William McPherson (2) (1933–2017)

[Testing the Current] fits into the precocious and observant child story line, think [Member of the Wedding] but less earthshaking, though full of tremors and ominous out-gassing. The locale is a small town, Grande Rivière up on the Canadian border and Tommy's father is the Big Man, the owner of a factory that processes . . . well, who cares? . . . the huge furnaces never stop burning unless there is an explosion and makes the family pots of money. 1939, Tommy's family have weathered the Depression just fine and offer employment to the town as well -- his father is a conscientious man and loves his work. His mother is small, kind, and a beauty, a catch, but comes across as immature and unfinished ultimately, as a person, as women of that era were still encouraged to be. Tommy is ten or more years younger than his two brothers, born as his mother was approaching 40. This is a nothing really happens sort of novel. Summertime and Tommy 7 going on 8 is going about his usual activities. There is a rigid order to everything, arcane rituals to be learned at almost every level of sociality, even what might seem minor--and new privileges for Tommy gain as Tommy grows up. He's impatient for long pants, for a bicycle, to be able to learn to row from "The Island" only a few miles from home where summer "cottages" have been built on the big river that flows near the town of Grande Riviere. He's also trying to figure out what matters to adults, e.g. sex, and there is plenty going on, of course. The climax of the summer is the party his parents give for their 25th anniversary at the (also nearby) country club. In an Angela Thirkell novel there would be a different atmosphere altogether, but here there are dissonances here, special American ones -- the privileged whites are served by "Negroes" and "Indians" and do not share bathrooms or much of anything beyond a basic politeness. And there is the impending war looming over all, of which Tommy only becomes aware of near the end, so the novel captures a breathless moment, much like 1914. It is a couple of decades too late to be the story of Nick Carraway's childhood in the midwest, but my guess is, but I kept him in mind as I read. MacPherson makes the connection somewhat explicit with a beautiful young woman named Daisy who has married for money. She is a fine golfer and Tommy is learning to play and admires her form . . . "form" is a word that matters -- style, form, appearances . . . one member of the social circle, Mrs. Steer, is Danish and intellectual and is reading a book called: Anticipating the Eventual Emergence of Form. (I looked, doesn't exist!) A dog dies and is stuffed, and comforts his former mistress with the appearance of a dog. Eccentricities are tolerated as long as a person doesn't wander too far outside the acceptable. Much here resonated with me, I know my parents were brought up similarly, albeit in the East not the Midwest. I take nothing for granted, but my mother, especially, did and struggled valiantly to keep up after the 1960's. ****1/2… (más)