Sunday, March 23, 2008

Something Rising (Light and Swift)

On occasion I'll encounter a book that leaves me altered. I put it down after reading and feel some kind of chemistry within me to be permanently changed. After having finished my third book by Haven Kimmel, I'm starting to think that her books will always do that to me. If you've never read, "A Girl Named Zippy" then you should put that on your to-do list immediately. Once you've accomplished that very worthwhile goal, read the book that comes after, "She Got Up Off the Couch". Then, start working on her fiction and we can talk.

Kimmel grew up in rural Indiana and her books are completely infused with everything she knows as a native. As a midwesterner, but having grown up in Kansas, we consider some place as far east as Indiana to be in the Midwest merely in theory. Sort of pseudo-midwesterners, but something about how she describes people and places speaks to me. Maybe anyone from any part of the country feels that connection with what she writes simply because she does it so well. Her towns are poor places, with the rich gentry living in homes that aren't falling apart, owning car dealerships or drug stores. The truly poor are filthy, ignorant and have families that barely fit that characterization. I've seen that kind of poverty, experienced that kind of ignorance up close and personal and it's amazing to me that its essentially the same no matter where you live.

Kimmel creates these completely lovable characters, glaring flaws and all. The book I just put down was "Something Rising (Light and Swift)" and was about a tough woman's life. She plays pool for money and gets into fights and bouts of road rage. Her history is bleak and depressing with a father not worth the effort to hate, a mother who is emotionally distant, a sister who is mentally unstable, and the main character Cassie holding everything together. She has an uncanny talent for pool, an innate understanding of physics that she channels through a cue.
Kimmel is very upfront about why her characters have so many problems. She lays it all out on the line oftentimes in paragraphs that span a few pages as Cassie's mother unloads exactly what went wrong where. That's a refreshing way to approach, as opposed to most books that wait until the end to tell you why everybody's so screwed up.

This is not a depressing book. It can be frustrating, watching people not functioning, not parenting, not living real lives, but it's not depressing. It's beautiful. Kimmel's writing style gets the credit for that. I'm hooked now, so off I go to find another Kimmel gem.

9 comments:

  1. you had me until you told me about the depressing character, but as Sailor says: I'd probably give it a try just because "REDHOT EYEBROWS" says it is good.

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  2. I loved Zippy and I have the next one on my library list. I can't wait!! Kimmel is such a talented author and I love her matter-of-fact style and characters.

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  3. I read the first few pages of this book and was taken to Indiana. This looks pretty interesting. I am looking forward to reading Zippy as well.

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  4. Hi J,
    I do love your picture, with the Red Hot Eyebrows looking over the book. It is great. On your recommendation I might give this a try, although, I am with Annie about not wanting to get into depressing books. I think I have started 'Anna Karenina' about six times....

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  5. Wow, I really didn't to portray it as being really depressing. There are sad parts, but in general, it's a beautiful book. I'll have to stay away from the "d" word from now on!

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  6. I love Kimmel. "Beautiful" is the perfect description of her writing style. Her novel "The Solace of Leaving Early" is one of the best books I've read in a really long time.

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  7. I too thought "Solace" was one of the best books I've ever read. I devoured it and basked in the glow of reading it for days after.

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  8. I agree; Indiana is not the mid-west. As a compromise, I include it in the Great Lakes states.

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  9. I just finished this one and have mixed feelings about it. Overall it had a lot of redeeming qualities, but I had a hard time connecting to the characters. Cassie was an interesting young woman and I was happy to see her journey end in a form of redemption, but she was so distant that even as a reader I felt like I couldn't get close to her. Unlike Kimmel's characters in "Solace" who won my heart and mind completely. Another problem for me was that I didn't care about any of the secondary characters. They all had such issues and nothing to endear me to them, that I was mostly mildly repulsed having to read about them.

    On the positive side, the story was interesting and the writing was still exceptional. I think I was just hoping for another "Solace" and this wasn't it. But it was still great Kimmel with piercing insights, unforgettable prose, and a lingering aftertaste that I wanted to savor for a while.

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