Customer Reviews

Affliction

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Film critic Roger Ebert once stated that if someone wanted to understand the psychology of a man driven to abuse his family, they should view Martin Scorsese's RAGING BULL. In that vein, I would like to add the same sentiment to the literary equivilent. If a reader would like a glimpse into the reasonings of a man who abuses those around him, Russell Banks' novel AFFLICTION must be read.

AFFLICTION follows the last few weeks in the life of Wade Whitehouse, a small-town police officer, plow driver, and crossing guard, who mysteriously disappears after an act of brutal violence. As related by his brother Rolfe, Wade is an intelligent, deeply emotional man who has let life lead him to his present position. Instead of the dreams of youth he once possessed, he is now darkly cynical, having been divorced twice from the same woman, with a daughter who is slowly coming to hate his intrusive presence. He does not see himself as cynical, however; He remains deeply hopeful, and cannot bring himself to understand why his plans unerringly end up as tragedy.

As the story progresses, we grow to truly understand Wade's motivations, and we despair that he cannot see the folly of his increasing paranoia. His disturbing upbringing, under a father who increasingly becomes violent himself, lends an air of melancholy to Wade's depression and growing fits of rage. His inadequacy as a father, his impotence as a figure of authority in the community, speeds him ever faster into ruin, yet he remains unwilling to let go of any scrap of salvation he can grab onto. In this case, it is an accidental death that Wade is reluctant to let go as such, regarding it as a holy grail, an avenue towards eventual redemption.

Lest this start to sound like the retelling of the Job parable, I want to make it clear that there is no salvation awaiting Wade, as reward for his tribulations. Banks knows the unforgiving nature of small-town life, the shame that haunts the movements of every member of the village. Wade realizes this, but cannot bring himself to leave. "Hell is other people", he remarks to Rolfe, echoing the philosphy of Jean-Paul Sartre.

Some critics have remarked that the narration of Rolfe is an unnecessary distraction, as he continues to describe events and motivations that he could not possibly have knowledge of. But that is precisely the point: We cannot know what moves people to commit the acts they do, we can only theorize, trying to find something to explain away the horror. Rolfe despairs because he can never truly understand. He can only guess, using his own upbringing under their father as a springboard into thoughts and dreams he will never know.

Banks has written a wonderful novel about sadness. It is a beautiful, moving piece that hits the reader like a punch to the stomach. It is remarkable.

P.S. - Several years ago, a film version of AFFLICTION was released, starring Nock Nolte as Wade. While having had the benefit of seeing the movie first, I think the reader will agree, after finishing the novel, that no one could have played Wade but Nolte. He is that good.

Affliction is apparently a somewhat autobiographical novel about Wade Whitehouse, a crude & somewhat brutal son of a truly barbarous father. Wade is now in his forties, lives in the Mountains of Central New Hampshire and works as a well driller, snow plower and town constable. His high school sweetheart wife has left him and taken their daughter. Now Wade is reduced to living alone in a wind swept trailer and drinking way too much. Over the course of the novel, this is apparently a common theme for Banks, he realizes how desolate and desperate his life has become and he begins to lash out at his abusive father, shrewish ex-wife, his tyrannical boss and the towns uppity part time residents, the idle rich in their ski chalets. In particular, he becomes obsessed with regaining custody of his daughter and with proving that a seeming hunting accident was actually murder.

These twin compulsions turn out to be a lever with which Wade can pry open his hemmed in life and assert power for once. But the exercise of power and the awakening of self carry dangers which Wade is ill equipped to confront and tragedy lurks around the corner.

I liked this book much better than I expected to; the movie ads seem to promise merely another domestic abuse fiesta, but that story line is really somewhat peripheral. Wade's struggle to gain some control over his life is nearly heroic and we root for him top succeed. But Banks piles on such melodramatics that we anticipate that he is doomed.

There's also another weakness, and a more significant one. The story is narrated by Wade's brother in such an omniscient manner that it becomes distracting. You continually find yourself saying, how does he know that fact or know how that person felt. Also, the tone of his narration is so portentous that we know early on that Wade is headed for disaster; too early.

In the end, I recommend the book, but less whole heartedly than Ernest Hebert's similar cycle of New Hampshire novels.

GRADE: B-

Russell Banks has crafted a strong story about the effects of alcoholism on children. The story follows Wade, a divorced father of a single pre-teen daughter. The mother, however - his high school sweetheart, whom he had married, and divorced, on two separate occasions - has custody and has since moved to another town; Wade only gets to see her once a month, and on Halloween. Wade goes about his life as the local policeman all the while longing for the good old days, and wondering what could have been, and how he can get them back. Eventually, he hatches a scheme, and talks to a lawyer. Slowly, events unfold which shape the future in different ways: a funeral which brings the family together again; the accidental death of a visiting hunter, which Wade thinks is suspicious; a looming marriage which threatens to bring back his old ways; etc. Through everything, the reader is getting a look into Wade's past, the abuse he and his brothers and sister suffered at the hands of their father, and how eerily close Wade seemed to be getting to following in his own father's footsteps.

