Brad Watson (1) (1955–2020)

Think of all the difficulties you have encountered in your life. Remember the heartbreak of first love, the nervousness of meeting another human being you wanted to love and be loved by, and the doubts you entertained about whether your love, freely given, would be returned. Imagine how much harder it would be to find your place in the world if, along with all the normal difficulties life throws at us, you had a physical defect that made it impossible for you to have sex or bear children, and that left you incontinent as well. This is the life of Miss Jane Chisolm. Sounds rather bleak out of context, but that is because you don’t know Miss Jane.

This is a soft, simple book. The story is very straight forward, and yet there is a strength at the core of Jane that keeps you coloring with bright colors instead of gloomy ones. It isn’t only Jane’s story that resonates, it is also her sister, her parents and the doctor who brought her into this world and then held her hand as she journeyed through it. Dr. Thompson is a hero, in my eyes, and one of my favorite characters in a long, long while. Jane is intelligent, positive and stalwart; the kind of person you admire and strive to emulate.

Jane lives on a farm in Mississippi, and Watson’s descriptions of her life there and the nature around her are remarkable.

She loved most being in the woods, with the diffused light and the quiet there. Such a stillness, with just the pecking of ground birds and forest animals, the flutter of wings, the occasional skittering of squirrels playing up and down a tree. The silent, imperceptible unfurling of spring buds into blossom. She felt comfortable there. As if nothing could be unnatural in that place, within but apart from the world.

This seems to me to be the heart of Jane herself, “within but apart from the world”, and in just as many positive ways as negative ones. It is a book about perception. How people see Jane, how she sees herself, and how they all see each other.

Jane had never seen the look in her eyes she saw then. She almost looked empty. And for the first time Jane could remember, she saw her mother as a woman whom life had made not just hard but also exhausted and plain. Older-looking than her years.

Just as Jane came to see her mother differently, I came to see her differently as well. The weight of her life began to dawn upon me and soften my view of her behavior.

The creek would be up in such a rain, if it didn’t dump all of itself into the valley where the people of the town sat awaiting it, powerless like all of God’s children on this earth, who needed such reminding now and then that they were mortal. Ida Chisolm didn’t.

Yes, this is a quiet, flowing sort of story, not action packed or exciting, thoughtful and perhaps even brooding at times, but it offers characters you will never forget and a circumstance that would seem to break a person, but doesn’t. And therein is the magic, for if Jane is unbroken by who she is, why should any of us be broken by the things we cannot control. If the heart is strong, the spirit can win.


… (altro)

This book had the potential to be great. There were several points when the writing was superb and enthralling. There were moments when the characters came alive and sparkled. But there were also moments that fell flat, characters who seemed more caricature than reality, and places where the storyline seemed to plunge off into a place too dark and confusing for me to really wish to follow.

I’d like to tell you whose story this is, but I’m still a bit unsure. It seemed to be Finus’ story, but maybe it was Birdie’s, or perhaps it was Creasie’s tale. There is a black dummy that ought to stand for something, maybe does stand for something that I am not grasping, but that seems to be a plot device that doesn’t quite satisfy its purpose.

And, there are two instances when the plot is either a nod of tribute to two other writers, or the borrowing of a plot element that just comes a little too close to copying for my comfort. Again, I am having a hard time deciding which.

It must be said, Watson can write! His writing style is splendid and captivating and at times beautiful. Frequently he scores a perfect ten.

An open heart will save you, but you have to be smart, too. You have to be careful who you open your heart to. Some people can’t help but hurt you if they know it, he said, and kissed the young Finus on his forehead.

I’m unsure exactly what changes I would suggest to make this novel really work for me. It almost felt like Watson wanted to tell too many stories, so ended up not completely telling any. This is a 5-star read masquerading as a 3-star read. It’s like that face that just misses being beautiful because there is some lack of symmetry in the nose or the eyes are just a bit too far set. It still has character and personality, it just isn’t going to win the beauty contest.


… (altro)

This is another book to love by Brad Watson.

While I did have a few quibbles here and there with passages that went on and on and really did nothing to serve the story, I will let that slide because it was beautiful writing, although admittedly I skipped some of it.

Mostly, I wanted to know about Finus, Avis, Birdie, Earl, Aunt Vish, Junius, Creasy, and Merry, and on and on.

This is a story of unrequited love, about people who support one another, hate one another, cause problems for one another and then try to patch it all up. It's about marriages that shouldn't have happened, infidelity, imperfect people, and those who believe they've never done any wrong. It's like reading a mashup of Cormac McCarthy, Larry Brown, Donald Ray Pollock with a solid dose of Rick Bragg's style small town living.

There were parts that were laugh out loud funny, and many parts that made me cringe. And finally, toward the end, I learned I'd been saying the name Finus in my head wrong the entire time.

All in all, still a five star read - a book I highly recommend!… (altro)