ways. They fall in love, marry, and fall out of love; pursue dreams, fail and succeed. Some aspire to improve the lot of human life, others only their own lots. Eliot places their struggles on a large canvas (oops... weaving metaphor just unraveled), taking on countless societal issues—from marriage and politics to farming, medicine, religion, and art, even budding feminism.

Then there are the characters, so vibrant and finely wrought they refuse to settle back into their pages, even after you've closed the cover and returned the book to its shelf. Although Eliot draws them lovingly, she keeps her eye on their frailties and hypocrisy. Young, wealthy Dorothea Brooke (one of the great English heroines) lives the life of a religious ascetic—who exhibits a bent toward martyrdom. But she indulges in horseback riding with near pagan abandon—because she looks forward to renouncing it! And Dorothea's guardian/ uncle stands as one of literature's most deliciously comic characters.

Everything is held together by the controlling voice of an intrusive, satiric and, at times, very funny narrator.

Middlemarch may be long, wordy, and sometimes difficult to cut through, but it is an incredibly rich, compelling read. Book clubs might want to break it up into two-month segments. However you approach it, take your time, keep plugging away (especially in some of the early chapters) and savor its majesty.

And do check out the wonderful Middlemarch film adaptation, the 1994 BBC TV mini-series. It's gorgeous although missing the biting sarcasm of the narrative voice.


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