The Women (#7)

TC Boyle's The Women took me nearly the entire month of March to read and now it has taken me another month (where is this year - and time, in general - going?!) to get around to this book post.

T.C. Boyle is one of my favorite authors.  I always think he does interesting things and while they aren't always a raging success, there is always something that keeps me want to keep me coming back for more.  One of his specialties is historical fiction... or perhaps, more accurately fiction surrounding a historical figure.  Arguably his most famous work, The Road To Wellville (which, go figure I haven't read) based on cereal mogul John Kellogg... and the last Boyle I read (and enjoyed) was The Inner Circle (my "review") which focused on sex researcher Alfred Kinsey.  But don't be tricked by the title, Boyle isn't spotlight a woman this time... but architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the many (well, four) women in his life.

I was particularly interested in reading this given FLW's presence here in the Phoenix area.  His home/workshop Taliesin West is on the north edge of town (well, not really the edge anymore given the urban sprawl in the last couple of decades) and we are fortunate enough to have a couple of building inspired (the Arizona Biltmore) or designed by him.  In fact, I am a regular visitor to Wright's last public commission as Gammage Auditorium is home to our Broadway Across America shows.  The building was originally rumored to have been a designed as a Baghdad, Iraq opera house!  And to end the trivia portion of this post, it is interesting to know that TC Boyle and his family live in a FLW-designed house in Santa Barbara!

It seems silly to mention this, but given my Kindle addiction, it seems as if I should note that I read this in "book" form... in fact, an "autographed by the author" real book form!   I didn't quite make it to the book signing, but having seen Boyle in-person two previous times, I was more than glad to be able to pop by the bookstore (local and independent!) and pick up one of the extra copies they usually have authors sign (in fact, it looked like they made Boyle sign every book of his they had in stock!). 

I don't know if it was my return to the physical book, but I really had a difficult time getting into this novel.  It's amazing how quickly the Kindle knocks you out of the habit of page-counting or tuckering out knowing how many pages you've read or how many you have to go... plus there is the sheer exhaustion of holding a book (particularly a hardcover!).  I know this sounds silly to you Kindle non-converts, but it's true (well, I think... where are my Kindle peeps to back me up?!?). 

But anyhow, back to the book... even when I did get into it a bit more (which took a good 100 pages), it still didn't seem to be rolling along at a good clip.  Coincidentally enough, my buddy Jen was reading the book at the same time... and I think it was quite a relief to both of us (it's safe to say we both consider ourselves to be pretty competent readers) that we agreed with each other that it was a bit of a slog. 

Anyhow, I plugged along and was intrigued by the all the stuff that I was learning about FLW along the way.. which apparently was not much.  While I know this is fiction, you do get the sense that Boyle meticulously researched his life... from his quirkiness (those creative geniuses always seem to be a bit off-kilter), his irresponsibility (running up debt), his apparent inability to live without a woman (thus the title)... and most surprisingly for me at least (book reviews I read afterward refer to it as something "everyone knows") a tragic event the occurred quite early in his career, that he was fortunate enough to not be directly involved him, but had that had to have a profound, life-altering affect on the rest of his life. 

Ultimately, it was the handling - or positioning - of this tragedy (which granted, is given away on the inside flap book blurbs... and even lightly addressed early in the novel) that I think put the brakes on me giving this book a huge endorsement.  Since it is the transforming and big event in FLW's life, Boyle wisely saves it for the book's climax... but in order to do so, he tells the story in reverse chronological order...

So while I finished the book with the proverbial good taste in my mouth... with it really kicking into gear, gaining momentum at the end... and certainly shedding light on everything I had read in the preceding hundreds of pages (and perhaps even intentionally meant to be sluggish given what happened!), I just felt it took too long to get there.  

That said, I'd hate to discourage anyone from reading it (on a 5-star scale, I'd rate it 3.5). Granted it's not a book for everyone and I do hold Boyle to a higher standard... and now having read several books by him, it is impossible not to weigh his works against each other.  So while not my favorite Boyle, it's still a good big in the big picture.

Comments

[jen maiser]

I ended up putting it down. I know I'll get back to it at some point, but not right now. :) Trying to decide what to read next (I have a pile of books because I went to a book swap recently, so no new purchase for me!)