I enjoy books that look at the how people interact in the context of life events. There is something compelling about trying to understand what makes people tick. Examining lives in context requires being able to observe people over time and in a range of situations. Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson was a surprisingly engaging story of a family over time. The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy looks at how a town’s residents engage one another. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham does not exactly look at a group of people, but a group of friends – rat, mole, badger, and toad. Although they are not human, their engagement is that of good friends who share their lives completely.
Behind the Scenes at the Museum. This story focuses on children growing up in what would now be called dysfunctional families. In the past, these families might have been considered to be difficult to understand or odd, at least from the outside. The story follows three generations in one family, as each generation grows from childhood to adulthood in England. The various decisions they make have lasting and often unfortunate consequences. For the most part, while the characters could have made different choices, the ones they made seemed honest to me, as were the consequences.
The main character was Ruby Lennox, who the reader first meets at the moment of conception and who is followed through most of her life. She was raised in a complicated situation, mostly because of her mother (Bunty), who was also raised in a complicated environment by her mother (Nell), who was raised by an unloving step-mother (Rachel) and had an absent mother (Alice). The message that mothers have a strong influence on their daughters (in this book, often negatively so) comes through loud and clear.
Three aspects of the book that I found particularly engaging were the sense of humor, the portion of the story set in World War I, and the reasonableness of the decisions for the time period. Without dropping anvils, the book set the right tone and I found those sections especially meaningful. It was tempting to want the characters to be more “progressive” in their choices, but the reality is most of the characters were poor and had limited experience with anything beyond their immediate community and culture. There was not a lot of therapy to help people through the loss of husbands, wives, and children, and the challenges of depression would have been received less sympathetically than in today’s world.
In my opinion, many stories that have a “coming of age” component or that follow a character’s life story seem to be a little too serious or perhaps try too hard to be profound, but this one features some irreverent and snarky humor that brings a tongue-in-cheek quality to the story. I welcome the snark. The character of Ruby seems to not only be able to experience what is going on, but acknowledge the ridiculousness of the context. The ability to inject this insight, while also conveying how difficult such situations would be first-hand, makes the character very appealing to me.
WWI has long interested me. Although wars are all ugly and destructive, WWI was particularly brutal. The the weapons of war (e.g., chemicals such as nerve and mustard gas, flame throwers, and other ghastly ways of maiming and killing people), the closeness of combat, the trenches that propagated disease and often trapped soldiers in place, and the lack of medical treatments combined to inflict hideous physical and psychological injuries that caused death or potentially life-long consequences. I thought this book did an excellent job of describing the war and its impact on the men who fought and their families.
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy is another novel that highlights how characters interact over time. It is an interesting story of how personalities and events are interwoven to affect people’s lives. The characters have distinct personalities and seem authentic, e.g., sometimes they just did/said stupid things and sometimes didn’t learn their lessons. In my experience, although we all like to believe that we learn from our mistakes, there are times when we are not quite as self-aware and forward-moving as we think we are – personal evolution is not always upwardly linear.
The plot was full of winding paths that kept looping back. The past and the present are both important in th story and it seemed to me that the plot often was dependent on the actions of the characters rather than driving the action. And yet, I’m not sure whether I would consider this story plot-driven or character-driven – in some ways, plot and character are so intertwined that it’s hard to separate them. This is a compelling story that I may need to revisit to resolve some of the story elements.
Michael Henchard led the way in memorability. He had a temper and would say things that invariably got him into trouble and ended up pushing people away. His need to control situations and his roles, his need to dominate others through his tone or level of engagement (or lack thereof) ended up hurting him in the end. His inability to be honest about his mistakes and misjudgments led to his downfall and his isolation. Yet, I couldn’t help rooting for him to finally learn his lesson and stop being his own worst enemy.
Two women in the story – Susan and Elizabeth – were capable and made rational decisions about where they are going in life. Susan was an interesting character in part because she was described as “simple” but I see her as street-smart. Though not book-smart or necessarily people-smart, she made strategic decisions about what she did and when she disclosed information. Elizabeth worked to improve herself and move beyond her sense of inferiority. She’s the one I’d like to see 10 years after the book ends to see what she’s doing.
A few characters did not seem to be fully formed. Farfrae started out interesting but then, once he went off on his own, fell off the radar screen. His development was mostly incomplete. Lucetta seemed quite one-dimensional at first and then switched and became one-dimensional in a different way! Newson seemed like a good guy but there was little of him in the story.
In The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham, Ratty, Mole, Badger and Toad are a devoted group of friends and are fun to hang out with for a while. Rat and Mole are sort of the ultimate best friends – they even end up moving in together. Badger and Toad, along with Otter and a few other animals, provide interesting diversions. This is a children’s book, so on one hand can be read at face value – if animals, talking, wearing clothes and driving cars is really face value! Oddly, the one that threw me is Toad combing his hair – I can’t compute that image. On the other hand, it’s a nice reminder to take a break from work and spend time with those you love, whatever species they happen to be.
It’s also always comforting to see friends of different personalities get together and enjoy the differences – though Toad the Boastful really did need a personality overhaul. Reading children’s stories is always something of a gamble. Sometimes they are great as a reminder of both happy times of the past and fundamental goodness. Other times, they just don’t live up to cherished memories. This one was a good read, though made me realize that I need to work on cultivating and maintaining friendships. With the last section of the book about recapturing Toad Hall, I was hard-pressed to come up with my list of companions who would be willing to join me in crawling through an old tunnel and facing down a pack of stoats and weasels!
The animals were somewhere between animals and humans. They seem to be small enough to burrow around tree roots and in riverside holes but large enough to drive cars, ride horses and trains, and so on. Sometimes they were very like animals – running through the fields, etc. – and other times sound more like people. So I set all that aside and focused on the friendships. The happy times doing simple things – going for a picnic or boating or visiting friends – were a nice distraction and a reminder that not everything needs to be big and expensive to be worthwhile.
Rat and Mole were a lovely pair and they really understood and appreciated each other. Badger was a bit overbearing at times, but also was generous. Perhaps I am forgiving because I’m a little more like Badger than I’d like to admit. Toad was the challenge for me because I saw him as an arrogant addict, which was not a positive combination. I could understand the other three together – and even with some of other characters added in. Toad reminded me of someone I knew in college who liked to party and then didn’t seem to grow out of it. He didn’t recognize that he was destructive and selfish. At the beginning of the book, he was playful and fun, so I could understand him being able to get away with it. Later in the book, he didn’t seem to care about others and put people and animals at risk – only concerned with “winning”. The playful and fun side seemed darker and no longer charming. Fortunately, for me, there was enough Rat and Mole to make up for Toad!
