Title: The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie
Book Beginnings quote:
Huddled together on the last block of Tasso Street, in a California town known as Palo Alto, was a pair of humble bungalows, each one aplot* in lilies. And in one lived a woman in the slim green spring of her life, and her name was Veblen Amundsen-Hovda.
*Not a misspelling. But "aplot" is not in the dictionary, so your guess is as good as mine as to the definition.
Friday56 quote:
By clearly emphasizing all that was lacking in others, by mapping and raising to an art form the catalog of their flaws, Veblen’s mother had inversely punched out a template for an ideal human being, and it was the unspoken assumption that Veblen would aspire to this template with all her might.
Summary:
The Portable Veblen is a dazzlingly original novel that’s as big-hearted as it is laugh-out-loud funny. Set in and around Palo Alto, amid the culture clash of new money and old (antiestablishment) values, and with the specter of our current wars looming across its pages, The Portable Veblen is an unforgettable look at the way we live now. A young couple on the brink of marriage—the charming Veblen and her fiancé Paul, a brilliant neurologist—find their engagement in danger of collapse. Along the way they weather everything from each other’s dysfunctional families, to the attentions of a seductive pharmaceutical heiress, to an intimate tête-à-tête with a very charismatic squirrel.
Review: I am not sure I can adequately review The Portable Veblen. Here is what I can say: It is crammed full of quirky, odd characters. Starting with Veblen herself, whose hypochondriac mother has groomed her to be one of the sweetest, most thoughtful people you will ever meet in all of literature, and her fiance, Paul, who is still traumatized by his hippy parents and his upbringing. One can't help but wonder if both of them should be visiting a psychiatrist before they even consider marriage, both seem so scarred from their upbringings. In addition to the young couple, we meet all the parents and siblings, several friends, and the pharmaceutical heiress who is so awful, it is funny.
I started off on the wrong foot with The Portable Veblen and would likely have given it the heave-ho after less than thirty pages if for the fact I had purchased the audiobook with Audible credits and I didn't want to waste my money. As I listened on I found myself laughing out loud, groaning with disbelief, rolling my eyes, chortling, empathizing, smiling, and probably crying (since I seem to cry all the time these days.) If you look at the reader reviews on Goodreads you will see, as I did, there are two schools of thought on this book: those who loved it and found it both funny and charming, and those who didn't get it and either didn't finish it or wished they hadn't. Clearly I am in the former camp.
I became aware of The Portable Veblen because it was a Women's Prize Award finalist in 2016. (I am attempting to read current and past winners.) Because of that I visited Elizabeth McKenzie's Women Prize page, which, to my mind, is as quirky as the book. Have fun.
My rating: 4.25 stars.
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