As much as I was exceedingly surprised and enchanted with Sue Miller’s Lost in the Forest, her earlier novel, While I Was Gone, was actually a disappointment. It is a very good story, just overwritten. Where her latest novel is spare and direct, poetic and immediate, the earlier one rambles. I used to have a habit of reading ahead most of the time, spoiling any surprise that might have been written into the story, and I haven’t done that in a long time. But I was restless reading this book, and as I have a habit of finishing almost every book I start, I found myself giving in to my old restlessness and reading ahead, thinking maybe that would help.
While I Was Gone explores what behavior is allowable, what “bad” is “good" or "okay,” what is forgivable. If someone does a horrendous act, can he make amends by then “being good, creating good for others” and, on the other hand, if someone has an intention of indiscretion, dishonesty, is that enough to destroy faith in that person? Interesting questions, well developed; just not as well written as I would have liked.
Even so, I am planning to read another of her books that has been recommended to me, The Good Mother. Her stories are interesting, the people real, the situations worthwhile understanding. I probably would have liked this book better if I had read it before Lost in the Forest.
(I had, in fact, given Lost in the Forest to my friend Robin as she was about to go to the library and, before returning it, she read the first few pages, was captivated, renewed it and is now deeply absorbed and enjoying it.)
In the meantime, in my last venture into the library before Tango class, I took out To the Wedding by John Berger, recommended by a friend, a university literature professor. It was a good choice. A very poetic novel, one that speaks alternately through many voices, of a young girl, Ninon, and her travels through love and death. One of the surprises of reading this book, besides the beautiful telling of the story, was a couple of yellow stickie-notes I found throughout the book. The first one read “birds are symbolic of human souls” and then refers to p. 148 “sense of hope from taxi-driver” with whom Ninon’s mother, Zdena, has some warm, brief moments.
The second yellow stickie-note read “the novel’s lost & searching souls, Ninon’s grieving father Jean & her mother, Zdena. Jean & Zdena are regenerated by the power of Gino & Ninon’s timeless love” which allows them to marry and rejoice beyond the knowledge of Ninon’s encroaching illness.
The power of the novel is in its lyrical telling of tragic events that are transformed into a joyous, tender and triumphant wedding of family and community. I’ve known several friends who have died in their thirties and forties, way too early. In each case the relationship to death was different. It is always hard, especially on friends and family left behind, but the main quality that makes it less painful is the attitude of acceptance. And here that quality is magical.