Tuesday Book Review - Winner of the National Book Award

Mayhap has another book review for you:
 This past week I stopped wanting to read. It was temporary, Thank God. There I was, perched on the couch, remote in hand. If you aren't going to read and have no energy, the television is the next step in time ewpoorly spent. Well, I certainly feel like I know a lot more about Celine Dion than I ever dreamed possible. Apologies to Ms. Dion, but I've never cared for her music. Now it turns out that to be her, you have to be Driven. I was taken aback by how little we had in common. She has loads of money; I don't. She wears weird outfits; I wear black because it is so slimming. She is thin; I am not. See? The canyon is wide between us. At some point, in pondering that uncrossable distance, I longed for a good book.

I was lucky enough to find that good book, as soon as I wrenched the remote from my own hand and made my daughter take it. This week the book I can wholeheartedly recommend is: Winner of the National Book Award, by Jincy Willett. What a dandy book this is. Funny, sad, full of weird complex characters. It is set in Frome, Rhode Island. The story is about two sisters who are fraternal twins. They are absolutely different from each other in looks and temperament. Dorcas narrates their story. She is the town librarian and has chosen to be celibate her entire life. Her sister Abigail, on the other hand, chooses to be what is referred to in the book as “the town pump”.

The two sisters love each other. In fact they are not whole without the other one, as differently as they spend their time. Dorcas spends her time reading or noting other people's bizarre habits. She does so with asperity and intelligence. I found her to be quite likable.

She ends up getting dragged into a relationship with Hilda and Guy DeVilbess. He is a poet devoted to women and Hilda is his wife and muse. The book is especially effective when these two characters are involved. Guy is supposed to be a great poet, but he is also a marvelously funny character. He is every bit as condescending and preening as you would expect him to be, but also ridiculous. He almost deserves a book of his own.

Through Guy, the two sister are introduced to a thoroughly foul individual named Conrad Lowe. His mother was a Hollywood actress in the 30's and had a sickeningly sweet reputation. Unfortunately she was actually the devil incarnate. Conrad, whose motivations I was never really clear about, throws the sisters' relationship off kilter. He is so bad, so ghastly as a person that you loathe him from the moment you meet him.

Abigail falls for him even though he mistreats her and seems to have some feelings for Dorcas. Dorcas is drawn to him but she is also compelled to win the strange competition they have.

It is amazing to me how beautifully handled all this is. I haven't read Jincy Willett's other book, Jenny and the Jaws of Life – but this is a wonderful novel. It compares a little bit with another book I loved, What Was She Thinking by Zoe Heller. These characters are very American and peculiarly Rhode Island-ish. They drink in sad taverns and avoid the pretentious academics and students from Brown.

There is a particularly wonderful scene ( and there are many) where there is an “intervention” for Abigail who is overweight. Conrad loathes women, not just Abigail but after she falls for him – he really lets his cruelty emerge. The intervention is his idea. Dorcas who stumbles into the intervention, she had actually thought the group was birdwatching with her, tells the group:

“...The point is that I would never, ever, even in the shadow of the gallows, look another adult in the eye and tell him what's wrong with him.” I was breathing hard now, and advancing on Guy. “This is what we do to children. We are not children. We are grown people. We are fully formed. We are each of us responsible for and to ourselves. We have a social contract. We treat one another with the respect owed to equals. We see one another's faults and we keep our own counsel. ....We do not presume to improve our friends.”

On the cover of my book, Augusten Burroughs has been quoted as saying, “The funniest novel I have read...ever. Brilliant, totally original and worthy of its title.” Well, I laughed a fair amount, but I thought these people were too warped in some ways to be riotously funny. Jincy Willett has done something wonderful here. These people reek of real life and at the same time are “totally original”. Augusten Burroughs has that exactly right.

Reading this book was the like lifting off in a hot air balloon- especially after spending my time being Driven with Celine Dion. I don't want to leave you with the impression that this book only looks good after spending a couple of hours with a phony plastic woman who gives me the creeps. This book is funny and off the beaten path. I highly recommend it – if you are in the mood for something a little different from the standard. Something that makes Rhode Island seem intriguing – and that really is something.