Victory Song - A Reader Writes

The Master Butchers Singing Club

Think about how music connects us - to each other, and to places and events and communities.  This is the underlying glue that ties together - but does not necessarily bind -- all the various characters of Louise Erdrich's novel, The Master Butchers Singing Club.

It begins as Fidelis Waldvogel returns to his small hometown in Germany, having survived WW1.  He marries the pregnant wife of his dead soldier buddy and eventually emigrates and settles in North Dakota, having carried a suitcase full of sausages and his butcher's knives across the sea.  His powerful physical strength is balanced with a soft, full tenor voice.  He starts a local singing club, just as his father had done with the other butchers back in Germany.  Their bonding is a key part of the story of the town, and music has a forward theme throughout the story, which is told in alternating patterns in the voices of several characters.

Other characters are introduced - some from the old country, some from the new small town - and all with hopes, dreams, fears and things they wish to hide.  The tale is epic, if somewhat disjointed, and in the end, I am left feeling somewhat battered.  There is much joy and beauty - the result of hard work and a non-demonstrative, rather practical, yet deeply felt loves.  There is not a lot of dialog - the story unfolds mostly through industry, action and individual reflection.  There is also much sadness and despair.  Love that is freely given, but not unconditionally. 

Fidelis is a kind, upstanding, strong man.  He loves his wife and children.  He is a master butcher, and takes pride in his work.  He is also private and carries the burden of war and loss.  I just read this whole novel about him and his clan, and I feel I have not met him.  Much of the story is told from the view of his eventual wife Delphine -- she we get to know, but she is also driven by loss and misery of her own, and
I am saddened by the fact that she never really gets to experience unbridled joy. 

Through all this, there are moments tender, hilarious escapades and impressive devotion.  These characters are intense and exhausting to be around.

I think I liked it. I wanted to know the end of the story.  But I leave it feeling somewhat dissatisfied.  Somehow the inputs don't quite seem to equal the outputs.  Then again, no one seems terribly unhappy, either.  Perhaps I wanted more for these kind and good people than they wanted themselves.  Perhaps I live in a time and with so many opportunities that I can't appreciate their acceptance of mere survival.

If you like a novel that is sweeping, epic even, you will enjoy following the trajectory of this family. 

The Master Butchers Singing Club, by Louise Erdrich.

The Help - Worth Reading In Hardback!

I confess that I rarely read fiction in hardcover (exception- the entire Harry Potter series!)  I just have so many great books to read that I figure I can always wait and see if it gets a hearty welcome.  Similarly, I rarely see a Broadway show until I can guage if it's for New Yorkers or tourists.  (I am still really a tourist here, after just six years in the Big City (as my neice calls it), but like to think I have New Yorker cultural tastes!)

The Help, a new novel out in hardback by Kathryn Stockett, is an exception. I recommend it immediately! 

The characters are so intense and so succulent that you won't want to put this book down. Even the really bitchy socialite that runs the women's league with a disgusting and iron hand is deliciously written. I read it in one big gulp and then when back to page one and read it again, more slowly, and savored it.  The writing is easy and simple, but extremely powerful. 

Stockett tells a story of the black maids in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960's.  That might sound trite at first, but the characters quickly come to life and you see through their eyes how hardened and cruel prejudice turns into self-protecting egotism.  In a way, it seems these attitudes become logical, pleasant even, to those who practice them.

I also love that the maids are keeping the whole town running - the white homes and parties as well as the black homes and church fairs, too.  How typical that the most under privileged women of a community are the ones we can't do without!

I read this book with such engagement and joy that several times I clapped my hands - much to the surprise and amusement of people sitting next to me in a cafe.  "That must be one heck of a book," the gentleman at the next table says with raised eyebrows, while his wife gives me a look of pure annoyance.  I was glad in this case to have the pleasant company of my book!

Don't get me wrong - this is not a book about a happy situation. Not everyone gets what they deserve - although finally, at the end, the nasty one gets hers. (Thank goodness.)

It's a story of struggle and self fulfillment and lack of opportunity and frustration and battles against the establishment.  It's also incredibly human and warm and inspiring.  Under similar pressure and lack of support, I wonder if I would do half as well as the maids.  Probably not.

Thanks to my friend Gene who told me about this book while we were wandering in a cool bookstore in Brooklyn. If you are in a book club - read this one soon!

Get The Help, but Kathryn Stockett.

The Skinny on The Addams Family (Broadway)

My dear friend and fellow theater lover Gwynn said it best as we escaped from The Addams Family on Broadway last night.

"That plot made Mama Mia seem like Anna Karenina."

Well said! 

As much as I love Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, even they could not save this one.  This show was boring, unimaginative and completely uninspired - in dialog, plot and musical composition.  Too bad, as the Addams Family heritage is rich with creative opportunity.