Being the author of one of my favorite 21st century books, The Curious Case of the Dog in the Nighttime, I had high expectations for Mark Haddon's latest novel, The Porpoise. It is an ambitious and troubling novel that achieves its goals, but it takes some commitment from its readers to get to the story's ultimate payoff.
The Porpoise begins with tragic momentum as the young and pregnant Swedish wife of ultra-rich Philippe dies in a plane crash, but her unborn child is saved. Torn with grief, at first Philippe doesn't even want to acknowledge he has a baby daughter, but Philippe is filled with paternal love when he holds Angelica in the hospital nursery for the first time. Unfortunately, as she grows older, Angelica also fills the role of wife and lover for her father. In her teen years, rakish art dealer Darius visits Philippe's mansion for a business deal, and quickly senses the abusive and unnatural relationship between the two. Later in the night, the novel's potential hero sneaks back to the palatial grounds for an attempted rescue of Angelica, and nearly dies for his efforts. Defeated, Darius escapes to a sailboat with the aid of his friends, setting out to sea while delirious with pain. The hallucinations begin and the novel continues.
The preceding action happens in the first sixty pages of a 294 page novel. From here, the review has some necessary spoilers--proceed with caution or please skip to the last paragraph and the star rating. What follows could either be a deal-breaker for readers, or rewarding allegorical fiction for the Me Too era. Traditional narrative ends and the novel develops into a retelling of the Greek legend of Antiochus and Shakespeare's Pericles. We follow Pericles on his heroic and tragic life journeys, along with his relationships with family and women. Alternating with this storyline are 1) a George Saunders-like tale of the spirit of Will Shakespeare leading his former acquaintance George, a failed playwright and semi-successful manager of a house of ill repute, into the afterlife; and 2) the continued plot of Angelica deteriorating mentally and physically in her mansion prison.
Perhaps the novel's biggest flaw is a disorienting and even awkward transition from action and chase scenes to a literary rumination on women's abilities and opportunities to empower their lives in times of adversity. It could be argued that this represents Darius' state of mind, but it does break narrative momentum and readers have to set their bearings. Once Haddon seems to find his evolving narrative stride, he skillfully builds momentum despite juggling three story elements. All end with differing but generally satisfying conclusions, especially moving in the cases of Pericles' tale and Angelica.
Don't expect an easy summer read from Mark Haddon's new work. Instead, if you are willing to dive into close reading and a nautical journey of identity and women finding their abilities in challenging times, you'll find rewards sailing on The Porpoise.
Rating: *** out of ****.
The Porpoise by Mark Haddon. Published by Doubleday. Available in print and e-book formats.
No comments:
Post a Comment