Word: colwin
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...angst-ridden American parents who question the prevalence of violence and strife in the media should read Laurie Colwin's final novel, A Big Storm Knocked It Over. When they emerge blinking with stupefaction from this warm and cuddly narrative of domestic tranquility, they'll be begging for gratuitous blood-letting. If tragedy enthralls us with its cathartic resonance, and comedy with the pleasure of averted tragedy, then Colwin must have hoped to seduce us with sheer banality. There's no narrative crescendo, no crisis, no risk of a crisis; in short, no plot. You can revel in the lucid...
...Colwin narrates a year in the life of newly-wed Jane Parker, her husband Teddy and various friends and relations. Jane worries that she'll lose her job, but in the end she doesn't. Jane worries that her husband doesn't really love her, but decides on reflection that he does. Jane worries about having a baby, but it all turns out all right. Jane worries that she won't resist the advances of Sven, her lusting colleague, but manages to in the end. The readers worry that they will expire with frustration...
...failure of the narrative lies not so much in the crushingly mundane subject-matter as in Colwin's crushingly mudane treatment of it. She wheels forth a drab plot wrapped up in cardboard characters and unrealistic dialogue. Her clear, competent prose would serve as the ideal vehicle for conveying some idea, if only she had an idea to convey...
...stands in A Big Storm Knocked It Over, Colwin's idea is that normal men and women can sometimes lead reasonably happy lives. This insight hardly merits the implied crisis of the big storm of her title. Colwin draws a parallel between a sudden thunder-storm in the country which knocks physical things over, and marriage, pregnancy and parenthood, which knock abstract things over. Don't fret, she advises, it's not the end of the world. Yeah, and? The book does not empower the reader to face the world; it does not inspire the reader to have faith...
...felt in the body itself." John Updike's celebration of a summer holiday omits one delight: reading John Updike. It can be experienced in the pages of Summer (Addison-Wesley; 252 pages; $35), a collection of seasonal bouquets by 37 writers including Mary Cantwell (To a City Breeze), Laurie Colwin (How to Avoid Grilling), Wallace Stevens (Sailing After Lunch) and Meg Wolitzer (The Summer Reading List). Herewith another summer reading list to beguile the hours spent in hammocks, grass and sand...