DTH Omnibus Page 5
Thursday November 30, 1989
BOOKS
Best Sellers
Fiction
1. The Dark Half
Stephen King
2. Clear and Present Danger
Tom Clancy
3. Foucaut's Pendulum
Umberto Eco
4. Tales From Margaritaville
Jimmy Buffett
5. Jimmy Stewart and His Poems
Jimmy Stewart
6. Some Can Whistle
Larry McMurtry
7. Pillars of the Earth
KenFollett
8. California Gold
John Jakes
Nonfiction
1. All I Really Need to Know I
Learned in Kindergarten
Robert Fulghum
2. My Turn
Nancy Reagan with William Novak
3. I Was on Fire When
I Lay Down on it
Robert Fulghum
4. Roseanne
Roseanne Ban
5. Among Schoolchildren
Tracy Kidder
6. Confessions of an S.O.B.
AINeuharth
7. A Brief History of Time
Stephen W. Hawking
6. I Want to Grow Hair, I Want to
Grow Up, I Want to Go to Boise
Erma Bombeck
New York Times
Short stories
Revealing
Jack of Diamonds
by Elizabeth Spencer
Penguin Books
$6.95
OOOO
tired of looking at that book
you've been reading for months,
the one you've been meaning
to finish but just haven't gotten
around to? Pick up a copy of Eliza
beth Spencer's Jack of Diamonds. This
collection of five short stories is in
teresting, thought-provoking and
easy-to-read, and (best of all) each
of the stories can be finished in one
sitting.
Spencer uses these short stories as
character studies. She develops her
characters into living people that the
reader is able to relate to. The reader
can feel the characters' emotions and
see into their hearts. Spencer gives
the reader insight into the charac
ters' minds so that he or she can sit
back and watch deceptive twists un
fold. For a few minutes the reader is
drawn into the often bizarre reality
of Spencer's stories.
A story of family,
Equal Affections
by David Leavitt
Weidenfeld and Nicolson
$18.95
oooo
Cancer. Most people know
something about the disease
and its treatments, but few
realize its enormous impact on the
lives of the victim's loved ones un
less they have experienced it first
hand. In his new novel, Equal AffeC'
tions, young writer David Leavitt
explores cancer and its effect upon a
single family. He tells the story of
the Coopers and each family
member's method of dealing with
death, anger, grief, hope and love.
At the Cooper home in Carroll
ton, Calif., "illness moved into their
house like an elderly aunt in a back
bedroom." Confronted with inevi
table death, Louise Cooper, the
mother of two, battles cancer. While
struggling with their own identities,
her children, April and Danny, try
their best to understand why their
mother is dying. Nat, Louise's hus
band, attempts to shut out his wife's
illness and what will follow.
Throughout it all, Danny clings to
April, who is nine years older. Ever
since she learned to talk, April was
the hidden
Sarah Barrett
In "Jean-Pierre", a young English
Canadian woman marries an older
French-Canadian man and must deal
with the age barrier, cultural differ
ences and the mysterious absence of
her husband, who does not return
from a business trip. Wondering if
he will ever come back and bom
barded with mixed emotions, she
slowly loses her grip on reality until
suddenly one day everything myste
riously comes back.
"The Cousins" is a story of the
intense familial bond of five distant
cousins who travel to Europe together
one summer. Spencer twists the bond
between three of them into a love
triangle. She uses this tension to study
the lies and manipulative games that
men and women play and shows that
not all of the players come out win
ners. Or do they?
"Jack of Diamonds" is the story of
a young girl who discovers the two
faced nature of her father. After her
mother's death she learns that her
parents marriage was not as perfect
as it had seemed.
S us anne George
singing. Nat loved to hear his daugh
ter sing, and April would sing for her
parents whenever she got her tone
deaf brother to sing along. Her natu
ral talent stood out, and her career
was launched from there.
