Entry Nombre Deux

Kick@ss Book of the Week: Evening by Susan Minot

"She was pulling a rope out of the water and knew it was coming to the end when the barnacles started to appear and they became more think and clustered. Then it was strangely peaceful and the sound was turned off. She stood at the bow of a ship. If only she could have stood this way above the water and really breathed and let the waves go by like pages being turned and watched everything more closely and chosen things more carefully then she might have been able to read the spirit within herself and would not have spent her life as if she were only halfway in it.

For a moment she felt an astonishing brilliance and heat and light and all of herself flared up and the vibration after sixty-five years was not weakened by time but more dense then suddenly it was as if the flame had caught the flimsiest piece of paper for it flickered up and flew into the air then quickly sank down withered into a thin cinder of ash which blew off, inconsequential. Her life had not been long enough for her to know the whole of herself, it had not been long enough or wide."

Impressed?  Entranced? Engaged, enlightened, enthralled?  Cold and a little hungry?  If you are experiencing any of the aforementioned feelings after reading the provided excerpt from Evening, I sympathize.  Susan Minot’s writing style is almost liquid- it flows elegantly and effortlessly, her diction is exquisite and her voice distinct.  You’ll love this book, and if you don’t, feel free to use it as firewood or food (you said you were cold and hungry, I’m just tryna help a brotha out). 

I initially bought this book because I watched "Evening" late one night when I wasn’t wearing my contacts and thought the movie title was “Enchanted.”  When no one was singing or dancing, I caught on- this is not "Enchanted."  But its pretty freaking good.

When the movie ended, I saw every English major’s favorite words flash before me in the credits: “Based on the novel by _________.”  In this case, as mentioned before, it was Susan Minot, and I set out to buy the book right away.

I was not disappointed.  This book draws you in without being shocking or edgy- it has a resonating simplicity paradoxically coupled with a moving complexity.  The characters are original and memorable, the dialogue realistic and enhancing to the novel as a whole.

I’m not one for spoilers- ever since 2005 when I returned home from Barnes & Noble, overjoyed at the crisp new copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince I held in my hands, and received a call from a friend (after the events of that fateful day I refrained from using such an affectionate title to describe our relationship) asking had I “gotten to the part where Dumbledore died?”  Needless to say, I hung up the phone immediately and retired to my room, muttering some pretty aggressive things for a 13 year-old.  So, I’m not going to spoil it for you, but I will give you a bit of a “trailer”- the novel follows the life of Ann Lord, switching back and forth between her laying in her bed as an old woman, dying and typically in a semi-hallucinatory state, and Ann Lord as a young woman, attending the wedding of a close friend. 

**NOT A SPOILER** but more of a warning, or remarking: when Ann Lord is old, things get trippy.  The writing style changes and is very choppy and follows a streams of consciousness style.  It kinda freaked me out at first, because it appeared to bend the rules of literature my senior year AP English teacher had ingrained in me (her attitude was something along the lines of if its not Jane Austen, don’t read it, and if you intend to write something that wouldn’t be approved by an avid Jane Austen fan or Jane Austen herself, just don’t do it).  But it broadened my mind as far as how one can write, and write well.

So- read it.  Do it.  You’ll love it.