Out of the Wreckage
I have just finished reading The Wreckage by Michael Crummey and my book discussion group meets this week to talk about it. My first thought is that there will be some people put off by the language, but I can't say that I found that disturbing. Like most books written today there is an emphasis on realism. Without looking at any book reviews or hearing comments from others, I would like to set out here my own thoughts on the book.
I found Crummey's first novel River Thieves a fine read, an interesting piece of historical fiction and a gripping novel. I think The Wreckage suffers a bit by comparison: I had a difficult time getting into it and the historical detail, although there, is sketchier. But the wonderful third part of the book makes up for the earlier slow going: I found it totally engrossing.
In the last part of the book Crummey sets the scene beautifully in the wreckage of Little Fogo Island; here, where only sheep now come to graze in the summer, the truth comes out. I found myself moved to tears as Mercedes and Wish, the pair of long-separated teenage lovers, come together as seniors to dance the dance of memory and renewal after some fifty years of lives lived very differently but each with their pain and hardship.
The wreckage of Little Fogo Island mirrors the wreckage that is Wish Furey and, more subtly, Mercedes Parsons. Wish recalls an old prayer, "take away my heart of stone," and we wonder can he be rehabilitated? can he ever feel again? love again? can he believe in God ever again? Throughout the book we have come to know of the fierce love and loyalty of Mercedes but will it be enough to handle the truth of Nagasaki, Wish's secret guilt? More subtly, Mercedes is "wrecked": no longer the teenage beauty, her plump matronly body, gray hair and broken face are only the outward reminders of a bitterness she seems to be holding onto since the death of her older cherished daughter and the disappointment of a younger daughter who only irritates her. Will Wish see through it to find the spirited girl he once knew? For both, will the choices made long ago be, if never fully understood, at least forgiven?
A wonderful ending with the crazy Aunt Lilly who brings that moment of laughter and acceptance that it is a mad, mad world and all you can do is laugh at the absurdity of it all, move out of the wreckage and grab onto whatever bit of happiness and love you can find for whatever time you have left.
I found Crummey's first novel River Thieves a fine read, an interesting piece of historical fiction and a gripping novel. I think The Wreckage suffers a bit by comparison: I had a difficult time getting into it and the historical detail, although there, is sketchier. But the wonderful third part of the book makes up for the earlier slow going: I found it totally engrossing.
In the last part of the book Crummey sets the scene beautifully in the wreckage of Little Fogo Island; here, where only sheep now come to graze in the summer, the truth comes out. I found myself moved to tears as Mercedes and Wish, the pair of long-separated teenage lovers, come together as seniors to dance the dance of memory and renewal after some fifty years of lives lived very differently but each with their pain and hardship.
The wreckage of Little Fogo Island mirrors the wreckage that is Wish Furey and, more subtly, Mercedes Parsons. Wish recalls an old prayer, "take away my heart of stone," and we wonder can he be rehabilitated? can he ever feel again? love again? can he believe in God ever again? Throughout the book we have come to know of the fierce love and loyalty of Mercedes but will it be enough to handle the truth of Nagasaki, Wish's secret guilt? More subtly, Mercedes is "wrecked": no longer the teenage beauty, her plump matronly body, gray hair and broken face are only the outward reminders of a bitterness she seems to be holding onto since the death of her older cherished daughter and the disappointment of a younger daughter who only irritates her. Will Wish see through it to find the spirited girl he once knew? For both, will the choices made long ago be, if never fully understood, at least forgiven?
A wonderful ending with the crazy Aunt Lilly who brings that moment of laughter and acceptance that it is a mad, mad world and all you can do is laugh at the absurdity of it all, move out of the wreckage and grab onto whatever bit of happiness and love you can find for whatever time you have left.
posted by mamie @ 2:27 PM
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