I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: KATHLEEN EDWARDS-Failer (2003).

I really enjoyed Edwards’ Asking for Flowers.  So much so that I decided I had to track down her earlier discs, too.  This is her debut album (aside from a self released demo type EP that I don’t think is available anymore).  And, no doubt, it will get re-released one of these days making the 500 holders of that first EP very cross indeed.

I’m very torn as to whether Edwards is a country singer or not.  My gut says no, because I like her so much.  And yet, there are many country tinges that sprinkle this disc.

But that’s really irrelevant, especially if you like the disc, which I do. The amazing thing about Edwards is that it’s hard to tell what disc her songs come from.  She has a singular style of writing and singing that makes her songs timeless.  This is not to say that she’s stuck in a rut by any means, because nothing sounds tired.

Edwards is a wonderfully talented songwriter, with a gift for storytelling and a wonderful twist of wordplay: “One more song the radio won’t like”; “And if you weren’t so old I’d probably keep you / If you weren’t so old I’d tell my friends / But I don’t think your wife would like my friends.”  And beyond that there are simply great songs: “Hockey Skates” is a wonderful metaphor (and a damn catchy song).  “National Steel” has a wonderful hook.

I really can’t get enough of this disc.  Or her follow-up either.

[READ: January 20, 2010] “A Death in Kitchawank”

My recent comment about T.C Boyle’s named being shortened from Coraghessan must have been an editorial choice by Harper‘s because here it is in full splendor in the New Yorker. I also find it odd when the same writer appears in two locations very close together. Is it like when an actor has a big movie out and appears in several periodicals in a month?  I suppose Boyle has a book coming out?

Whatever the case, I enjoyed this Boyle story quite a lot too. And, once again, it undermined my expectations of what he writes (so I guess my expectations should change by now, huh?).

This story is set in a lake community in Kitchawank, NY.   When the story opens we see a woman tanning herself to a golden brown (this is the first clue that it’s set in the 70s. Which it is).  We watch as the woman, Miriam, relishes her family’s life and their friends in their close-knit, Jewish, lakefront community.

And then we watch as chunks of time pass and events happen to the community which slowly, inexorably drives them all apart. What I especially liked is that the titular death comes very near the end of the story and, frankly is not really a big deal.  Well, obviously it’s a big deal to some, but it’s not something that impacts the community at large.  It’s as if the title suggests a momentous event when, although dramatically exciting, ultimately is not very significant.  Because, by the time it happens, very little is significant.

The other interesting aspect was the inclusion of a sort of personal, authoritative voice at the end of each time period.  The story shows snippets of the woman’s life several years apart.  And after each chunk of text, this narrator chimes in.  He doesn’t change the story, nor does he override what is said.  His inclusion makes it unclear exactly who is telling the main story in the first place.  But this extra narrator (whose paragraphs are in brackets and a smaller type size) does, however, act as a sort of confirming voice for the actions that are discussed.   Almost as if he’s vouching for what is being said.  Interestingly, though, he does not get the last word in the story.

For the most part the plot is unremarkable.  Friends drift, children disappoint (the promising young girl takes up with a guy no one likes), and suddenly thirty years have passed.  And yet, Boyle transforms Miriam from a somewhat unlikable, spoiled woman into a creature of sympathy, perhaps even pity. And seeing her life decline as it has makes for a rather touching story.

And of course, Boyle is a great writer so he can make a story which appears to be about very little, really showcase the ennui that many housewives seem to have felt as they grew older and realized there has to have been something more to life.

It’s available here.