Monday, September 3, 2007

Book Review: Either Side of Winter

Either Side of Winter
Benjamin Markovits
2005, Faber and Faber
235 pages

The Daily Mail describes Markovits book as “truly a book to get lost in”. That may have been very precise if it is less of my determination to finish the book and more of my fascination with the world that Markovits created that prompted me to read the book from cover to cover. I would say outright though that Markovits was successful in convincing me to read a book completely, in particular, a work of fiction. During these past few years, I have been unable to finish reading almost all of my recently acquired books, or even assigned chapters or articles in graduate school. A fictional work is something I have not held for at least the last five years of my life, and spending day to day with someone who is convinced that fact is stranger than fiction does not help in this matter.

Back to Markovits. A surprising and wonderful method that he employed was to gather four stories of interrelated lives and distribute the storytelling for his protagonists among the four seasons. I believe this format led to a less confusing unraveling of his sub-plots and may have manifested Markovits organized thoughts, if the method did not aid him first in his storytelling. Thus the rendition of his characters’ interrelated plots and lives are neatly served to his reader, making the consumption of his book more palatable rather than when they are served in the usual chronological chapter manner.

Markovits’ finest quality is his subtlety, his ability to convey his message without being preachy. Overall, the book gives one a sense of sobriety despite the turmoil in the characters’ lives; his prose allows one to discern that the events described in the story are facts of life, without being lost in the vividness of his imagery. The downside to this is that the stories may seem dull at certain points. Coming across as intelligent and sensitive, Markovits in this work provides an emphatic rendition of his characters by effectively presenting their multidimensionality.


Book 1: Fall - A Thanksgiving Visit

Book 1 takes us to the story of Amy Bostick, her family and her new lover. Amy, a fresh graduate from Amherst, moves to New York for a teaching position in an elite secondary school accompanied by her father, Jack Bostick. Jack is a lawyer who is no stranger to the big city having spent a considerable time there as a student and a young lawyer till he met Amy’s mom, his wife Joanne.

Markovits slowly unravels Amy’s fast-paced story, starting with the night she met Charles Conway, a rather famous son of one of her employer’s big donors. Amy and Charles began dating since their meeting, with a cloud of class differences building up above them the whole time. Charles’ world was new to Amy but there were certain aspects to his privileged lifestyle that fascinated her.

In the course of dating, Amy would slowly reveal herself to Charles, relating to him at one breakfast how she always felt that her dad was closer to her than her brother, and speculated that this dynamic might have played out in her favor during their entire young lives.

A day before Thanksgiving, Amy’s mom and dad arrived. Shortly after their arrival, they met Charles whose graciousness impressed Amy’s parents in no time. On Thanksgiving, Andy, Amy’s brother, arrived, looking like a familiar stranger.

Andy had grown up in California, away from his family, and carried a whiff of manhood with him. New things about the family started to unfold in Amy’s consciousness upon Andy’s arrival and here is where the beauty of the story emerges.

Book 1 gently reminds us of our tendency to take our family members for granted, thinking that we know them well due to having spent a great deal of our lives with them. This belief may not prove true, however, especially as we find ourselves coping in the midst of our own individual lives.

Andy entered the story with a confidence about him that Amy never noticed before. Amy and Andy had split beds during holidays when they were kids, the same way that they were now sharing a futon in Amy’s apartment in New York. But as Andy has grown up and is living and exploring his life as an individual, some aspects of his life have just become off-limits, unintentionally or not, ironically just as he and Amy find themselves opening up more to each other as adults. They were now more assured of their identity as compared to when they were kids when there might have been a ‘disconnect’ between them due to competition for their parents’ attention. As Markovits writes, “Amy guessed he had a girl in California, or had had girls, and knew what it was like to lie in bed beside them now, and forbore from turning over as he might have done before because he had new habits to repress.”

A bigger surprise that met Amy during Thanksgiving was the fact that she was the last person in her family to know that her dad lost his job, surprisingly or unsurprisingly, due to her being the favored daughter. The information was hidden mainly to keep Amy from worrying about her family, a decision made by them having known how sad Amy was during her move to New York. The ‘secret’ was never brought up by anyone the whole time the family was together.

The story culminates the night before Amy’s family left New York City, over dinner where Charles and Jack arrived late and behaved strangely throughout. After hearing the reason for the men’s strange behavior, it dawned on Amy how different she and Charles were owing to their wealth.

