Word: colwin
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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...
True to form, Colwin's hero and heroine are just regular folk. They don't want to cause any trouble. Although carefully crafted, they certainly don't break the mold of characterization. Teddy plunges periodically into brooding funks stemming from the deep spring of childhood neglect and a broken family; otherwise, he reassures his wife with his deliberate, undaunted demeanor. Jane Louise gnaws rabbitlike at her anxieties, the classic neurotic New York...