by Meg Waite Clayton
Two Thumbs Up (I could really use a few more thumbs for this one--it's that good.)
The story takes place in a San Francisco Bay area suburb, in the years beginning with 1967. Frankie tells the story of her friendship with Linda, Kath, Brett, and Ally. Each woman has her own family, worries, heartaches and secret dreams. The story is told in such a way that the reader feels a part of the evolving friendship these women share.
After meeting weekly at the playground long enough that they begin to feel comfortable with each other, a couple of the friends decide they'd like to use their time together to do some writing. Some of the women are less interested, but they are good sports about it. Soon what started out as a playdate for the kids becomes a writing date for the moms.
As the story continues, the readers are drawn along as these women pursue their writing goals. But within this primary story, we learn of the secret burdens the various women bear. We rejoice with them as they learn to trust each other; we share with them as they celebrate the good and mourn the heartache in each other's lives; and we see them grow and change throughout the years.
Interspersed within the story is the societal growing pains the country is experiencing. The story touches on the women's lib issue, the peace movement, and racial tensions. The women themselves strive to understand these issues. Each woman brings a different background and personality as she reacts to and assimilates into her person the various social changes. Ms Clayton accomplishes this very adeptly. Her characters and their friendships are never simplistic or artificial; they way they interact and the degree to which each embraces the changing cultures is richly developed.
The book will also be helpful for an aspiring author, as the women work through various books on writing, such as E.M. Forster's Aspects of the Novel. Each woman has a "model" story against which she compares her own work and to which she turns for inspiration. A couple of the women are very adept at pulling quotations from books and calling to mind the characters and plots. And on one occasion the couples get together for a costume party with a "famous couple from literature" theme. All these snippets offer readers a constant sampling from a literary smorgasbord.
The author has included a nice appendix in which she offers a paragraph or two on each of women's model books and also reading lists of the others works cited. I know I'm going to keep our librarian busy with requests from this list, such as The Great Gatsby, Middlemarch, and Breakfast at Tiffany's; I'll also have to try something by Somerset Maugham and Sylvia Plath; and the list goes on and on.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Heads You Lose
by Lisa Lutz and David Hayward
One thumb each direction
Let me be right up front, and begin this review with the reason for the thumb down. The primary characters in this book are pot growers. Among some of their buyers are the typical college students and druggies. But others are nursing home residents, nurses, staff and doctors. Still more buyers are normal, everyday types who like to now and then smoke pot or sample from the "baked goods" line. My issue with the book is that it portrays a worldview that sees marijuana use as mainstream. I can't fully endorse a book that does this. I understand that many people use pot regularly. I also understand that in California, where the book is set, the demographics of marijuana use is probably skewed toward a more mainstream percentage of the population. But I still don't like to see plots that portray illegal activity as normal.
The flip side of the portrayal is that most of those who are totally immersed in the marijuana use lifestyle are the stereotypical pothead types with little or no ambition and who struggle with concentration and memory. This is a good thing to portray. It reflects a large part of the pot culture, and the primary dangers from which the law is intended to protect.
Continuing to the thumbs up side of the book, the concept behind Heads You Lose, and its execution, definitely deserves a two thumbs up.
The entire concept of the book, and a big part of its artistic appeal, is the method of collaboration that Ms Lutz chose when she invited friend and poet, David Hayward, to work with her. She sent her first chapter to Mr. Hayward with the suggestion that they take turns with the chapters, but that they don't consult together on plot ahead of time. They were allowed to send brief notes along with each chapter, to which the other may respond. They were allowed to add footnotes during each other's chapters. But those brief suggestions and criticisms were the only interactions they allowed themselves.
The editors went along with this and the format in which the book is published reflects those rules. What the readers get is actually both the story of Heads You Lose, and also the story of "The Writing of Heads You Lose". There was a certain amount of (I think good natured) ribbing along the way as Lutz and Hayward tossed out ideas and criticisms in these notes.
