Recent Reviews
Such Kindness by Andre Dubus III
Andre Dubus III’s recent novel ‘Such Kindness’ personifies the phrase, “You never know how another person feels unless you walk a mile in his/her shoes.’ Without being sentimental or didactic, the novel depicts a good man trying his best to survive. Dubus’ literary talents allow readers to inhabit another person’s interior life and witness the widening of his perspective and the healing of his heart.
This hero’s journey is about transformation, not from rags to riches but from anger to kindness.
Tom Lowe, Jr. was living the American Dream on the north shore of Massachusetts. He married his college sweetheart and they had a son named Drew. As a skilled carpenter, Tom started his own construction company. Successful and content, he took out a sub-prime loan to build a family home. While hammering the roof, Tom fell and broke his back. Unable to return to work and in constant pain, he became addicted to opioids. His subprime mortgage payment rose. Soon he lost his house, his wife and his son. When the story begins, he lives alone in Section 8 subsidized housing. He can’t afford a cell phone or car on his meager income. His mobility is limited and his pain persists. The plot revolves around Tom’s efforts to see his son on his 20th birthday.
Tom’s despair, depression, and bitterness overpower him every day. He blames the banks, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies for their deceit and dishonesty. Only one banker went to jail for the 2008 crash. Many perpetrators of the 2008 banking crisis continued with their lives, while Tom’s life and the lives of many others were shattered. The societal safety net protects the wealthy, not the working poor or destitute.
We encounter Tom’s neighbors in Section 8 Housing who sell plasma, visit food pantries, and commit petty crimes to survive. Dubus depicts how bad luck, bad decisions, lack of education and poor health can crack the foundation of a person’s life. People in town who once treated Tom with respect now ignore or shun him. He has learned to live on little. He says, “Can’t thrive when you are trying to survive.”
Halfway through the novel, I considered stopping. I wanted to look away from Tom’s travails. Yet, Tom begins to change when he has no option but to rely on the kindness of strangers. He decides the only aspect of his life he can control is his response to what life hurls at him. So, Tom Lowe starts to be a giver, not a taker, even toward his down-and-out neighbors, whom he thinks inferior. His perspective widens as he appreciates the humanity of those he encounters. Tom apologizes to those he has hurt; this psychological and spiritual epiphany feels authentic due to the skills of this impressive writer.
And yet, I couldn’t help wondering why poor people must cultivate a positive attitude. This country tells people that if you work hard, you can get ahead. It isn’t true. Shouldn’t the government apologize to people for a broken system that condemns its citizens to live lives of desperation? Nonetheless, Andre Dubus III’s novel ‘Such Kindness’ thoughtfully depicts one man’s healing transformation. 4/5
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
In 1992, Jane Smiley won the Pulitzer Prize for her astonishing novel ‘A Thousand Acres.’ Rereading this novel heightened my admiration for this literary gem. Smiley’s ability to inhabit her characters is deep and nuanced. The book is tragic, but Smiley’s psychological acumen is remarkable. The story’s themes touch on aging, power, repression, competition, and control, but mostly the emotional cost of silence within a family and community.
Shakespeare’s King Lear provides the plot’s scaffolding. Larry Cook is an aging widowed patriarch of a respected farming family in Cabot, Iowa. Rather impulsively, he divides his land between his three grown daughters, Rose, Ginny, and Caroline. But when the youngest daughter Caroline questions his decision, he deletes her from the deal. Larry’s decision is rash and may indicate his emerging dementia. His choice catalyzes the dramatic eruption in the Cook family dynamic. Tragedy ensues.
Narrated by the middle daughter Ginny, the story shows the strain of farming the land and raising livestock. Decisions have life-and-death implications that empower and entangle families. Ginny, Rose, and their husbands struggle to maintain the Cook Family’s 1000-acre farm. Rose and Ginny glorify the family’s long history and traditions while feeling trapped in their roles and duties required to keep the farm going. They revere and resent their way of life and the small town where everyone knows each other’s business.
Ginny and Rose also continue to take care of their cantankerous and cruel father, who expects everyone he encounters to defer to him. Unlike the other characters, the origins of Larry Cook’s behavior are unclear. Smiley might say that thousands of years of patriarchy would best describe his callous conduct. He manipulates and denigrates his friends and family because he can; it is as if he is the king of Cabot, Iowa. Meanwhile, the youngest Cook sister, Caroline, has left the farm and is an attorney in Des Moines. Caroline harbors resentment toward her older sisters and blames them for her exclusion from the transaction. She knows nothing of what Rose and Ginny endured to protect her from their father.
Ginny says, “The wisdom of the plains. Pretend nothing happened.” But old wounds appear as Rose, Ginny, and their husbands make decisions about the farm. Repressed emotions begin to leak, and eventually, the characters will give voice to their feelings. The results of years of silence are like a tornado ripping the Cook family members from their foundations. By the novel’s end, the full tragedy of these repressed lives becomes clear.
And though ‘A Thousand Acres’ might sound depressing, it is not. Smiley’s ability to create complex characters and write precisely about their family dynamics is inspiring. Readers can gain insight into the human condition. Isn’t that the purpose of a well-written novel? 5/5
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote this short literary gem in 1892. An active feminist and non-fiction writer, Gilman’s many other books addressed the harmful effects of women’s societal and legal subservience. She writes that without the autonomy to make decisions about their lives, women suffer under the weight of their subjugation. In ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,’ Gilman narrows her focus to the sexual politics of marriage.
A woman, whose name is unknown, and her husband, John, travel to the country so that she might rest after the birth of their child. John is a doctor and believes his wife has a “temporary nervous depression – slight hysterical tendency.” Her husband is not cruel but arrogant, condescending, and distant. He doesn’t see his wife as a person. The woman is exhausted trying to be what he wants her to be, “I take pains to control myself- before him, at least, and that makes me very tired.” In short order, this novel indicts the sexism of marriage and the condescension of doctors.
This woman narrator has tried to conform to the norms of her day - keeping house and bearing children. She wants to write, but her husband believes it will hinder her recovery. But without autonomy, her sanity is at stake. Her soul is crushed by the realization that societal norms, including her marriage, imprison her. No spoiler, but the yellow wallpaper and her emotional stability intertwine.
Women’s lives have improved since 1892. Women can vote, own property, attend college, pursue a career, and travel alone. Women and men marry for love and embrace equality. Women certainly have more independence. And yet, women’s rights are still under assault. The ERA has yet to pass, the Supreme Court has struck down Roe v. Wade, and contraception is on the chopping block.
When I read this book 40 years ago, I thought it was a historical glimpse into the treatment of women at the end of the 19th century. Rereading it, I am saddened that some people in power want to return to a time when men control women, even in marriage.
Gilman’s ability to convey so much in one short story speaks to her skill. ‘The Yellow Paper’ illuminates the cruel cost of women’s oppression and is a reminder that the struggle continues. 4/5