Awestruck, Danny watches April
climb the ladder of success to fame
and stardom, as she transforms her
self into the renowned singer April
Gold. At age 20, Danny begins to
follow his sister's band across the
country and gets basically nothing
in return, for in the spotlight April is
selfish, demanding and unsympa
thetic. Louise's illness haunts April and
Danny's adulthood, sparking count
less "what ifs." Cancer has definitely
had an effect on the lives of every
family member. Nat eventually turns
to another woman for affection and
support. Because of his affair, he feels
even worse; not only is he losing his
wife, but he is losing his faith in his
marriage and in himself. Louise soon
realizes that her husband is straying,
but she doesn't say anything. She is
intent on suffering alone. April and
Danny, however, never really admit
how they feel about their mother's
illness.
Equal Affections accounts for
card in every deck
"The Business Venture" is a story
of a white woman and a black man
who create a dry-cleaning business
together in a small Mississippi town.
Racism and small-town rumors even
tually force them to defend their
business in court. Spencer also ex
amines the relationships between the
people of the town, the unhappy
marriages, the lack of a future and
the past memories that bind people
together.
"The Skater" is the story of two
individuals who are so desperately
lonely that they will resort to lies
and blackmail in order to receive
attention. A mother whose children
have grown and left her clings both
to the excitement of a younger TV
producer lover and the security of
her lawyer husband. A young man
who has been curiously disinherited
by his father appeals to the husband
for help. The lawyer refuses, so the
young man, who has discovered the
wife's affair, blackmails her in hopes
that she will persuade her husband
to take the case. Eventually the
woman takes the young man into
her heart, finding a child in need.
The young man clings to her as a
motherly figure and a twisted famil
ial bond is created between them.
Spencer links these five tales with
death and fame
Louise's entire 20-year battle with
cancer. Leavitt mentions significant
events in the lives of Danny, April
and Nat that occur at times of set
back or triumph in Louise's treat
ment. For example, the first and sec
ond times Louise thinks she is really
dying mark transitions in April and
Danny's lives; the cancer becomes a
little more ordinary to them, and they
begin to start altering their lives to
fit Louise's own standards and goals.
Louise's illness seems to be the
background story, but in fact it is the
primary one. With the disease al
ways in his characters' lives, Leavitt
is able to show the cancer's effect on
April, Danny and Nat.
Leavitt mixes the past with the
present and with events that could
have been smoothly and effectively
by the use of chapters within chap
ters sections with lines marking
the transition of subject or time. This
format and Leavitt's vivid, flowing
style of writing captures the reader
and brings him or her into the trying
world of the Cooper family. He tells
the story from all viewpoints. With
colorful imagery and metaphors,
Leavitt maps out the thoughts, wishes
and actions of every character for
the reader.
Perhaps the only drawback to Equal
Affections is Leavitt's tendency to
dwell for a little too long on one
particular character or on one par
ticular time period.
But this complaint is a minor one
by showing a two-sided nature in
everything. Her characters can be
compassionate and motherly at the
same time that they tell lies and are
deceptive. Spencer shows how people
use lies to cover and distort reality.
When that facade is shattered or
threatened, its creators are caught in
a trap.
It is at this point that the two
sided nature is revealed. The charac
ters either smoothly cover up the hole
or fall in. Spencer's portrayal of indi
viduals is so real it's shocking; the
reader emphasizes with the loneli
ness of the mother or the bitterness
of the young girl, and is yet repelled
by the characters' deviousness.
In a way, Spencer dares her audi
ence to take a closer look at their
own lives. After reading the novel,
will you find a Jack of Diamonds hid
den in your deck?
The books we
review are
provided
courtesy of
the Bull's
Head
Bookshop,
located in the. Student Stores
ffl-BU UffCIIOTI
ft v
OHIO If HII!
when held up to the novel's effect as
a whole. The fantastic, surprising
ending of the book leaves the reader
with a sense of awe at Louise's inner
strength, satisfaction with Danny and
April's final understanding, and a
feeling of sadness as Nat is forced to
come to grips with his wife's death.
All in all, Leavitt has created a
wonderful story, a story of courage,
cooperation and love, while sending
a powerful message to his audience.
The moral of Equal Affections is simple
enough: Through times of hardship,
misunderstanding and doubt, the love
and unconditional acceptance of a
family cannot be replaced.
Paul McCartney
was in a band
before Wings?
feMlimU)fcl
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