The Stillest Day

Every once in a while a writer comes along who refuses to indulge in the illusions we rely on to bolster life in the modern world; she refuses to pander to the need for sentimentality and the romantic belief in the perfectability of human nature;she graces us with a dark lingering pathos and we return again and again because we believe that in the process some crucial feauture has been restored to our humanity, some insight bequeathed to us which leaves us wiser and more grown up but not cynical. Such a writer is Josephine Hart whose unique and dark vision can be found in her three previous novel. The Stillest Day, perhaps her most chilling, is a tale of the obsession, love and cruelty that lie below the artifices of civilization, artifices that are really cosmetic gestures we devise to prevent ourselves from killing each other. Bethesday Barnet, artist and teacher, falls for Mathew Pearson. Why? We don't know. She sees him. She is hooked, so to speak, and the rest is pure tragedy.She finds herself inexorably pulled to a destiny whose outcome she knows will end in her destruction but which she cannot resist. Like the moth drawn to the flame she honors her destiny and fate by succumbing to the will of the gods who plan it all. The last few pages of this novel are among the most chilling I have ever read. Hart also allows us to own our shadows in the process of witnessing her dark characters. We can't really like these people, partly because they teach us about the sides of ourselves we wish didn't exist. We are drawn to her strange and twisted characters because they lead us out of the darkness by allowing the integrity of their lives to shine through their every action--even the deceptive ones. In the process we attain spiritual freedom, or perhaps enlightenment because we leave with an expanded consciousness and a sense of new moral realities which they have traversed and which have cost them their lives. Apart from all this, however, Hart has some really beautiful turns of phrase. She is simply an exquisitely beautiful craftsman whose writing is lean, mean and cold as a tombstone. She is a writer of wisdom who, in the style of the pithy aphorism, sheds more light on the human condition than a room full of many a philsophical treatise. Among some of the gems are: "Small societies practice best a democracy of silence. And sins of omission and commission fall softly into a collective, selective amnesia." And further: " I fear that our honesty has a quality of finality about it. When there is nothing to preserve, only then are men and women honest with each other." Here is the description of the first time she set eyes on Mathew: "His rain-washed face was what I first saw. It was turned to the heavens which drenched the wetness further, so that rivulets of water ran down his white skin. And in that instant I longed to let my hair loose to dry the unknown wonder of that vision." An elegant craftman who lets

The book starts off slow, but gradually rises. The language is beautiful, though the middle to the end is a bit disturbing, to say the least...

I am speechless. Speechless because this novel is written with such brillance and intellect that few writers can achieve such a feat. Speechless, too, because even though I consider myself a good reader I do not think I understood the ending of this novel. I closed the book saying, "what happened?" After re-reading the final 10 pages 3 times I feel I have a grasp of 90% of what the author was illustrating with her characters; yet, I'm still perplexed by the remaining 10%. I cannot divulge too much of what I do not understand for fear that I may ruin it for other readers. I only hope that other readers who partake in this novel may respond as to the conclusions they draw upon its ending. The first half of this novel tells the story of Bethesda Barnet, an unmarried artist and teacher living a life of routiness. She takes care of her invalid mother, paints and teaches day after day after day. It is not until she lays her eyes upon Mathew Pearson that her life becomes a sea of obsession. Bethesda uses her artistic abilities to obsessively paint Mathew on mirrors. Ms. Hart brillantly weaves the reflections life and art have on the soul; and, in essence, this theory becomes the heart and soul of "The Stillest Day." And, after a major event occurs, which one may call courageous or violent, Bethesda's life is severely changes. And, thus, we enter into the second portion of this novel which examines Bethesda's life and state of mind. Often times, it seems like Ms. Hart becomes overly dramatic in her story-telling; yet, when one considers gothic pieces of literature, Ms. Hart seems justified. Ms. Hart display much of how I find truly gifted English novelists to be - sparse language steeped with complexities. One must read in-between the lines to understand Ms. Hart's writing. And though I did not understand this novel entirely, I can appreciate the brillance. One will always look at a major traumatic event in one's life as "The Stillest Day." This is a difficult novel to read but I think one which people should be exposed to. Please, I hope someone out there will explain to me the final 2 scenes of this novel.