The Good Wife

The Good Wife is another bittersweet (accent on bitter) tale of the inherent desperation of most people. Patty Dickerson's husband gets sent up for about 28 years for inadvertantly killing an old woman during a break-in of her house and O'Nan, in the stark spare writing style that he has mastered , chronicles Patty's journey from young and hopeful to middle-aged and resigned to her life's fate. Similiar in tone to his other books (especially Snow Angel), this story could make Bozo The Clown reach for the Prozac. The sadness is all over every page. O'Nan's understanding of the human psyche and his eye for understated detail give his narrative a powerful sense of realism. He uses real locations and obviously becomes a student of his subject. In this case its the New York Justice and penal system that treats all those connected with the offender as unworthy of any mercy. This is a tough work of fiction and brings to mind Henry David Thoreau's quote that "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation". This is a very worthwhile book to read for many reasons. Quality writing, increasing one's knowledge base, and a sense of fellowship with others who hurt. For while the particulars of the story may be fictional the author' aim is true when it comes to articulating the common human condition. Lock up the meds and put the trigger-locks on and then set aside some time for this touching piece of literature.

Told in a matter-of-fact, unsentimental way, The Good Wife tells the story of one family and 25 years of their lives as they work through the New York state penal system. Tommy Dickerson does something stupid. He follows his friend Gary's lead and ends up involved in a murder for which he (and not Gary) pays the price--25 years in prison. At the time of his arrest, his wife Patty is pregnant. This is her story. We see through her eyes the frustration of the poor as they try to work the system. Everything is against them, including, it seems, the public defenders. Then as the wife of a prisoner we see Patty at the mercy of the system again--as items are confiscated and her husband transferred from prison to prison (moving farther and farther away--to Dannemora and farther northwest, to eventually Bare Hill in Malone) as she is left to make due as a single mother. Though they do not thrive, their marriage survives and their son makes it through college and ends up with a great job. It's at the end when Tommy is released and they are together again as a family (like they never were before) that we realize that all of these years have been not just a sentence for Tommy, but for all the rest of them as well. Yes, Tommy was guilty of a crime. Even if the didn't commit the actual murder, he was there and could have stopped it. But the key to this story is not his guilt or innocence, rather it is about what happens to the family, the extended family, the friends of those imprisoned. What is the world like through their eyes. And you walk away from the book asking yourself, what would I do if my loved one was in jail? Would I be able to persevere as Patty does? Would I be such a good wife? It's a fascinating, quick read and if you have not read O'Nan before, you should know that he is great. He has a no nonsense approach to telling a story that is utterly engaging and in this book, he has succeeded in doing just that.

This haunting novel describes in spare prose the long span of time that passes between the commission of a crime by Patty's husband, Tommy, and his release from prison many years later. Throughout it, Patty is the "good wife" indeed, nearly unwavering in her support for Tommy in the face of truly difficult circumstances. The graceful writing and moral dilemmas in this novel will stay with you long after finishing it. O'Nan provides a totally convincing portrayal of a segment of society--the spouses, usually wives, of convicts--that goes almost completely ignored and neglected. This book is searing reminder that crimes harm not only the victims of the crime, who naturally deserve the bulk of our sympathy, but also the criminal's loved ones. Tommy's apparent lack of recognition of, and remorse for, the harm he has done to his wife and the child he was not around to raise is one of the most disturbing aspects of the novel. Patty WAS a good wife, and she deserved more gratitude from Tommy than she received. What makes this novel deserving of 5 stars is not merely its story but the writing itself. In beautiful, spare prose O'Nan writes simply of the day to day complications of trying to get by as a single mother whose only hope for the future is at the far end of a 25-year sentence. Parts of Patty's life are described in detail, but in other parts of the book, entire years go by summarized in a phrase or a sentence. The tragedy of Patty's life is that entire years COULD be summarized in a sentence, and through his prose O'Nan communicates vividly the bleakness of a life placed far too long on hold. Should Patty have stuck by Tommy? That's a hard question. You have to admire her perseverance and willingness to stand by her marriage vows and her love her for husband, although the subplot involving her attraction for another man suggests that, once again, Patty let her life be determined by the actions (or inactions) of others. Given slightly different chance encounters, her story very easily could have ended differently. In a way, I see her story not being one of loyalty but rather passivity...to Tommy, to a penal system that transferred her husband to a facility a day's drive away, to a fate that treated her badly. Patty may have been a good wife, but in the final analysis, the only person that benefited was Tommy. And you finish the novel feeling utterly sad about all the wasted lives involved.

One of the things I liked best about this book was O'Nan's "cut to the chase" approach to telling this story. He did not bog it down with a lot of unnecessary description. Instead he told you just enough to put you in the moment. I felt a connection to Patty. Her struggles were very real to me. I could sympathize with her situation. She even annoyed me at times as well. I found her love for Tommy and her loyalty to her relationship with him touching and admirable. She is determined to make it through this because she genuinely loves this man. I like the fact that Tommy's prison life was not a central part of the story. If it had been, it would have totally detracted from what is essentially Patty's story. O'Nan could have easily written this book another way (i.e. Patty meets and falls in love with another man, Casey becomes a troubled teen, etc.) I think a lot of lesser authors would have done just that. Thankfully, instead of going the "romance" route, he has written a wonderful story of love, determination and perseverance.

I probably shouldn't be writing this review. Since I finished this book a few days ago, I've recommended it to a few people, and when I told them what it was about, the response was the same: "it sounds awful--why would I read it?" So, in the interest of encouraging others to read the book, I will try to refrain from description (the formal and informal reviews on this site will give you the gist of the story anyway) and try to explain why this book had such an impact on me, and why (after I stayed up late to finish it) my sleep was wracked with cold sweat nightmares. All the really horrible events in the story occur offstage (the murder that precipitates the rest of the story, Tommy's various beatings) and the emotions that accompany them are painted in such subdued colors that we almost ache for the characters: Patty driving through the dreary countryside on her regular prison visits, Tommy returning to his cell, the interminable waits for news that's sometimes bad (denial of appeals) and sometimes a cause for celebration (family prison visits). Although Patty decries her son's lack of affect, she somehow does not seem to realize that she herself evinces little emotion. We, the readers, must feel it for her. She goes through the motions of life without asking many questions, feeling much grief, wishing her lot were better, or getting depressed. The inability of her husband and son to establish a close relationship seems to make her unhappy, but she is similarly unable to make any deep connection with anyone. She's there for Tommy because it's who she is. She accepts her life in a way that most of us refuse to accept the limitations of our lives. Even though I didn't like her very much (I did like mom and Tommy) I didn't want her to just sit back and take it. This is a story that throws its punches in negative space. Instead of turning the material into an overblown farce--the route most writers would take-- O'Nan does the opposite, working his magic in negative space. It's what he doesn't dare to discuss that gives this book its power. One of the final lines of the book encapsulates the creepy calm that permeates the whole: after Tommy is finally home following 28 years of imprisonment, Patty "dares to believe the long pause that's kept them from their real life is finally behind them." At least for me, it was definitely not the sort of pause that refreshes.