Sort of Rich

Rating:
Summary: Sort of Great
Review: This is one of James Wilcox's lesser known novels possibly because while the first part is a comic novel in the tradition of his best-known works, the second part is considerably less so following an very un-Wilcox like plot turn which brings legitimate trauma into the life of his lead character(usually the people in Wilcox's world are obsessed with faux melodramas that get quickly deflated and end in a whimper). Gretchen is a unglamorous, never married New Yorker in her early forties who has a quick affair and marriage with Frank, a handsome widower in his fifties who lives in a small Louisiana town. The culture shock angle is down-played; indeed, Gretchen runs into characters every bit as eccentric as she is from an elderly diva-like housekeeper who still talks about the late first wife as the lady of the house (one suspects at one point the book will turn into a comic REBECCA) and especially Leo, a handyman her age who lives on a trailer on Frank's property whom Gretchen suspects is out to wreck her marriage.

Most of Mr. Wilcox's characters live in worlds of their own imagination rather oblivious to what is actually happening, control freaks certain in their predictions of the future and usually as off the mark as they can be but Gretchen goes to new extremes sometimes actually not seeing things correctly (briefly mistaking a dog for a cow for example). I was particularly interested in one plot twist involving a character who is repeatedly referred to throughout the book but who only makes a brief appearance, a fascinating example of how someone can be obsessed with a person who scarcely gives the other person a thought.

Mr. Wilcox's eye is sharp as ever on human indiginities - dandruff on lapels, stains on "clean" dishes, dresses that don't quite zip up - but while he may not be sentimental, he's not judgemental. Some may find him a bit patronizing at times but I feel he is simply trying to write honestly if bluntly. He may not "love" his characters like the great Eudora Welty but he seems to respect their right to exist as they are.