First of all, I have to say "wow"! I can see why it took Lamb 9 years to write this! This story within a story within a story is well researched, well written, thought-provoking, disheartening, and full of hope. And long - I don't want to forget that detail! :-)
I liked how every single one of the characters in the novel is flawed - like real life. Especially the protagonist. Caelum (LOVE his name!) drove me crazy at times: his actions, lack of action, his thought process, his anger, his disinterest, his drinking. He sure "grew up" as the book progressed though. I was proud of him for sticking with Maureen (difficult, to say the least), for joining her in therapy, for trying to help her with addiction, for proving his love for her in the end. At times Caelum floundered, but he kept picking himself back up and trying again. He helped people he didn't initially feel like helping (Velvet, Ulysses, Moses, Janis, Alphonse) - even when he was at his worst. At times he was mean and unforgiving, but that seemed to be a part of the process of his eventual redemption. He had a lot to "process": Maureen's survivor's guilt, his own guilt (Lolly), death of friends and students, unemployment, huge financial burdens, finding out about his own parentage, Maureen's prison term, more death.... The list seems to go on and on. Despite all the tragedy, there remains the theme of hope throughout the novel.
Maureen was the most difficult for me to like and understand at times. I just felt like shaking her - shaking her out of her depression, shaking her out of her terror, shaking her out of her addiction. I'm not sure why she evokes such a passionate feeling in me, since I have never gone through what she went through - and hope never to. I guess it's hard to watch someone self-destruct. I know she felt remorseful for killing Morgan, but she didn't seem to understand the impact of her actions on Caelum and what he had to do because of those actions. I guess she is proof that sometimes to help yourself, you have to help others first. She seemed to save herself after she starting working hospice at the prison.
The history of the Quirks was interesting, if a bit confusing at times. Too many generations and too many "L" names! Lizzy, Lydia, Lillian, Lolly. Whew! Throw in a couple of illegitimate children, birth mothers, step-mother/step-grandmother, alcoholic fathers, a couple of dead infants - and you have quite the family saga! What impressed me the most though, was the perseverance of the family matriarchs. There were some strong women in this novel, and even if you didn't necessarily like them personally, you had to admire how hard they worked for what they believed in. Despite their strong beliefs however, these strong opinionated women were sometimes unable to "walk the talk" when it came to their personal lives. Lots of irony involved in their history.
The difficult thing about talking about this book is all the different things we could talk about! One of my favorite quotes from the book is: "Sometimes when you go looking for what you want, you run right into what you need." It's like a positive spin on "Be careful what you wish for, because you might get it" - which is such a "cautionary" statement. I think the first quote is more life-affirming and proactive!
Wendy's Rating: *****
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