Customer Reviews

Judge

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

 

 

No trailer parks, no incest, no hyped-up drama, just beautiful writing and a moving, complex story that circles around a group of attractive characters - all of whom you slowly grow to know well, but will never discover all their secrets. I CAN'T STAND modern fiction - but this is something else. Try it - it's as good as JP Marquand.

It's a fact that the absence of something - or in this case, someone - that has loomed very large in the lives of people can be felt as a presence. In Dwight Allen's debut novel, that presence/absence is the title character, Judge William Dupree. As the book opens, his clerk of twenty years, Lucy, is gathering together a few of his personal effects that she has found in the office. Through her thoughts - and those of the Judge's widow, his two sons, his cousin Louis and several friends and members of his extended family - we come to know, understand and appreciate this man. The journey to this understanding is a comfortable one, filled with remembrances and anecdotes, humor and, most of all, an overpowering sense of the importance of love in the life of a human being. We are ushered through all of this with warmth and grace, thanks to the writing skills of Allen. I first came across his writing - chapter 5 from this work - in the 2002 edition of NEW STORIES FROM THE SOUTH: THE YEAR'S BEST, accompanied by a note that the piece was a chapter from a forthcoming novel. I was very happy to see it arrive.

The Judge's family has its ups and downs - but these are basically decent, everyday people, striving to find some happiness and satisfaction in their lives and careers. His wife is gently domineering - there are not many who know her who will stand up to her in a dispute. His sons - grown by the time of his death - wrestle with personal and professional quandaries, guided by the Judge's advice and opinions, but never dictated to. Lucy, with whom the Judge `almost' slips off the `fidelity wagon', is fiercely devoted to him - so much so that, counter to the advice of others, she remained with him as his caseload declined, well into her own middle age, pretty much closing any doors to any law practice of her own. His cousin Louis is an alcoholic - and while the Judge had little tolerance for those who drank too much, he was always gentle and caring with his cousin, helping him time and again to attempt to plant his feet on a more sober path. Judge Dupree is sometimes shocked or disappointed with things that happen around him - but his love for his family and friends is alive at his core through it all. He is a religious man, but not one who preaches to everyone around him - his is a quiet faith, and strong, and the example of his own life and happiness with it is the most effective witness.

The chapters of the novel look at incidents and events in the life of the Judge and those who shared it, told from various points of view, and not necessarily in chronological order. Rather than make the novel harder to understand, this technique, in Allen's hands, actually lends a feeling of comfort to the story - rather like the stories that pour out of those attending a wake, fond (and often humorous) remembrances of the departed.

The Judge himself - in the form of a ghost - makes an appearance now and then, but never in an attempt to overtly affect the lives of his loved ones, more as an observer. His spectral presence is felt from time to time, but those who sense it are never quite sure that they're not `seeing things'. One of the most poignant passages in the novel is in one of the final chapters. The Judge had a life-long love affair with railroading - and after his death, now that he has the opportunity, he takes to riding trains back and forth across the country. On one of these soirées, he inadvertently observes a couple in his boxcar making love - `...the Judge, who had always been a firm believer in the right to privacy, concentrated on the scenery and removed his hearing aid.' He muses about the physical vs. the spiritual aspects of love: `...he hadn't found the sexual act itself all that rewarding. What he had really hoped for more was kissing, nuzzling, hand-holding, things that women (as opposed to men) were supposed to require.' He examines these thoughts carefully and honestly - and they are a great indicator of what a gentle soul he possessed. He sees things in the lives of his family and friends that at first upset him, but comes quickly to a love-borne understanding, and finds it easy to forgive.

Allen's novel comes in a just over 300 pages - but it seemed to fly by for me. The pleasure of reading such a well-written work made it so. Get to know the Judge - your life will be the richer for it.

If I had known in advance that "Judge" featured a ghost in a leading role - and described not a small number of dreams along the way - I would never have bought it. Ghosts are an awful waste of time, and I find the description of dreams in fiction as boring as I do in real life. But I would have missed out on a very good novel. The judge of the title is a rather wan character at best, so his alternate, ghost role suits him well... and the dreams - well, they pass as in the night. Here is another American novel with crisp, witty dialogue and excellent description. Nothing much happens, but that never worries me. Allen has a great flair for language. I understand how he and "The New Yorker" would gel. The novel has a broad range of characters and you need to be alert to sort out the various partners/children/friends from amongst the failed marriages/cohabitations. But this is an original, excellent story and I am glad I did not allow my prejudices to stop me from reading it.

I used to be related to the author because one of my relatives married one of his relatives. At the time, the Judge lived and Dwight had a quiet job at the New Yorker. If I hadn't been so wrapped up in my teenaged life, I might have noticed how lucky I was to be related to someone of the Judge's nature, not to mention Dwight's talent. The book is quite something, and by that I mean something you should buy and read if you would like to spend some time reading a good book. I can't wait to give this to the Judge's namesake, who now occupies an adolescent's headspace.

Semi-retired federal judge William Dupree is in the grip of desire for the woman who has served as his law clerk for the past fifteen years, which woman is young enough to be his daughter or granddaughter. The judge's cousin and best friend Louis, a closeted homosexual, is in the grip of desire for a steady partner. The judge's oldest son Crawford, 50-ish, is in the grip of desire for every woman he lays eyes on, especially women younger than he is. Crawford's brother Morgan, a few years younger, is in the grip of desire for every woman and some of the men he lays eyes on.

The only character who doesn't seem in the grip of desire is the judge's wife, Mary Louise, a demanding, bossy, brusque, prickly, temperamental, thin-skinned, grudge-bearing, Christian believer. Mary Louise has an instinctive grasp of the importance of love, and she argues that a mother loves her child through thick and thin, which, she explains to the judge, includes a child who is homosexual. She attributes marital breakups to a lack of spiritual endeavor. She says to her gardener, "Faith is all we have."

The judge's sons don't share their mother's certainty about religion, but they recognize that she has been a steadying and ameliorative influence on their father. Their father is regarded by the community as a saintly, loyal husband, which they characterize as being a sheep rather than a goat. "There's no goat in him," one of the sons avers. The truth turns out to be more complicated. The judge discovers that, while the grip of desire might lessen with age, it doesn't dissolve. He finds consolation in religion and steadiness in his commitment to his wife and his wife's commitment to him, but at the end of his life he remains a restless soul, still in the grip of desire.

I not sure why I like this novel, but I did. The story is about a judge in Kentucky named William Dupree who died in early 2001. Really, it's more about the people he left behind. His difficult to get along with wife, his sons who are unfocused and uncentered, their wives, childern and lovers. There is his cousin Louis and his much younger and handsome Mexican companion. Also Lucy, his clerk he was quite fond of. It's a gentle story of love, life and dealing with what life deals you. It's a story for patient people who don't need a lot of action and like to read about people and their complicated relationships.

The author has put together a nice story, wherein he explores
the lives of some complex characters, all related to the elderly federal judge who has recently died in his hometown of
Louisville.

His children are rather diverse in character, and they are still
exploring their feelings and goals even in middle age, and they
continue to explore life in a very real way, even to the point
of disrupting their own families.

There is a certain vagueness about some of the "action", where

we aren't quite sure of the exact relationships among the various players, but the story is interesting and moves along
at a nice pace. It has the added attraction of moving in some
unexpected directions.

Slightly off-beat, but all the more interesting.

2 stars because the 100 (out of 300) pages I did read didn't make my skin crawl. Reading a book about southern lives that aren't interesting is not my idea of entertainment. Slow and monotonous. After two tries it is officially off the night stand and in the box going to the charity shop.