For years, I read and admired novelist Anna Quindlen. My introduction to her work was BLACK AND BLUE, published in 1998, a remarkable novel, focusing on spousal abuse, in a time when such an accusation was rarely believed or talked about…the wives, partners of abusive men fearful of coming forward; the lawyers of the accused often humiliating these women despite their bruises and broken limbs.
QUINDLEN’S SUCCESS
The appearance and success of such a needed work, eventually led to Quindlen joining Newsweek, in 1999, where she wrote a column focusing on women and the conflicts they faced in a constantly changing culture. Quindlen’s research, her desire to reveal and discuss societal problems emanating from the materialistic nature of American life, definitely affected women readers, who like me, when getting the latest Newsweek, turned immediately to the last page to read Quindlen’s piece. But then in May of 2009, she announced her semi-retirement, leaving the magazine.
SOME GOOD FORTUNE
I met Anna Quindlen while living in Des Moines, Iowa. An honored guest at a function for the Des Moines Register, Quindlen grasped my hands in hopes that her writing success might pass on to me. I expressed my love for her novels, an appreciation for her wit and criticism of our culture, which is often too fast-paced and materialistic. I saw parallels in her life and mine, she losing her mother to ovarian cancer when she was only 19, forced to take on roles that set aside some of her personal goals…this at a developmental time in her life; I losing my father early on, my mother having to commute to Chicago for work, making me a latch-key kid, responsible for my younger brother and household duties.
AFTER ANNIE, Quindlen’s most recent novel, comes on the heels of 9 others, as well as copious non-fiction works. And maybe there is some irony here, that this novel appears at this late date in Quindlen’s creative life, yet comes on the heels of so many other stories. Why, because the novel does deal with the early death of the MC’s mother, thus echoing Quindlen’s loss of her mother, and the responsibilities imposed on her when she was only 19. (Sometimes it takes an author years to approach painful memories. In this novel, I believe Quindlen has done just that.)
THE FOLLOWING IS TAKEN RIGHT FROM THE FIRST CHAPTER:
Annie Brown died right before dinner. The mashed potatoes were still in the pot on the stove, the dented pot with the loose handle, but the meatloaf and the peas were already on the table. Two of the children were in their usual seats. Jamie tried to pick a piece of bacon off the top of the meatloaf, and Ali elbowed him. “Mom!” he yelled. …
“Bill, get me some Advil, my head is killing me,” their mother said, turning from the stove to their father…”Bill,” she said again, looking at him with a wood spoon raised in her hand, and then she went down, hard, the spoon skidding across the floor….
“Call 911, Ali,” he said to his daughter…
And that is how a change in one’s life sometimes begins.
THINGS TO CONSIDER
Do I have anything negative to say about this most recent novel, by an author I have loved throughout the years?
Yes, I had the same complaint as the woman who blogs on the goodbookfairy.com
She wrote: “This was (a novel) where I read the first half of the book and listened to the second half. All the A names got a bit confusing for a hot second – I mean Annie, Ali, Annemarie, and Ant are a lot to recall.”
I TOTALLY AGREE and this was new in a novel by Quindlen…it feeling like a nervous tic. We understand how close and loving the family was, and that often families WILL find names with the first letter…Tom, Tim, Terry and Trace. So cute when you are calling them to dinner…not when you are trying to find the trajectory (sorry another T word) of their story line. So: Why, ANNA?
Maybe Quindlen wanted to stress the closeness of these children in age and birth order, that after Annie dies, it becomes very obvious that her best friend, Annemarie, might know more about Annie’s children than even her husband, Bill, who has all he can do to work every day to support this growing family. Had Quindlen decided it was time to make subtle comments about the need for birth-control? Was Quindlen making a point for LARGE families before women had a choice? The little we do see Annie Brown in the novel, she is struggling, working as an aid in a hospital and then coming home to care for her growing family. Does Annie ever have time for herself?
One reviewer wrote: “After Annie is a novel about loss–and yet its pages are full of life and heart. With her spot-on depiction of the small moments that brings characters to life, Anna Quindlen tells a family story that’s at once candid and complex–and ultimately hopeful.”
Yes, hopeful, but only when the woman who made it all happen is no longer there! thus unable to sit back and relax, view and be thankful for all her love and endeavors. Thus, her earlier novel, BLESSINGS, will remain my favorite. Thanks for reading.
BLESSINGS: Book Summary: Richly written, deeply moving, beautifully crafted, Blessings tells the story of Skip Cuddy, caretaker of the estate, who finds a baby asleep in that box and decides he wants to keep her, and of matriarch Lydia Blessing, who, for her own reasons, decides to help him.
4 Responses
I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything by Quindlen, but I’ll definitely pick her up. Thanks for the review
Penny, you are welcome. Thanks for reading, Beth
I’ve not read any of Anna Quindlan’s books, but your review and the book excerpt intrigued me and I’m interested. I, too, lost a parent at a young age (12). I’ve put the e-book on reserve at the New York Public Library. Alana ramblinwitham
Wow,Alana, we share more than I knew. I hope you like the book. As I wrote, it is not my favorite. BLESSINGS is mine, the story of a
young man who insists on keeping the baby he finds in a basket on the property of an old woman where he is the caretaker.