Ann S. Epstein Writer

What I’m Reading: Aviary

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Aviary by Deirdre McNamer (Rating 3) – Caged Characters. When Aviary by Deirdre McNamer was published, about a developer’s scheme to take over a retirement residence in pre-COVID Montana, I was already well into well into my novel-in-progress about a similar venture at an old age home, albeit set in 1960s Michigan. Hence, I read this book with curiosity about how the subject was treated, and dismay that another writer had beaten me to it. I was relieved to discover that while McNamer and I both tell our stories from multiple viewpoints, including seniors and other community members, our tales are otherwise quite different. Aviary is in many ways a mystery: Who is behind a fire in the building? Why have the manager and an elderly tenant disappeared? Is a troubled teenager connected to these events? I found the loose ends and far-fetched plot elements unsatisfying. Aviary is also meant to explore how the elderly come to terms with life’s disappointments and losses as they weigh how, or even whether, to go on living. However, among McNamer’s quirky and stereotypical characters, I was invested in the fate of only one, Cassie McMackin, whose portrait is itself sketchy. Ultimately, the varied cast is an aviary of caged birds, desperate to be freed by the author. As a fiction writer (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I don’t limit myself to likable protagonists. But they should be complex enough to make readers reflect on their motivations and assess the “fitness” of their actions. In the end, McNamer prizes the mysteries of plot rather than those of character.

Aviary fails to free its caged characters

Why writers read: “When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature.” – Maya Angelou

Bad Dad Tale: No Fun at All

In Alison Bechdel’s award-winning graphic memoir Fun Home, she describes her emotionally abusive dad as “an alchemist of appearance, a savant of surface, a Daedalus of decor” given his knack for home restoration and leading a double life as a gay man fixated on in teenage boys. No wonder the book is subtitled “A Family Tragicomic.” For the story of another bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true meaning of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.

Alison Bechdel’s dad in her graphic memoir was a “big sissy”

Toronto, 1926: A husband pressures his wife to have babies for a large cash prize

Bad Dad Tale: Dark and Darker

Culla Holme, the father in Cormac McCarthy’s novel Outer Dark, impregnates his sister Rinthy. After she gives birth, he leaves the infant in the woods to die, lying to Rinthy that the baby died of natural causes and was buried. Then Culla skips town. Bad dad. Bad bro. Bad guy. For the story of another bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true meaning of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.

Inner dark in Cormac McCarthy’s novel Outer Dark

Bad Dad Tale: A Real Humdinger

In Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, Humbert Humbert can’t be anything but a terrible stepfather with a name that suggests humbug and fake humility. Although books about pedophiles are now common, Nabokov’s 1955 novel broke new ground by exposing how Humbert justified his vile acts by blaming his twelve-year-old victim for seducing him. For the story of another bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true meaning of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.

Vladimir Nabokov’s Humbert Humbert and Lolita in the 1962 movie

Bad Dad Tale: Beat, Pray, Love?

Ivan the Terrible, who ruled Russia from 1533 to 1584, beat his pregnant daughter-in-law for wearing revealing clothes. She miscarried. When her husband (also named Ivan) protested, the czar beat his heir on the head with a scepter. His son died a few days later, while Ivan the Terrible prayed at his bedside for a miracle. For the story of another bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true meaning of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.

Bad Dad Tale: He Didn’t Lift a Finger to Save Her Head

In 1533, Thomas Boleyn, father of Anne Boleyn, coerced his daughter to marry King Henry VIII to improve his own standing in court. Three years later, having failed to produce a male heir, Anne was beheaded for high treason. Thomas, despite his influence, did nothing to save her. For the story of another bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true meaning of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.

Anne Boleyn’s father made her marry Henry VIII and didn’t object when she was beheaded

Introducing Bad Dad Tales

Reams have been written about horrendous mothers, but what about terrible fathers? In conjunction with the publication of my novel The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, must learn the true meaning of fatherhood, I’m collecting “bad dad” stories about real and fictional characters who fall short of the ideal. From ancient times (the Old Testament; Greek mythology) to the present (true crime podcasts; graphic novels and memoirs), there’s no shortage of cringe-worthy candidates. No doubt you have your own favorites drawn from personal experience, lurid news accounts, and imaginary demons. Enjoy my series of bad dad posts, and read The Great Stork Derby. Read more about the book in NOVELS.

Bad Dad Tales: Stories of real and fictional fathers who fall short of the ideal

What I’m Reading: Burnt Sugar

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi (Rating 3) – Neither Acrid Nor Sweet Enough. I was frankly disappointed by Avni Doshi’s acclaimed novel Burnt Sugar. Her portrait of an artistic daughter’s abuse by her mother, now suffering from dementia, echoes too many others to offer a fresh perspective. As a visual artist, I hoped Doshi would describe the creative process of her protagonist, Antara, and render her drawings vividly enough for me to picture them. She does neither. As a writer (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I looked for finely observed details about the setting, fully developed characters, and revelatory interactions. While Doshi’s cultural commentary is intriguing, especially on the differences between the narrator’s Indian-born upbringing and her husband’s American-born Indian background, much of this rich territory goes unexplored. Nor did her images of Pune today, and the ashram where Antara and her mother lived during Antara’s childhood, provide the depth I wanted. The main drawback was that I wasn’t invested in the characters; ergo Antara’s secret and postpartum meltdown did not elicit much reaction. Burnt Sugar is neither acrid nor sweet enough to deliver a shiver of surprise nor the satisfaction of inevitability.

A novel about an abusive mother-daughter relationship

Why writers read: “We ought to read only the kind of books that wound or stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for? – Franz Kafka

Admiration and Aggravation: Reflections on Joan Didion

“In many ways, writing is the act of saying ‘I,’ of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying listen to me, see it my way, change your mind. It’s an aggressive, even a hostile act . . . setting words on paper is the tactic of a secret bully” (Joan Didion, “Why I Write,” New York Times Book Review, 12/05/76). Didion’s incisive writing filled me with admiration. Yet her skill at voicing opinions antithetical to mine, most notably in her early pro-conservative years, also aroused my aggravation. Didion’s scathing arguments didn’t win me over, but I resented her for being such a good adversary.

Joan Didion (1934-2021): A brilliant bully on the page

What I’m Reading: Oh William!

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout (Rating 5) – A Spirit Who Steals People’s Hearts. Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout is nominally a short road trip that takes readers on a long journey. Ex-spouses but still good friends, Lucy Barton and William Gerhardt travel to Maine where he hopes to learn more about his late mother’s past. Lucy is grieving the loss of her beloved second husband, while William has had several head-spinning shocks of his own (which I’ll leave for the reader to discover). In their loneliness and sense of dislocation, they join for platonic companionship and comfort, a risky demand at best. Strout excavates the relationship between two people who know each other well, although not as fully as they believe. They fall into old patterns that get disrupted by new discoveries, about each other, and most important, about themselves. While William often remains hidden, guarded with others and not wholly trusted by readers, Lucy is open, honest, and thoroughly likeable. As William says to her, “You are a spirit. There has never been anyone in the world like you. You steal people’s hearts, Lucy.” He speaks the truth. However much William has gotten wrong in his life, in this he is correct. As a fiction writer (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I’m awed by the range of emotions that Strout expresses with the word “Oh.” She uses these two letters to convey deep sympathy, sharp pain, a dull ache, nudging insight, and utter surprise. From the book’s title to its final page, Strout deftly deploys deceptively simple language to bring readers another rich chapter in the life of the resilient Lucy Barton.