Living to Tell

I think that maybe others did not like this book because each character is presented as a mixed bag, very subtle, with good and bad revealed about each. I don't think it's so much a problem of which character to identify with, but rather sorting out how we feel about each character as they are slowly filled in. Everybody gets a chance to be a hero and a dufus, as well as everything between. The characters one least likes as the novel begins, by the end, redeem themselves in various ways (a whole lot like real life). The alcoholism is presented as a constant but not overbearing presence, there but viewed as 'normal' and therefore not spoken of (applies to all of the subjects taboo in most of our families). Yet to the reader it becomes quite clear just what a driving force it is. Regarding the complaint that nothing happens, it is true this is not the thriller or the mystery, or the spellbinder. In my humble opinion it is the story of what goes on in real life, tragedies and triumphs that all of us overlook each and every day. By reading it, I have become a more keen observer of the incredible panoply of events that take place all around me. It is like a puzzle the deliciously fills in.

I've been a fan of Antonya Nelson's for about ten years. It's nosurprise to me she's earned the Flannery O'Connor and PEN/NelsonAlgren awards. Like O'Conner before her, Nelson writes stories filledwith the offbeat, dysfunctional, and neurotic (the DSM III made theterm neurotic passe, but what else is there? ). And, like O'Connor,Nelson has a finely tuned ear for dialogue, which she uses effectivelyto portray the psychological makeup of her characters. I canunderstand why some people might find this book offputting. People whogrew up in relatively normal healthy homes where alcoholism and it'sattendent dysfunctional behavior weren't the norm might not believefolks like the Mabies exist. But, they do. Scott Fitzgerald had analcohol problem and a wife Zelda some called zany and others calledcrazy. He wrote about "3:00 o'clock in the morning of thelong night of the soul." I think of him on those nights when Iwake up and the clock beside my bed says 2:46 a.m. I think about himwhen I stumble down the stairs past the night lights placed atcritical junctures between my bedroom and the kitchen. I think abouthim when I switch on the light and pick up a book to read. Or,sometimes I think about Benjamin Franklin, who said if you can't sleepat night, get up, walk around and flap your arms a bit. Or maybe Ithink about my brother who has suffered from an alcohol and drugproblem ever since he dropped out as a flower child in the sixties. Or,maybe I think about other relatives and friends who've OD'd, died bytheir own hand, or been in bizarre accidents while under the influence.From now on, I'll think about the Mabies--parents and children--upat four a.m., falling over each other in the kitchen. It's easy todescribe Emily, Mona, and Winston as young adults in various stages ofarrested growth. Through the course of the book, however, each of themmakes an effort to improve. All three Mabie children are doing the bestthey can. I recommend this book to anyone who is in recovery,knows someone in recovery, or works with people who are trying to getsober. I read passages of the book to a friend who is in recovery andworks with alcoholics and drug addicts in recovery, and he howledwith laughter. Who knows, maybe you will too?

Nelson's "Living to Tell" held my interest from the first to the last word. Her characters are especially vivid and provocative, drawn with warmth and humor but never sugar-coated; their character flaws and bad decisions are faithfully rendered. Anne Tyler is my favorite author, and Nelson's Mabie family is very "Tyler-esque" which is the highest compliment I can bestow. I will be aquiring Nelson's previous work post-haste!

I have read all of Antonya Nelson's novels and enjoyed them all, but this is by far my favorite. I fell in love with the Mabies. I loved the structure of the novel. I felt like a ghost in the sprawling Mabie house, following this character, and then that one, as they went about the business of living. I was sad to see it end.

Long regarded in literary circles as one of America's finest writers, Antonya Nelson has yet to find a wider audience. I suspect LIVING TO TELL will change all this. Winston Mabie returns to his rambling childhood home in Wichita, Kansas after serving five years in prison for the drunk driving accident that killed his grandmother. Always charming and handsome, Winston has become the Mabie family's shame, the one they don't know what to do with, the "alcoholic" of the family even as his siblings, parents, and uncle seek their solace and comraderie through booze. As the Mabies adjust to Winston's return and the changes he represents, they begin to question the direction of their own lives. Nelson has populated her novel with quirky, complex, and decidedly real characters who struggle with their separate, often private dramas and who always return to the shifting terrain of those who have known them the longest. Her prose is clear and detailed, never sentimental or heavy-handed, and it carries this story forward with a surety that is remarkable. Especially if you enjoy Anne Tyler and Alice Hoffman (without the magic realism), you'll love this book.