Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 2002)
* 2Û.2ÛÛ2 ■ BOOKS .............. ? ............... T he W oman W ho G ave B irth to R abbits by Emma Donoghue. Harcourt Brace, 2002; $24 hardcover. he’s an ingenious trickster with an entic ing world of florid prose, a wonderland of g historical fiction. T hen the wonderland U p turns awry and ventures on in the pecu liar world o f outrageous frauds, lurid scandals, dark secrets, private afflictions and bold pranl In the eccentric story collection The Woma Who Gave Birth to Rabbits, lesbian author Emm Donoghue resurrects various women’s voices, once muted in Irish and British history. She fleshes out scraps o f historical anecdotes until they become full-blown imaginary scenes, each story being one of many possi ble plots hiding behind a handful of facts. The title story “The Last Rabbit” stars Mary Toft, who majorly counts on 1720s Eng lish gullibility during the act of giving birth to rabbits. “How a Lady Dies” features the dying poet Miss Pennington and her closest friend, writer Frances Sheridan, in 1759 Bath. “Words for Things" is inspired by a young girl’s obsession with her governess, Miss Mary Wollstonecraft (!): “It was June by the time she found that there were words for girls like her. Words tucked away in the library, locked on # until you lcxiked for them. Romp and bcryden she knew already. Tomboy was when she ran down the front staircase with her hxitlaces undone.” Donoghue is best known for the mid-’90s fictions Kissing the Witch and Stirfry, but she has written even better work since. Her audacious 2000 novel Slammerkin is an outstanding piece of work and should not be missed. T he Irish writer, who lives in C an ada with her partner, is already working on her next btxik, Life M ask, “about a love triangle in 1790s London am ong the elite, who moved through the overlapping worlds o f art, politics, sport and theater.” — Els Debbaut A H andful of D ust by Evelyn Waugh. Everyman’s Library, 2002; $ 18 hardcover. velyn Waugh’s 1934 novel “ A Handful of Dust has rccent- s ly been republished as part of Random House’s Everyman’s Library series. Bom in 1903, the popular author erf the gay-themed Brideshead Revisited is one o f the sharpest satirists of the 20th cen tury, and his works are found on many “best books” lists. W augh’s attitude toward hom osexuality was largely shaped by the experience o f his did. It turned into anonymous sex.” This is either bad therapy or bad writing—or both. W hat’s more, the author makes awkward use of various literary techniques including jumping back and forth in time (for no appar ent reason). He even throws in a chapter writ ten from the perspective of G reg’s cat, which, I suppose, is meant to illuminate some of the protagonist’s personality but adds dim wattage to what little we’ve learned already. Perfect Mondays has all the psychological insight of an A1 Franken “Stuart Smalley’’ sketch and comes to the same conclusion: “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, peo ple like me.” Regrettably, this novel took 271 pages vs. just four minutes on Saturday Night Live. — FS A handful Emma Donoghue turns fact into fiction; Evelyn Waugh republished H unk H ouse by Ben Tyler. Kensington Publishing, 2002; $18 hardcover. H unk House, the new novel by Ben Tyler, author o f Tricks of the Trade, is the sort of fantasy story where every gay man is fit, gorgeous and hung like a horse. (H e even names one o f the characters Bull— guess why!) While this second attempt contains beauti ful men, the same can’t be said for the writing, T h e wry Emma Donoghue gives birth to another winner which is sophomoric, or the plot, which is just plain dumb. older brother, who was expelled from prep P erfect M ondays In Hunk, six men are school after writing a semi-autobiographical by Stanley Ely. Painted Leaf selected for a new reality novel detailing his schoolboy romances. Press, 2002; $15.95 softcover. T V series— sort of a cross W augh, too, had gay relationships up through between Survivor and Big his»attendance at Oxford University, but, like n Stanley Ely’s first novel, Brother. They are locked the character o f Charles Ryder in Brideshead, Perfect Mondays, Greg Fine is into an old Victorian he was determined to live a heterosexual life an aging, gay, Jewish Man mansion to compete as an adult. hattanite who joins a psycho against each other in a therapy group to explore why Similarly, Handful contains autobiographi series of inane challenges cal elements; its story of a cuckolded husband he is unable to find love. What before one of them is he discovers is neither enlight- Two bad attempts at gay lit voted out each week. minors the embarrassing circumstances of Waugh’s failed first marriage. ened nor enjoyable. In fact, the During this time, every Handful takes its title from T S Eliot’s book is downright dull and poorly written. interaction and movement is filmed by hidden nihilistic poem The Waste Land and Greg’s group consists of six neurotics who cameras, and every conversation, snore and moan gather weekly to bicker, yell, kvetch and, general reflects Waugh’s conflicted feelings is captured by microphones. about his marriage and his sense of ly, display exactly why they need to be in therapy. O f course, the six fit, gorgeous, hung men Unfortunately, none of the characters is delineat aimlessness at the time. (H e attempted quickly break the “no sex" rule— and a good suicide after his divorce by trying to ed enough to tell them apart, and the sessions thing, too, because only during the sex scenes have no more depth than a newspaper advice drown himself.) does the book come alive. Tyler’s writing is as column. I am not opposed to group therapy, but Indeed, W augh could not decide hot as anything in Men or Mandate. is it really helpful to have people who can’t func how to finish the novel and ended Unfortunately, though, the sexscapades of up appending a previously written tion themselves give direction to each other? Hunk House are surrounded by long stretches of short story onto it. W hether the For his entire adult life Greg has been unable to silly plot and, unlike magazines, there are no bcxik’s disjointed conclusion is repre maintain an intimate relationship, instead finding pretty pictures o f naked men to keep the reader sentative o f poor story structure or an anonymous sex in bars and bathhouses. The expla interested. accurate rendering o f a sad and c o n nation given is that when he was young he slept in —FS J n fused life is up for interpretation. the same room as his parents and witnessed plenty Regardless, A H andful o f D ust makes that made him excited and ashamed. “It pro E l s DEBBAUT is the assistant manager o f In Other grammed him into not talking, pretending to see for com pelling reading. Words. nothing, while staring at everything that others — Floyd Sklaver FLOYD S k l a v e r is a Portland free-lance reviewer. I ôuncfai/s aus Ö, cjw ABOARD PORTLAND SPIRIT America s most treasured art form returns to the city's only floating venue. Portland Spirit’s 2 n d annual Jazz Brunch series is under way. Every Sunday though September 29th, musicians send notes sailing. Different artists and sounds w ill be explored weekly. Join us fo r one, multiple, or all performances. Upcom ing C r u ise Events: Live Jazz Brunch Series - portUmd Every Sunday, July ~ Septem ber 29th Friday Early Escapes Cruises coming in July C all (503) 224-3900 or (800) 224-3901 • book online now at www . portlandspirit . com %
