First-novelist Robinson takes a calculated risk, cruising us
through the much-sailed seas of baby-boomer angst: love and
divorce, money and guilt. But what makes it work here is the care
the author takes with her characters: they are bumbling and
appealing and, sometimes, dizzily off the mark as they struggle to
get their bearings. In a rented summer house in Maine, 29-year-old
Laura spends most of her time not dealing with her marital status.
Separated from her difficult, straying husband Nat, she and her
young son have moved in - uneasily - with her lover Ward, who wants
to marry her. Also along in the summer house are Laura's older
sister, Sarah, who by virtue of her serene competence has always
made Laura feel inadequate and spoiled, and Sarah's family: husband
Richie and two bickering, blossoming adolescent daughters. Amidst a
series of small dramas - touched off by such simple subjects as
kitty litter, tofu, and a friendly gesture to a not-so-ex-husband -
relationships are sorted (or slugged) out, resolutions reached. If
there are no big surprises here, it doesn't much matter. Robinson's
strength is in guiding us through the sweet muddle of everyday
life. For the most part, she steers clear of sinkholes - although
in one silly misstep, she devotes much of a chapter to the activity
of washing a new BMW and, without apparent irony, has Laura, Ward
and Richie stand admiring the car in its "moment of flawless
radiance." But this is forgivable foolishness. These characters are
too smart to stick with such easy icons. And Robinson is too good
to let them. All in all: a fine tour through thirty something
territory. (Kirkus Reviews)
Roxana Robinson's great gift for the telling detail and strong
sense of the emotional shoals lurking just beneath even the calmest
surface have inspired comparisons to literary greats like John
Cheever, Henry James, and Edith Wharton. In her first novel, we
meet Laura, a 29-year-old wife, mother, sister, friend, lover, and
erstwhile photographer whose life is painfully out of focus. A
month's vacation on the Maine coast with her son, her lover, Ward,
and her sister's family is supposed to be an idyllic period of
sustenance and calm, but for Laura, who believes that "entropy
governed the world, the universe, and the dinner hour," it turns
into the ultimate test of her ability to trust herself and others.
With trademark intensity and a deft touch for character and place,
Robinson creates a perceptive, believable, and gently humorous
portrait of an individual "waiting for something that would set her
life in order." Laura is as much a study of light and shadow as the
photographs she takes. Beautiful but insecure, talented but
unwilling to take risks, loved but unable to make a commitment, she
is paralyzed by fear and locked into a stasis that Ward is no
longer willing to accept. "You don't dare take a stand on
anything," he tells her. "You're so terrified of failure you don't
dare do anything." When her estranged husband arrives for a weekend
visit, however, the emotional collision rocks Laura's inaction,
causing a tiny shake of the kaleidoscope that creates a vastly
different pattern. The image is razor sharp at last: "As though she
were changing lenses, as though she had suddenly discovered another
light source," she sees that her life is her own. That new
understanding empowers her to make a symbolic -- and a literal --
leap of faith that saves her own life and the lives of those she
loves.
General
Imprint: |
University Press of New England
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
August 1995 |
First published: |
August 1995 |
Authors: |
Roxana Robinson
|
Dimensions: |
216 x 137 x 13mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
212 |
Edition: |
New Ed |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-87451-738-5 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
General & literary fiction >
Modern fiction
|
LSN: |
0-87451-738-9 |
Barcode: |
9780874517385 |
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