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Recommended Reading: 'The Great Man' by Kate Christensen
August 16, 2007
Even if Kate Christensen weren't a fluid, fine writer (which she indubitably is), she would be one of the most interesting writers around. Her subjects aren't drawn from the easy fodder for a woman in mid-life -- work/life balance, dealing with young children and aging parents, searching for love never found, etc., etc. (I think I've just reeled off themes of several novels in my nightstand stack).
No, Christensen instead tried her hand at chick lit long before it jumped the shark (2000's
In the Drink), moved on to a frustrated gay man, and then...
Her 2005
The Epicure's Lament was, quite simply, my favorite book of that year. Her protagonist Hugo Whittier is still with me, and I have to admit -- I'm still a little bit in love with him, dissolute wretch that he is.
Along the way, Christensen has firmly cemented her place as the queen of "loser lit" -- her characters are beyond flawed and well on their way to self-destructive or at the least self-erasing -- but that droll title belies the conviction and love she brings to her work. Christensen isn't just a serious writer (that phrase appears again and again in her press), she's an artist. So I wasn't surprised to see that her new novel is about... an artist.
However, Christensen being Christensen, she's found a new perspective: instead of writing about the artist in question (well-known painter Oscar Feldman), she writes about the women in his life after his death: mistress, sister, wife, in that order. None of these woman can even with kindness be said to be in mid-life, either. They're in their 70s and 80s, and while a couple of daughters are in their 40s, their presence is marginal, simply there to remind us of the older women's vitality.
Yes -- after writing a masterful novel about a middle-aged man trying to smoke himself to death, Christensen has chosen to illuminate the sex lives of the elderly, and she does so with wit, taste, grace, sensuality, and surprise. More important, though, she does so with purpose and intelligence. I hope you'll read
The Great Man, and I hope if you've already read it, you'll tell me what you think.
Posted by Bethanne Patrick on August 16, 2007 | Comments (2)