Because of the style of story development, it's somewhat hard to summarize the plot. In a nutshell, while Lacey is taking out the garbage late one night, she finds a headless body in her yard and frantically tells her brother, Paul, about it as she dials 911. Before the connection gets through, Paul hangs up the phone. Because Paul and Lacey grow pot professionally, there are some interior effects in their home that make a visit from the police undesirable. After a little debate on what to do with the body, they wrap it in a tarp, load it in their pick-up, and drop it into a low spot along the trail at a nearby state park.
Unlike Paul, who is fine with this solution, Lacey feels responsible for the corpse and so cannot rest easily until the case is solved. But as the bodies stack up, distrust and distance builds between Paul and Lacey; and one by one their friends and acquaintances start to seem shady, or even fearful.
There are some fun twists and turns as the two authors vie for the primacy of their favorite characters and ideas. The notes back and forth often bring a smile or chuckle.
All in all, I found the concept a pleasing one. As an aspiring author, I was intrigued by the idea of such an ad hoc collaboration. I admired the creativity that was loosed in this endeavor.
One thumb each direction
Let me be right up front, and begin this review with the reason for the thumb down. The primary characters in this book are pot growers. Among some of their buyers are the typical college students and druggies. But others are nursing home residents, nurses, staff and doctors. Still more buyers are normal, everyday types who like to now and then smoke pot or sample from the "baked goods" line. My issue with the book is that it portrays a worldview that sees marijuana use as mainstream. I can't fully endorse a book that does this. I understand that many people use pot regularly. I also understand that in California, where the book is set, the demographics of marijuana use is probably skewed toward a more mainstream percentage of the population. But I still don't like to see plots that portray illegal activity as normal.
The flip side of the portrayal is that most of those who are totally immersed in the marijuana use lifestyle are the stereotypical pothead types with little or no ambition and who struggle with concentration and memory. This is a good thing to portray. It reflects a large part of the pot culture, and the primary dangers from which the law is intended to protect.
Continuing to the thumbs up side of the book, the concept behind Heads You Lose, and its execution, definitely deserves a two thumbs up.
The entire concept of the book, and a big part of its artistic appeal, is the method of collaboration that Ms Lutz chose when she invited friend and poet, David Hayward, to work with her. She sent her first chapter to Mr. Hayward with the suggestion that they take turns with the chapters, but that they don't consult together on plot ahead of time. They were allowed to send brief notes along with each chapter, to which the other may respond. They were allowed to add footnotes during each other's chapters. But those brief suggestions and criticisms were the only interactions they allowed themselves.
The editors went along with this and the format in which the book is published reflects those rules. What the readers get is actually both the story of Heads You Lose, and also the story of "The Writing of Heads You Lose". There was a certain amount of (I think good natured) ribbing along the way as Lutz and Hayward tossed out ideas and criticisms in these notes.
Because of the style of story development, it's somewhat hard to summarize the plot. In a nutshell, while Lacey is taking out the garbage late one night, she finds a headless body in her yard and frantically tells her brother, Paul, about it as she dials 911. Before the connection gets through, Paul hangs up the phone. Because Paul and Lacey grow pot professionally, there are some interior effects in their home that make a visit from the police undesirable. After a little debate on what to do with the body, they wrap it in a tarp, load it in their pick-up, and drop it into a low spot along the trail at a nearby state park.
Unlike Paul, who is fine with this solution, Lacey feels responsible for the corpse and so cannot rest easily until the case is solved. But as the bodies stack up, distrust and distance builds between Paul and Lacey; and one by one their friends and acquaintances start to seem shady, or even fearful.
There are some fun twists and turns as the two authors vie for the primacy of their favorite characters and ideas. The notes back and forth often bring a smile or chuckle.
All in all, I found the concept a pleasing one. As an aspiring author, I was intrigued by the idea of such an ad hoc collaboration. I admired the creativity that was loosed in this endeavor.
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