Affliction is a very strong look at alcoholism and behavioral similarities through generations - the effects which are transmitted from father to son without even realizing it. We do as we have had done to us, not what we wish would have been done to us, or so it seems. The relationship between Wade and his family is clearly defined, and the interactions between them are always revealing, especially when his sister and family comes back for the funeral. The family interaction is some of the best I've read.

There are little trouble points: the novel is long, and several chapters feel unnecessarily slow; the point of view the story is told from (Wade's brother) is awkward at points, especially when he has to explain how he knows things about the story he's telling - it would have been easier just to tell it from a third person point of view; and then ending a little unresolved - I don't know why, but I wanted a little more resolution.

Overall, though, Affliction is still a powerful look at family life and the long-term effects of poor parenting. It's a vicious cycle, but Banks would have us believe there is some hope, as the story is told from the point of view of a brother who continually asks why Wade had to be the failure in the family rather than him. Why had he been able to break the cycle? Why wasn't he in Wade's position, or Wade in his?

The novel offers no clear answers.

Matty J

There are a lot of books out there by "cowboy poets" or sort of macho-ish writers. "Affliction" has no such pretensions, but it's more austere, rugged, and well-crafted than the best of them.

You can read the other reviews for the plot. I won't repeat it. I'll just say this: The relationship between fathers and sons haunts this book like a curse passed down through the generations, and the dynamic of that relationship--and the way it affects the men's lives--gives this book its enormous depth, compassion, and power to shock. An unforgettable read. Really a great novel of American man.

I think this is a great book but I disagree with the critique below that talks about the class aspects of the book. I think Banks shows us that the intellectual brother didn't escape anything (though he deceives himself into thinking that he did). Unmarried, childless and unable to relate to people on any intimate level, Rolfe has chosen to completely shut himself down in the face of the brutality he grew up with. He's just as afflicted as Wade, but maybe his education gives him a veneer of normalcy in contrast to his more-obviously troubled brother. In any event, Banks does a great job of delineating a horrifying example of the ongoing chain of father-son damage -- I haven't seen any other author do it as well.

This is my first Russell Banks novel and I'm so glad that I discovered him!!! "Affliction" is a wonderful, incredibly written story about a man named Wade Whitehouse whose character is like a slow burning stick of dynamite. And the "boom" and the end of the novel does not disappoint...(even thought it did confuse me, but more on that later.)

I thought the beginning of the book was very slow and I almost put it down around the 5th or 6th chapter. But the writing was so beautiful I figured it had to get better, which it did and eventually had me hanging on until the very last word. I'm not going to give a synopsis of the book because you can read that at the top of this page. But here's why I loved it: the character development is outstanding; they are SO real that at the end of the book I was sad to lose them. Once the story gets going it unfolds with just the right amount of intrigue. Banks bounces back and forth from the present day to the past in a way that helps the reader understand why the characters are who they are. The book covers a variety of themes including romance, murder, death, domestic violence, fatherhood and "small town sensibilities." This is NOT an uplifting novel AT ALL. If you're looking for a happy ending this is not for you. When Wade Whitehouse disappears, everyone who crossed his path is left confused, hurt and angry. There were several times I put down the book (because I had to leave for work, or walk the dogs) and I felt haunted and slightly disturbed and the feeling lasted for several minutes until I got back into the rhythm of my day. THAT to me equals outstanding writing. I wish I felt that way every time I put down a book. (Although not necessarily disturbed and haunted...but I think you get what I mean.)

I did have a couple of problems with "Affliction"...as I said it was a slow start. The book is written from the perspective of Wade's brother Rolfe and at times I wondered how he knew exactly what a character might have been feeling or thinking at any given moment. I know he tape recorded his interviews with everyone but still....it seemed to be reaching at times. Banks tends to go on and on about the scenery and the weather and these lengthy descriptions tended to slow the pace and added nothing. The ending (which I won't ruin) had me wondering how Rolfe knew how the murder was committed and I'm going to have to go back and re-read it...perhaps I missed something, but I think not.

I can't wait for read more of Russell Banks. And I also can't wait to go out and rent the video tomorrow.