Amy was frustrated with the how the visit ended, but Charles, having the pedigree that he has, reconciled with Amy and offered whatever he could manage as an apology. Still, it occurred to Amy how the men in her life, despite their lovely qualities and obvious strengths, can fall haplessly to the very things that bring them prestige and mystique.


Book 2: Winter - Second Chance

Book 2 tells us the story of Howard Peasbody, Amy’s colleague, and his heart that is as cold as winter. This is an interesting story of a gay love affair that ends in pathos as Howard finds himself unable to cope with his lover and the subsequent re-entry into his life, after seventeen years, of his long lost female friend with whom he unknowingly fathered a child. Howard meets his child, Francesca or Franny, thinking that she is not the child that he thought he would have or liked. Ultimately, Howard, not wanting to cope with the people in his life, devises a wicked plan to get rid of his lover, his long lost friend and mother of his child, and his child.

Book 2 adds spice to the collection by presenting what still could be considered a different love story, that of two men. That in itself makes for an interesting read for the curious. The story comes to a rather dark close as the protagonist, who is also the antagonist by the measure of his deeds, succeeds in his heartless plan to rid himself of the people closest to him by poisoning their minds with his destructive lies. The reason for his decision is unclear, but what reason does an unkind heart and a twisted mind need to execute a mean deed?


Book 3: Spring – A Girl As Fresh As Spring

Literature teacher Mr. Stuart Englander or Stu lives a quiet and uneventful existence except for two points of his life: when he was with the sensual Molly Hancock, his first girlfriend who introduced him to sexuality in college; and a year when he found himself fixated with Rachel Kranz, his very wealthy and very pretty but unassuming student in his Shakespeare class.

Rachel initially came to Stu’s attention three years ago, when she went looking for a book in a faculty room together with Stu’s colleague Roger Bathurst. Three years later, Roger went missing after eloping with a student from their school; Rachel was then enrolled in Stu’s Shakespeare class. Stu found himself increasingly drawn to Rachel, his attraction to her fueled by the memories of his first love, his childless and routine-filled marriage, and the precedent set by Roger Bathurst. Stu’s madness came to a halt when he eventually found out that Rachel did not exactly carry the equivalent of his sentiments.

This is a very enlightening story regarding the various forms a student-teacher relationship can take. For those who have never found themselves involved in a student-teacher affair, this story serves as a reminder that the authority figures we see in our classrooms are humans too, and therefore are very capable of feeling and at times erring and abusing their powers over mostly younger people who are their students.

The story also gives valuable insights on how marriages can last through time. In the case of that between Stu and Mary Louise, it is their ability to talk openly about their thoughts and feelings, owing mainly to Mary Louise’s courage to confront truths, that held them together.

Additionally, the story presents the brighter side of ‘strange’ or scandalous events normally taken as an affront to the sensibilities by those who consider themselves more conservative than others. Roger Bathurst found himself reinvigorated by a new love that he fought for. Such a fight of course still has to come with a price—here the price is the odd couple’s happy but ultimately lonely state.

Favorite line: “Secret lives exert great outward pressure.”


Book 4: Summer - Inheritance

Rachel Kranz, daughter of a wealthy lawyer and a former model, is not your usual teenager by virtue of her wealth and the future wealth that is to befall her. Except for that fact, Rachel will be your usual teenager seeking and forming her identity and looking out for affirmation from the world around her.

On the eighteenth and probably the most important summer of her life, Rachel went through an array of endings and beginnings in her life. Her father died, leaving her a vast inheritance; she met her teacher and mentor who would be influential in her chosen career in the future; she experimented with a boy who had long professed his love to her; she completed high school; she became independent.

The death of Rachel’s father, wealthy lawyer Reuben Kranz, may have accelerated the flow of information that she needed to fortify herself as an adult; that she was born out of love and that she would have all the money she needs to live comfortably at her discretion. With Reuben’s slow and painful departure, Rachel’s ‘incubation’, her preparation for facing the rest of her life, was hastened, readying her for things to come. During a conversation with her father, Rachel declared, ‘I think I’m going to write a book. About my life. I am going to call it: Unfurnished.’ He answered, ‘Unfinished. Clutter will come. You’ll see.’

Reuben knew what his daughter needed.