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A review by lisa_mc
Laura Rider's Masterpiece by Jane Hamilton
4.0
The first few pages of Jane Hamilton’s new novel elicit chuckles, snorts and a couple of laughs loud enough to require explanation to others in the vicinity.
Yes, it’s a sex comedy from the same Jane Hamilton known for her weighty, complex stories of families and relationships, such as “The Book of Ruth,” “A Map of the World” and “When Madeline Was Young.”
But while “Laura Rider’s Masterpiece” is a departure in terms of tone — quick, breezy, funny — from Hamilton’s previous work, it touches on the same themes of relationships and personal identity. It also has the same smart writing and pitch-perfect characterization as Hamilton’s other novels.
The story centers on Laura Rider and her husband, happy-go-lucky Charlie, who own a nursery in rural Wisconsin. They’re close friends and good partners, but — by Laura’s unilateral decision — they’ve ceased and desisted their conjugal relations.
One day Charlie meets, by chance, radio personality Jenna Faroli, who hosts a talk show on NPR that Laura faithfully listens to. Both are a little star-struck when she sends him a brief e-mail afterward, and together they compose a reply, and then another, and soon they’re each writing long, thoughtful messages to Jenna under Charlie’s name.
The correspondence continues electronically for a while, until Charlie, with Laura’s not-so-tacit encouragement, seeks a closer relationship with Jenna, whose judge husband has engrossed himself in the writing of a book on law.
Laura, who is not much of a reader but has decided to write a romance novel, sees the whole affair as an experiment, a way to examine characters and figure out what kind of hero and heroine she would write about, what they would want from each other, what their conflict would be — because every romance novel has to have a conflict — and how it could get resolved.
As one can imagine, misunderstandings and mayhem ensue, but what specifically happens is not at all predictable, which adds to the sense of fun.
However, a darker undercurrent flows through “Laura Rider’s Masterpiece” as well. While Jenna presents a calm, erudite persona on the air, in reality she’s impatient, bored, snarky and idling in a not particularly exciting marriage.
“What had Jenna said to Suzie? Try to find the thrill in sound judgment. What fly-by-night Girl Scout leader had had that come from?”
The need for a thrill makes Jenna toss out her own sound judgment and connect with a person like Charlie; it also makes her vulnerable to Laura’s machinations.
For Laura, writing is quite a selfish pursuit; it’s all about her. So it’s unsurprising that the insights she comes away with fit her own point of view: “Maybe the whole point of love was to break each other so that from those shattered selves you could build a better, a sturdier self, so that you could go forward — not hand in hand but a comfortable arm’s length apart.”
Laura blithely carries on, unaware, or unconcerned, that the players in her experiment have feelings that messily spill outside any predetermined plot formula. Charlie is “constitutionally incapable of being unhappy for too long,” though Jenna’s hurt may stick around a little longer.
But the hurts in “Laura Rider’s Masterpiece” are mainly to pride. No lives are destroyed, no families torn asunder. And there are plenty of funny lines, droll observations and humorous situations along the way.
Readers will quickly devour this light novel, but discover that it’s more filling and satisfying than it appears.
Yes, it’s a sex comedy from the same Jane Hamilton known for her weighty, complex stories of families and relationships, such as “The Book of Ruth,” “A Map of the World” and “When Madeline Was Young.”
But while “Laura Rider’s Masterpiece” is a departure in terms of tone — quick, breezy, funny — from Hamilton’s previous work, it touches on the same themes of relationships and personal identity. It also has the same smart writing and pitch-perfect characterization as Hamilton’s other novels.
The story centers on Laura Rider and her husband, happy-go-lucky Charlie, who own a nursery in rural Wisconsin. They’re close friends and good partners, but — by Laura’s unilateral decision — they’ve ceased and desisted their conjugal relations.
One day Charlie meets, by chance, radio personality Jenna Faroli, who hosts a talk show on NPR that Laura faithfully listens to. Both are a little star-struck when she sends him a brief e-mail afterward, and together they compose a reply, and then another, and soon they’re each writing long, thoughtful messages to Jenna under Charlie’s name.
The correspondence continues electronically for a while, until Charlie, with Laura’s not-so-tacit encouragement, seeks a closer relationship with Jenna, whose judge husband has engrossed himself in the writing of a book on law.
Laura, who is not much of a reader but has decided to write a romance novel, sees the whole affair as an experiment, a way to examine characters and figure out what kind of hero and heroine she would write about, what they would want from each other, what their conflict would be — because every romance novel has to have a conflict — and how it could get resolved.
As one can imagine, misunderstandings and mayhem ensue, but what specifically happens is not at all predictable, which adds to the sense of fun.
However, a darker undercurrent flows through “Laura Rider’s Masterpiece” as well. While Jenna presents a calm, erudite persona on the air, in reality she’s impatient, bored, snarky and idling in a not particularly exciting marriage.
“What had Jenna said to Suzie? Try to find the thrill in sound judgment. What fly-by-night Girl Scout leader had had that come from?”
The need for a thrill makes Jenna toss out her own sound judgment and connect with a person like Charlie; it also makes her vulnerable to Laura’s machinations.
For Laura, writing is quite a selfish pursuit; it’s all about her. So it’s unsurprising that the insights she comes away with fit her own point of view: “Maybe the whole point of love was to break each other so that from those shattered selves you could build a better, a sturdier self, so that you could go forward — not hand in hand but a comfortable arm’s length apart.”
Laura blithely carries on, unaware, or unconcerned, that the players in her experiment have feelings that messily spill outside any predetermined plot formula. Charlie is “constitutionally incapable of being unhappy for too long,” though Jenna’s hurt may stick around a little longer.
But the hurts in “Laura Rider’s Masterpiece” are mainly to pride. No lives are destroyed, no families torn asunder. And there are plenty of funny lines, droll observations and humorous situations along the way.
Readers will quickly devour this light novel, but discover that it’s more filling and satisfying than it appears.