February 7, 2011
Nelson's unflinchingly frank story of the sexual and alcoholic excess buried in the pasts of a married couple is read with care and compassion by Cassandra Campbell, whose breathy voice exposes the hidden unpleasantness in Catherine and Oliver's history. She is a worthy mimic, embodying voices with relative ease, but her strong suit is the narrative tone. Steady, controlled, almost deliberately flat, kept from peaks or valleys of emotion, Campbell mimetically conveys the stifled chaos of Nelson's protagonists, and of their bittersweet bond. A Bloomsbury hardcover.
August 16, 2010
Nelson’s (Talking in Bed) first novel in 10 years is set largely in the author’s childhood town of Wichita, Kans. Catherine Desplaines and her husband, Oliver, are at a crossroads in their marriage. The much older Oliver has perfected a pattern: marry, stay around for 15 years, then trade up to a younger woman. He and Catherine have been married for 18 years, which might seem impressive if Oliver didn’t have a mistress, known only as “the Sweetheart.” Catherine is too preoccupied to notice his infidelities since she’s become the guardian of an old friend’s teenage daughter, Cattie, after the friend dies suddenly. The girl’s impending arrival sends Catherine’s mind reeling back to her adolescence, when the infamous BTK (bind-torture-kill) serial killer, who coincidentally makes a reappearance in the novel’s present day, terrorized the neighborhood. Plays on the idea of “binding” can grow precious at times, but Nelson effectively explores issues of obligation, responsibility, and the possibility of creating new patterns and freeing ourselves from the past. Chapters from the perspectives of Oliver, Catherine, Cattie, and even Cattie’s dog assemble into a coherent, compassionate whole.