Jamesland [Hardcover]

Michelle Huneven (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 9, 2003

How do people live in this world? is a question that seems to hover, alongside the Hollywood sign, over the neighborhood of Los Feliz. Certainly Pete Ross wonders as much, his run as a successful chef, husband, and father having imploded so spectacularly as to land him back in the fraught care of his mother. Similarly, Alice Black’s life–hinging as it does on a married boyfriend–is yet pending, and Helen Harland’s ministry has thus far failed to enchant her new congregants. Meanwhile, at the retirement home down the street, Alice’s aunt Kate lives in a world whose most vivid presence is her distinguished ancestor William James.

Each of them, then, is trying to divine who or what is both missing and essential. They encounter one another–and several significant others besides–at Helen’s midweek service, and amidst the quotidian tumult their particular desires gradually dovetail in a quest not just for romance and friendship but also for deeper meaning in what one of them calls “the variety show of religious experience.”

Hilarious, surprising, and powerfully engaging, Jamesland displays Michelle Huneven’s subtle understanding of our steadfast hopes and irregular impulses, a humane comedy she shapes with–as the Los Angeles Times wrote of her first novel–“moral nerve, sharp wit, and uncommon generosity.”



Michelle Huneven received a Whiting Writers’ Award in 2002, and has also won a GE Younger Writers Award in Fiction and a James Beard Award. She is presently a restaurant reviewer for the LA Weekly. Her first novel, Round Rock, was named a New York Times Notable Book and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. She lives in Altadena, California.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like her critically acclaimed Round Rock, Huneven's sophomore effort explores a tightly knit community of troubled eccentrics. In the Los Angeles neighborhood of Los Feliz, a motley handful of residents attends Helen Harland's casual and inclusive services at the local Unitarian church. Helen-who can't interest her boyfriend in her preaching profession, and who battles the church board over matters such as men holding hands in the sanctuary-has her own struggles with faith, yet finds herself inspiring it in some of Los Feliz's other lonely souls. There's Alice Black, hot off a string of bad love affairs (including one with the husband of a local movie star) and living in a house belonging to her great-aunt Kate. The intermittently lucid Kate, now ensconced in a rest home, is still pursuing a life-long writing project related to her illustrious ancestor, the philosopher William James. And then there's crazy Pete Ross, a failed husband, father and chef now living with his mother, a nun, as part of his therapy. Spunky Helen maneuvers dinners and other get-togethers where people seemingly at odds grow (warmly and predictably) to know and love one another. More intelligent and quirky than the usual melodrama, this novel succeeds in exploring the slow and halting journey to self-acceptance. But this level of realism also becomes problematic: the narrative is slow-going, and the author's fondness for flashbacks further decelerates the plot. The theological conversations and the extensive information about William James may also be a turn-off for some readers. For those who are patient, however, this is a gentle, well-turned story of the search for redemption.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Shambling, disheveled Pete Ross is haunted by a question: "How do people live in this world?" Once a successful restaurateur with a loving wife and child, his world imploded after his restaurant failed; he has recently been released into his mother's care after an extended stay in a psychiatric facility. Bartender Alice Black, long on the run from her storied heritage as a descendent of William James, is entangled in a dead-end relationship with a married man. Both Pete and Alice find themselves attending the church services of new minister Helen Harland, who is refreshingly down-to-earth but also depressed by her hidebound parishioners' resistance to her new programming ideas. The three enter into a most unlikely friendship centered on Pete's mouthwatering meals and their scintillating, hilarious discussions about, well, how people live in this world. In some small measure, the friendship helps each of them to move ahead and to throw off restrictions imposed by fear, confusion, or pride. In her second novel, following Round Rock (1997), Huneven brings to the page a fiery intelligence about a whole host of topics, including dream psychology and gourmet cooking. With its wry, generous take on human nature, this is, ultimately, a deeply moving novel. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; First Edition edition (September 9, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375413820
• ISBN-13: 978-0375413827
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,488,309 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michelle Huneven was born in Altadena, California. She received an M.F.A. at the Iowa Writer's Workshop. For many years her "day job" was reviewing restaurants and writing about food for the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weekly, Gourmet and other publications. Her first novel, Round Rock (Knopf 1997), was a New York Times notable book and a finalist for the LA Times First Fiction Award. Her second novel, Jamesland (Knopf 2003) was also a New York Times notable book, a finalist for the LA Times Fiction Prize, and a winner of the Southern California Bookseller's Award for Fiction. Her third novel, Blame, (Sarah Crichton Books, FSG, 2009), was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Michelle has also received a GE Younger Writers Award and a Whiting Award for Fiction. She presently teaches creative writing at UCLA and lives with her husband, dog, cat, and African Grey parrot in the town where she was born.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At Home in Jamesland, July 5, 2004

By 

Daniel Olivas (West Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jamesland (Hardcover)

