Amyth Venkataramaiah Venkataramaiah itibaren Hedaginabele, Karnataka, Hindistan
Jack Griffin is an irresolute 50-something guy driving around with a lot of dead weight, both figuratively and literally. As the novel opens, he is placing the ashes of his dead father (9 months in the urn now) in the wheel well of his car, (they have been in the trunk) intending to scatter them in Cape Cod. He is meeting his wife and daughter there for the wedding of his daughter's best friend. During this time, the lacunae of memory begin to break free and combat with the credo and convictions of his consciousness and close orbit. The bittersweet reminiscence of family vacations on the Cape with his parents and the tart taste of the "Truro Accord" he made with his wife on their honeymoon over three decades ago provide the propellant fuel for this story of late middle-age angst and awakening. Russo navigates the banks of this novel with a constrained and firm hand on the tiller, with not too much wind in the sails and with a decidedly inner-directed course. And he seamlessly flows from the sober and contemplative to an uproarious physical comedy, placing him in the same league as Bellow, Roth, and Irving, with a laconic protagonist possessing tragically comic (or comically tragic) inner demons. Griffin's inability to complete a short story that he started years ago, for example, opens a chasm to a dark abyss that plagues him up and down Route 6 through the Cape, through the story. A rehearsal dinner for another wedding is headed for an imbroglio when a wheelchair ramp does the unexpected. Russo triumphs when he concentrates on Griffin, a thoroughly three-dimensional character whose perceptions and failings and desires are authentic and prismatic. It is Griffin's character that illuminates his parents' and underscores the pathos of his wife, Joy. When other characters are seen through Griffin's emotional turbulence, they are interesting and affecting. However, when given their own free rein, they tend to flatten, lose their luminescence. A few characters even come across as red herrings. You need to come to your own conclusions about this canvas of characters--I don't want to ruin anyone's reading pleasure by diagramming every character or their worthiness to the story and its themes. These complaints of mine do prevent me from considering this novel flawless, but the story nonetheless has a resounding quality, with writing as smooth as sea glass and as craggy as the Cape coastline. I grew up not terribly far from the Cape, and Russo brought back the magic of my own family vacations--crossing the Sagamore Bridge; eating oysters in Wellfleet; the cathedral spires in Truro; the moss, grey, blue of the ocean; and running up and down the sand dunes in Ptown--the dunes speckled with bleached green grass under a pale, hot sun. As an addendum, I recommend this novel for the over-40 or 45. It is seasoned with the many nuanced issues more connected to the late-middle passages of life.
I read this for a college class, I might want to read it again now that I'm a bit older.
I'm lovin' it already.
The Redwall Series are the most enjoyable Childrens Books I have ever read. Well written, simple, but not dumbed down for kids, and I love the different attitudes and mannerisms for the different animal types.
Whimsy, redemption, and beauty make this one of my favorite reads in a long while. Anyone with a child in their life would enjoy reading this with them.