Prisoner of Grace

Of Joyce Carey's work, I'd place this after his great The Horse's Mouth. But this one is excellent too as a dive into a distraught mind. It's also deeply, obsessively reflective, bordering often on the hysterical in all the meanings of the word. For me as an American reader it was an illuminating journey and adventure into a certain sort of British soul. Take Me With You When You Go

Cary's Preface defines the 'grace' that imprisons his heroine Nina, and her 300 page first person narrative details the extent of her lifelong and uncomplaining victimization. Nina seems a naive airhead at the beginning of the book, cuddling and sporting with her cousin and dearest friend, Jim, later the father of her children, but marries Chester Nimmo, a relentless young politician whose acceptance of a powerful wartime government post is seen by his supporters as a denial of his radical past. Nina slowly matures over the course of the book in keeping with the social and political demands made upon her. She is able to analyze, to look through people to their motives, but bestows grace to the end. Cary does a phenomenal job of detailing his characters through Nina's mental musings. Most impressive is the consistency of her character. At the beginning of the book, one wants to grab her and shake her and tell her to get real. At the end, one accepts her as she is.

Told through the voice of the main character, Nina Woodville recounts her life spent in love with her cousin Jim while being married to Chester Nimmo. When Nina finds herself pregnant by Jim, who appears unwilling to marry her, her aunt arranges a marriage with the young politician Nimmo. But Nina continues to see Jim, in fact has another child by him (Chester is never told the truth). Later, when she attains a divorce from Chester, she is unable to break totally with him, and they continue to have relations. When Jim learns this fact it pushes him over the edge, and at the end of the book he's about to shoot her. In most other hands a novel like this would seem either farcical or sordid, but in Cary's hands it is both believable and tragic. In addition to the complicated triangular relationship, Cary also explores Nimmo's political career as he climbs up the ladder from local council member to candidate for prime minister. Although Nina often defends her husband (especially to her children) by declaring his goodness, his political career is tainted with scandal and deceit. Both Chester and Nina are tragic figures because neither can formulate a set of guiding principles on which to base their decisions (Jim's dilemma is that he is ALL principle and breaks rather than bends). What really sets the book apart is Cary's writing style: Nina relates her story as honestly and simply and plainly as if she were sitting at a table talking to an intimate friend; the ending where she indicates Jim is about to shoot her comes as a real shock. Chapters are very short, many only a page or so long, and the storyline proceeds quickly and unencumbered by much description or plot expansion. I found it hard to put the book down and was engrossed from beginning to end. The book is the first novel in a trilogy, followed by EXCEPT THE LORD and NOT HONOUR MORE. Highly recommended.