That Old Cape Magic
by Richard Russo
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Book Reviews of That Old Cape Magic
Book Review: Magic, like the title says
Summary: 5 Stars
Richard Russo's latest novel is organized loosely around two weddings, but its focus is on two marriages of longer duration--those of the parents and grandparents of bride number two. The first wedding takes place on Cape Cod, where Jack Griffin, Hollywood scriptwriter turned English professor, once honeymooned and where he had always summered with his parents as a boy. Jack's parents, one of them dead already at the book's outset, were an odious pair of unhappily married narcissists for whom nothing--whether academic position or rental property or neighbor--was ever good enough. They both haunt him now, particularly his mother, spouting elitist commentary over the phone or in his imagination. Troubled by signs that his own marriage is failing ("What did you expect?" his mother might interject." She never did graduate work."), Jack finds himself coming to terms with his unwelcome inheritance of some of his parents' personality traits. His marital crisis, meanwhile, and time spent again in Cape Cod leave him reexamining his childhood, but there are hints that his memory may be imperfect, or that his childhood self may not have been privy to the whole story of, for example, his parents' marriage.
Russo's title refers to the song "That Old Black Magic," which his parents regularly sang on the way to the Cape, with some of the words changed. But the magic here likes in Russo's writing. It's a mystery to me how the author, using the same set of words that is available to the rest of us, can craft from them such a thought-provoking story and a cast of complex, flesh-and-blood characters. Russo is surely one of our finest writers.
-- Debra Hamel
Book Review: Fresh Breeze
Summary: 4 Stars
Richard Russo's latest, "That Old Cape Magic", is a charming story of a writer/professor in his mid-50s dealing with life across three generations - his own, his parents' (his own and in-laws) and his daughter's. By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, "That Old Cape Magic" is my favorite among the three Russo novels I've read, and a big step up from his previous work Bridge of Sighs: A Novel (Vintage Contemporaries).
The story, despite early appearance of a urn of ashes, is lighter than "Bridge". Without a physical or metaphorical bridge to cross, the book is more cohesive. Russo returns to the familiar academic environment of Straight Man: A Novel, but protagonist Jack Griffin is more sympathetic than his counterpart in that book. Jack's parents, Bill and Mary, unfulfilled English professors at a Midwestern university reminded me of George and Martha from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," by turns scary, funny and sad. Their annual summer vacation trek / relocation prayer to Cape Cod inspires the title. The climactic second wedding scene involving Jack's daughter is a scream - one of the best scenes Russo's ever written.
If you loved "Bridge of Sighs" and got a lot out of it, you might be disappointed with this lighter weight effort. But if like me, you found Russo's last novel to be heavy sailing, you'll enjoy the breezier touch of "That Old Cape Magic."
Book Review: Inheritance
Summary: 4 Stars
Wisdom about family relationships is planted amid the laughter throughout Richard Russo's new novel, That Old Cape Magic. Structured as a year in the life of 57-year-old protagonist Jack Griffin, the novel begins as Griffin drives to Cape Cod for a wedding, with the year-old ashes of his deceased father in the trunk of his car. His plan is to spread those ashes on the Cape, where he and his college professor parents spent every summer in a different rental house. Memories of those summers overtake Griffin, and his unhappiness leads to a separation from his wife. After his mother dies, he continues to hear her acerbic comments, and also carries her ashes to be scattered on the Cape. All the family dynamics come together with the wedding of Griffin's daughter in Maine. Separation from parents can be healthy or troubled, and when we observe ourselves behaving like our parents, that can be something that makes us feel miserable or happy. All of that appears on the pages of this finely written novel. The wisdom comes through gently, as in this quote from page 248, "Late middle age, he was coming to understand, was a time of life when everything was predictable and yet somehow you failed to see any of it coming." Sometimes what we inherit from our parents can be priceless. That Old Cape Magic opens the door to memories of family vacations and relationships that may bring joy and nostalgia to most readers. Russo's fine writing makes reading this novel a real pleasure.
Rating: Four-star (Highly Recommended)
Book Review: Plumb Some
Summary: 4 Stars
Huh?
Yeah that's right - as in close to level, in the parlance of Louie and Albert, two construction workers briefly encountered by the protagonist, Jack Griffin.
This book chronicles Griffin's quest, a pilgrimage, running away from, and then running towards, something that might be seen as plumb. Or at least, plumb some.
And, as Louie reminds Albert, "We're not building a skyscraper".
This really is a very good book.
Griffin lives in a thoroughly dysfunctional world, whose other inhabitants are at once brilliant and mediocre. Navigating through it, he finds more often than not that things are not what they seem. Twisted relationships, generational sin, madcap events all giving way to tragedy. Or so it seems. Sometimes.
Russo develops characters with a master's touch. Here's how he describes Griffin's mother, "Catch her in one unkindness and she'd quickly hopscotch to another. Attempting to corner her was like trying to put a cat in a bag; there was always an arm left over and, at the end of it, claws".
Where else would the claws be? But, you get the idea...
This book reminded me a bit of The Maytrees, by Annie Dillard, also about brilliant and mediocre people, and also set against the Cape Cod landscape. Not so much out of control vocabulary here, not so much over the top action there.
All in all a worthy book to read - where else - on the beach.
That's all, for now, from Nantucket.
Book Review: Lacking Some Magic
Summary: 4 Stars
Well, there's only about two-thirds of a book here, very unusual for Russo, compared with "Empire Falls" or "Bridge of Sighs." I had problems with "Bridge," now that I think of it, with his late-in-the-game plot twist that didn't quite work, but that's not the problem with the new book.
"Cape Magic" starts well, as we travel with Jack Griffin to Cape Cod to attend his daughter's friend's wedding. Griffin is irritated by his unsettled parting with his wife, causing them to drive up separately, and by the near constant phone calls from his nagging mother. He's also hampered by memory and duty as he makes plans to disperse his father's ashes on the trip. Griffin's ruminative process unfolds beautifully, and Russo seems to be in prime forms here for a good while. However, when the wedding is over and the weekend ends on a sour note for Griffin and his wife Joy, Russo drops the momentum and simply leaps into part two; one year later.
By the time all has unfurled and been explained in part two, the sagging narrative almost returns to the original pace when Griffin and Joy's daughter's wedding rehearsal takes a darkly hilarious turn. Funny and sad at the same time, these climactic scenes are slapstick and yet within the realm of reality. Closure at the end of the book may be a tad predictable, but feels like the right ending too. I just wish there had been more to this novel: More character insight (we only know Griffin), More development in the middle, More story.