A Big Storm Knocked It Over
This has become a book review blog. I always wanted to keep a list of all the books I have read, but never knew what I would ever do with the list. Now I know.
My blogstalker reading list said "anything by Laurie Colwin" so I picked A Big Storm Knocked It Over. This was her last novel, published posthumously, after she died young, in her late 40s or early 50s. It was written in 1992/1993.
The novel is about Jane Louise, a woman in her mid to late thirties, and her husband Teddy. They have just gotten married, rather late in life (according to the book). Jane Louise has a best friend Edie, whose husband, Mokie, is African-American.
There is really no plot to the book, it is more a character study, or a situation study, thus hard to summarize. Jane Louise is a book designer, Teddy is a plant chemist. Edie and Mokie run a baking/catering business. They all feel that they don't fit in with their families, hence one of the main themes of the novel is that family is what and who you make it. Fine.
Later in the book, both Jane Louise and Edie have babies. The book jacket implies that this event is giant and cataclysmic, so I was looking for some big event. That did not happen. I think the message from the baby events is that Jane Louise always felt different, ill at ease, not quite right, in her life. Then she had a baby and all was perfect, she had found the meaning of her life and true contentment. She may not go back to work after all.
My first reaction was, geez, this is a book from 1992, not 1892. But then I thought more, and I realized that maybe it is a needed message. Of course we are all told these days to have a career AND a family. But maybe some women (and men) would really prefer to have a job and a family. Maybe the career thing is overrated. I know in my life I have been encouraged by everyone along the way to have a CAREER, but only one of my friends has ever tried to convince me to have children. And now I am in my late thirties and am regretting the whole career thing since I am not interested in it any more.
Our whole society encourages everyone to climb that career ladder, must make it to the top, earn more money, have a bigger house, etc. The point of this novel is that maybe that is not what is fulfilling to some people.
There were two things that bothered me about the book. First, why Jane Louise? Calling someone by their first and middle name all the time is annoying. Why not just Jane?
Second, there were several instances of Edie and Jane Louise talking about Edie's family (with whom she does not get along.) Edie's family are horrible and racist, not being comfortable with Mokie. At several points they (Edie and Jane Louise) use some odd terminology when referring to Mokie and Edie and Mokie's kid, like "darky" and "nig-nog". That really seemed inappropriate to me. Presumably, they were doing it to mock Edie's family, but it came across as just offensive to me. I didn't even know what "nig-nog" meant, but looking it up on the internet I found that it was sometimes considered derogatory, and in fact, I read about how some British official of something had to resign from his post after referring to a black woman as a "nig-nog". So I wonder, why have that in the book? None of the reviews I read online referred to this at all, which was also strange.
So, I liked it, but I don't think I will be running out to check out more books by Laurie Colwin. Too many authors, too little time for repeats.
My blogstalker reading list said "anything by Laurie Colwin" so I picked A Big Storm Knocked It Over. This was her last novel, published posthumously, after she died young, in her late 40s or early 50s. It was written in 1992/1993.
The novel is about Jane Louise, a woman in her mid to late thirties, and her husband Teddy. They have just gotten married, rather late in life (according to the book). Jane Louise has a best friend Edie, whose husband, Mokie, is African-American.
There is really no plot to the book, it is more a character study, or a situation study, thus hard to summarize. Jane Louise is a book designer, Teddy is a plant chemist. Edie and Mokie run a baking/catering business. They all feel that they don't fit in with their families, hence one of the main themes of the novel is that family is what and who you make it. Fine.
Later in the book, both Jane Louise and Edie have babies. The book jacket implies that this event is giant and cataclysmic, so I was looking for some big event. That did not happen. I think the message from the baby events is that Jane Louise always felt different, ill at ease, not quite right, in her life. Then she had a baby and all was perfect, she had found the meaning of her life and true contentment. She may not go back to work after all.
My first reaction was, geez, this is a book from 1992, not 1892. But then I thought more, and I realized that maybe it is a needed message. Of course we are all told these days to have a career AND a family. But maybe some women (and men) would really prefer to have a job and a family. Maybe the career thing is overrated. I know in my life I have been encouraged by everyone along the way to have a CAREER, but only one of my friends has ever tried to convince me to have children. And now I am in my late thirties and am regretting the whole career thing since I am not interested in it any more.
Our whole society encourages everyone to climb that career ladder, must make it to the top, earn more money, have a bigger house, etc. The point of this novel is that maybe that is not what is fulfilling to some people.
There were two things that bothered me about the book. First, why Jane Louise? Calling someone by their first and middle name all the time is annoying. Why not just Jane?
Second, there were several instances of Edie and Jane Louise talking about Edie's family (with whom she does not get along.) Edie's family are horrible and racist, not being comfortable with Mokie. At several points they (Edie and Jane Louise) use some odd terminology when referring to Mokie and Edie and Mokie's kid, like "darky" and "nig-nog". That really seemed inappropriate to me. Presumably, they were doing it to mock Edie's family, but it came across as just offensive to me. I didn't even know what "nig-nog" meant, but looking it up on the internet I found that it was sometimes considered derogatory, and in fact, I read about how some British official of something had to resign from his post after referring to a black woman as a "nig-nog". So I wonder, why have that in the book? None of the reviews I read online referred to this at all, which was also strange.
So, I liked it, but I don't think I will be running out to check out more books by Laurie Colwin. Too many authors, too little time for repeats.
posted by Shelly at 5:47 AM
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