Novella Reviews: WHEREABOUTS; RITA HAYWORTH AND THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION; A HOUSE MADE OF DAWN

Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri
Knopf, 2021. 157 pages.

The unnamed narrator of Whereabouts admits to having an unhappy childhood. This book, a sort of diary, may be the product of her work with a therapist who asks her after every session to name one happy thing in her life. In 46 brief chapters, or entries as I think of them, the narrator gives her impressions of the people and places she encounters in her unnamed Italian city. She is troubled by her unresolved feelings toward her dead father and her living but elderly mother who has always been so critical of her. She talks about friends and lovers with an arms-length of separation, never allowing herself the passion to really get  involved on a deep level. As the year progresses through the seasons, her entries become more and more melancholy until finally she hits upon a solution. The book ends as she prepares for a year-long journey to a new town, a fresh start.

I fell in love with Jhumpa Lahiri's Pulitzer Prize winning collection of short stories, The Interpreter of Maladies, when I read it a few years ago. This past week I decided to walk the bookshelves of the public library to see if I could locate any novellas for my November challenge. I picked books based on size alone until I got to Whereabouts. I knew I wanted to read more by this author. I learned from the book jacket this is Lahiri's first book written in Italian and the first full length novel she has translated into English. She lives in Italy now, after growing up in the USA, and the book had a very European feel to it which I appreciated so much. The writing was lovely. In the sample except, the narrator is thinking back to a time when she was on the beach, but unprepared for the sun. She ended up getting as close as she could to a woman who was casting a bit of a shadow for relief. Here she muses about shadows.

I've always felt in someone's shadow, even though I don't have to compare myself to brothers who are smarter, or sisters who are prettier. 

There is no escape from the shadows that mount, inexorably, in this darkening season. Nor can we escape the shadows our families cast. That said, there are times I miss the pleasant shade a companion might provide. (112)

I recommend the book for its writing but the melancholy of the narrator is so palpable I would warn off anyone feeling a bit blue themselves.

My rating: 4 stars.

Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King. Originally published in 1982 as part of the collection Different Seasons by Viking Press. In 2009 it was reprinted in another collection, Stephen King Goes to the Movies in 2009. The novella was published in 2020 by Scribner as a standalone book. 128 pages.

An unjustly imprisoned convict, Andy Dufresne, seeks a satisfying revenge in Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.

Andy's story, as well as details about life behind bars, is narrated by Red Redding, a 57-year old convict, a lifer in Maine's Shawshank State Penitentiary. As a former bank executive Andy starts helping guards and prison administrators with their financial forms and issues. He even starts laundering money for one warden who is making a killing (pun intended) with kickbacks from the work done for the Inside-Out programs he has organized in the community, which is essentially providing slave labor from the inmates for projects. When a chance arises for Andy to have a new trial to exonerate himself, the warden sees to it that all of Andy's defense witnesses are out of commission. He doesn't want to lose his cash cow. Then Andy escapes.

I've seen the movie, Shawshank Redemption at least a dozen times and I never seem to get tired of it. If you live anywhere near a TV where old movies are run, you've probably seen it several times yourself. There are a few differences between the story and movie, however. In the book Red Redding is an Irishman with red hair. In the movie that role is played by Morgan Freeman, a Black man. I never wondered at the name Red before. Did you? My favorite scenes in the movie aren't in the book -- 1. When Andy locks himself in the warden's office and plays an opera song on the record player but blasts it out to the yard so the other prisoners hear it. 2. When Andy steals the warden's clothes and shoes so he has something good to wear when he escapes. He also doesn't get away with the laundered money and doesn't frame the warden in the book. Minor details. Lastly, Andy is imprisoned in Shawshank for thirty years before he escapes, making him in his 60s or 70s. In the movie the timeline is condensed.

Stephen King was at his best when writing Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. It is generally considered to be one of his best works. It is quite different than his usual horror/terror novels, though it is exciting in its own way. If by chance you are part of the small minority who has never seen the movie, read the novella first, then watch the movie for comparison's sake. And what about Rita Hayworth in the title? What does this old-timey actress have to do with a prison escape story? Actually quite a bit. Read it and find out.

My rating: 4.75 stars.

House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday. 
Harper and Row, 1968. 212 pages.

A young man, Abel, returns home from a foreign war to the land of his Native father where one is always aware of the rhythms of the seasons and the beauty of nature. A life focused on the cultural traditions of his Native people and and of the ancient rites and stories passed down by generations. A life at odds with the rest of civilization -- modern and industrial. This life demands much from Abel and sets him at odds with himself. 

The book sounds great but, oh boy, it is confusing. It reminded me a little of Sherman Alexie's Flight: A Novel. In that book the main character, an Indigenous boy, experiences scenes from his tribe's history by time travel. The kid is messed up but the reader comes to understand why after experiencing the historical events with him. Abel, in House Made of Dawn, seems to be doing the same thing but there is no clear "now I'm time traveling" prompts to help the reader. And the divisions between stories about his life in the present tense (which was in the 1950s) and his visions of rites and stories just seem abrupt and jarring. So much so I contemplated not finishing the book. That was my plan until I ran across a review by Great Books Guy. His words, not Momaday's, kept me reading.

Structurally, House Made of Dawn is a highly fragmented, kaleidoscope of a novel that was initially conceived as a series of poems, but Momaday collected the poems and re-worked them into a novel, albeit a panoramic collection of stories and recollections. The book is also peppered with Kiowa legend and ritual, while the protagonist, Abel, comes to embody the tragedy of indigenous cultural loss. With House Made of Dawn, I was thankful for the opportunity to learn more about an indigenous tribe.

I mentioned Sherman Alexie as a Native writer, but Momaday came first, paving the way for many famous and important Indigenous writers of today. I also found it interesting that the book was originally conceived as a series of poems. Momaday wrote the novel after he had finished his course work for his Masters degree in poetry. He was trying a new thing out.

Great Books Guy goes on to analyze the book and concludes with this --

Throughout the novel, Abel is a scarred and wounded World War II veteran, seemingly unable to find a place to call home, an outsider everywhere he goes. His post-traumatic stress disorder is manifested in a blur of alcoholism, murder, suicide, and a pervasive sense of spiritual isolation. His character was an amalgamation of different individuals Momaday knew in the Jemez Pueblo. But by the end of the novel, Abel –divinely scorned– displays signs of returning to the traditional world of his ancestors, at least he is running at dawn again. Abel is a tragic character, unable to share in the post-war bounty enjoyed by his fellow veterans. He experiences the quiet cultural devastation of his people, the Kiowa, while stumbling into numerous personal pitfalls. In later reflections, Momaday said “Abel’s story is that of one man of one generation. It is otherwise a story of world war, of cultural conflict, and of psychic dislocation. And at last it is a story of the human condition.”

Thanks to this review I was able to appreciate the book much more and understand why it was selected as the 1969 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. Momaday was the first Native American to win the coveted award and only the second winner to write about the experiences of Native people in America at that time. Abel's story is the story of so many lost and discouraged people who need to find their way "home."

That said, I still would find it hard to recommend this book to anyone. It is just too confusing. 

My rating: 2.5 stars.

-Anne