Affliction is for anyone who picks up their newspaper, scans hurredly through the usual blaring headlines concerning this shooting death and that domestic disturbance, then turns away quick, to the business page or maybe the local weather forecast. But author Banks considers these brutal events, which are usually given shortthrift in our mind's eye and discounted with a shrug and a cold "just another nut." This entrancing work chronicles how one small man's world turns desperate and craven without his consent, or even his knowledge. Wade Whitehouse is living the nightmare of lower class, "white trash" America, but is smart enough to know he wants better. Or at least different. After digesting Affliction, one may not be so quick to discount the person who pumps your gas at the local filling station as just another peripheral obstacle to avoid during the daily rush of life. Because he may have a story to tell you. And it may sound a lot like Wade Whitehouse's story, as told in the great book by Russell Banks.

Banks' thesis in this novel is, that through tens of thousands of years of history, men have inherited a culture of brutality from their fathers and from other male role models. He goes on to demonstrate that those men who belong to the working class, like the protagonist Wade Whitehouse, are most afflicted by this culture. This is probably due to the greater similarity of manual labor today to the (primarily male) hunting culture of pre-agricultural society. In contrast, the more intellectual professions are often seen as more stereotypically feminine in that they rely upon cooperation and consensus, rather than hierarchy and domination. Banks deftly demonstrates this through the contrast of Wade with his intellectual and articulate brother, who narrates this novel. Through he who escaped the male afflication -- hierarchy imposed through brutality, devaluation and domination of women, an incapacity for tenderness -- we see one who is bound up and eventually destroyed by it. Banks' use of language is taut and spare, and his description of the terror of domestic violence is unparalleled. This is an important work of literature for anyone who wants to understand the interaction between class and gender in an anthropological context.

Russell Bank's "Affliction" is a fine example of novels in the great American literary tradition which explores the subject of working class lives in America and of how ordinary people fall victim to drink and violence in their desperate struggle to escape the grinding poverty and hopelessness of their daily lives. The story of Wade Whitehouse, the novel's protaganist, is told through the eyes of his younger brother, Rolfe. Unlike Wade, who is trapped and left flailing in his natural habitat, Rolfe manages to break free and joins the teaching profession in middle class acedemia. While alienated from one another and leading separate lives, they emerge like two complementary halves in their emotional core and are in fact alter egos to one another. Wade is the exterior and Rolfe the interior half of a single persona. Ironies abound to suggest this reading. Whilst the unsympathetic Wade still cares enough about justice and punishment to pursue Jack whom he believes is responsible for Twombley's death, Rolfe has become emotionally barren, interested only in observing and recording events in their families' lives. At the same time, Wade is unfavourable compared with Battle Lloyds who is physically maimed but remain positive as a person. The pain and bleakness of Wade's life is made especially poignant in a nightmare sequence depicting a man with a crying child, a guilty reminder of his failure as a father to Jill. The story's tragic ending is laden with a palpable sense of the absurd. Wade kills his father in self defence but nobody will know this. He shoots Jack in the name of misplaced justice and then disappears not realising that Twombley's death was really the result of an accident. This strangely perverse comic twist that comes with the ending destabilies the novel in my view and leaves the reader with a funny after taste. While the movie version is faithful to the novel (Nick Nolte turns in a great performance as Wade) in narrative terms, it fails to deal with the subtler issues explored by Banks in his book. There is a sureness of touch and genuineness in Banks' writing that makes this is an interesting and compelling read.

I just finished reading this book, mere weeks before the movie version is to be released (The Sweet Hereafter transfered nicely to the big screen, looking forward to Nolte's interpretation of Wade). Therefore, I think it's appropriate to post a review of the book BEFORE I see the movie.

Affliction, especially for Banks fans, is a must read. But a little warning: be patient with the first 5 chapters or so. One could pratically start with the 6th chapter and not miss much more than scenery, a little background and father-daughter tension that is more than reiterated later. That said, the slow-start hurdle was more than worth it, soon finding myself an invisible and helpless spectator to Wade Whitehouse's predicament-laden day to day life in his small northern NH hometown. Though the book covers only a couple of weeks time, you're provided with enough flashbacks (courtesy of Wade's brother Rolfe, the narrarator) and insight to the tension within the pitiful Whitehouse family to feel like you've grown up in Lawford right along with Wade. A toothache, trouble over custody of his daughter, drilling wells and directing school bus traffic as the town "cop" for wages next to nothing, and--along with his father--an unending need for alcohol, all threaten to drive Wade over the edge as he suspects a conspiracy taking place stemming from what he thinks was a murder neatly covered up as a local hunting "accident". It's Wade's ignorant determination to get to the bottom of it all that makes you want to buy him a plane ticket out of Lawford, give him a job and an apartment, and help him start over. But then you remember that it's just a book.

Banks' pacing can be frustrating, and at times the assumptions made by Wade's brother Rolfe the storyteller--from his "investigation" of the incident--seem far too detailed and insightful to be realistic. But his ability to pull you into Wade's world of frustration culminating into violent anger over circumstances he's unable to control makes it all excusable, as well as finding it in your heart to forgive the author for a second-rate ending.