Michelle Huneven, relying on an exquisite use of language and a sharp sense of humor, has created a wonderfully bizarre love story that blooms from the City of Angels. Dysfunctional much of the time, but secure in their desire to improve themselves and find love in the right places (even if they hang around the wrong places a bit too long), Pete and Alice have every reason to disturb and rankle the other. But within the healing orbits of an unusually honest minister (Helen) and Alice's eccentric aunt, Kate, we can rejoice in their respective baby steps toward something resembling a "normal" life. Thrown into the mix is--almost literally--the ghost of William James and an assortment of Los Angeles inhabitants such as a jive-talking, white cross-dresser and a beautiful, aging movie star. Huneven, who simply is a brilliant writer, begins this novel with a haunting image that carries through until the final pages. This is a spectacularly successful work of fiction that deserves to be read.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quixotic novel of insanilty, love and spirituality, November 1, 2004

By 

David J. Gannon (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jamesland (Hardcover)

Huneven writes novels of those consigned to the margins of society. In her first, very excellent, book, Round rock, the aspect that marginalized it's characters was alcoholism. The aspects of marginalization in this also excellent novel are more diverse--the thread that holds this book together is place--in this case, Los Angeles.

Jamesland is the story of three people living "on the edge" to varying degrees and for various reasons. Helen Harlan is an ordained minister of distinct spiritual inclination consigned to a largely secular, spiritually disengaged Unitarian congregation in LA. What should be a source of great personal satisfaction and a springboard to self actualization is instead a source of perpetual angst and dissatisfaction.

Alice Black is a lady of very modest means whose life has been a long exercise in personal unhappiness, attained largely through a series of disastrous liaisons with married men who treat her like dirt. She is slowly but surely becoming a mildly deranged recluse in her aunts old, rambling home. Pete Ross is a former chef of note who one day turned on his family in a burst of violent rage and destroyed not only his marriage but his sanity as well. Recently released into the custody of his mother-a nun-he is trying to reengage with reality and society.

As the book opens these three circle one another like moths at a porch light--flying around one another in close proximity without actual contact. Slowly but sure their universe begins to contract to where they do make contact. The book is, essentially a chronicle of how they come together and regain their bearings.

There is significant editorial commentary relating to other ways of engaging--particularly the paranormal--provided through the presence of Alice's aunt Kate. Both Kate and Alice are relatives of William James, a leading authority of the paranormal of the early 20th century. Aunt Kate's obsession with her ancestor provides a context for this aspect of the tale.

This is an unusual book. There really is no plot of substance to speak of-this is a character novel. To be kind, it's pacing would best be described as stately. There is not a lot of action. Yet the book is mesmerizing. Almost from the start we are captivated by these broken people and care about them. The book is compelling if not exactly a page turner.

I thought Round Rock was a bit better book-this is a much finer story. You can't go wrong reading either.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A whimsical and quirky study of the human condition., October 13, 2003

By 

M. J Leonard "MikeonAlpha" (Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jamesland (Hardcover)

I first read an excerpt of this book in one of Los Angeles's local free newspapers, and I was shocked to discover that the book takes place in the neighborhood of Silver Lake/Los Feliz. I'm always fascinated and intrigued to read authors depictions of local areas, so I approached Jamesland with a great deal of interest and enthusiasm. The suburbs of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village and the city of Glendale form a kind of urban background to the action of the novel. There are also a couple of pivotal scenes taking pace at the LA River, and Griffith Park, where Huneven really manages to capture the beauty and colour of the surrounding areas - the flora and fauna, and the sunsets with the San Gabriel Mountains in the background. The gym where Pete works out, the gourmet café where he buys his food and the bar where Alice works all have a ring of familiarity.

Familiarity with all the locales aside, Jamesland is still a good, quirky and whimsical read. And very reminiscent of British author Patrick Gale in style, tone and plot. Like Heneven, he too, speckles his work with dotty, eccentric, likable characters, and uses the centerpiece of church and rectory life to present his story. Transpose Los Feliz for an English country town, and you have a story that is very evocative of Gale's Facing the Tank. It really surprised me how much both authors writings are alike.

The question "how to people live in this world?" is the thematic heart of the novel - a world that is rife with betrayals, sadness and injustices. The three main protagonists, Pete, Alice and Helen are forced to face this central question as they are forced to re-evaluate the choices they've made and remake their lives. Huneven adeptly infuses her story with religious symbolism to make her point, and weaves throughout the narrative various ideas on religion, spirituality, the afterlife, and the relationship between our soul and our body. The story does get a bit overly "chatty" towards the end, as Huneven seems to lose her focus on the narrative. And there's a particular scene in which all the main characters have a séance in an effort to talk to the spirit of William James, which doesn't quite work. But Jamesland still provides a good, solid and authentic account of living in a neighborhood spotted with eccentric people - people trying to cope in an extraordinary world. I would advice readers who enjoyed Jamesland should also check out anything by Patrick Gale.

Michael