Lark and Termite [DECKLE EDGE] (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: ragged orange cat, Nick Tucci, Social Services, Coral Gables (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. From Phillip's (Motherkind; Shelter) comes a long-awaited and wonderful coming-of-age tale of grief and survival. The story straddles a parallel six-day period in July, one in 1959—during which 17-year-old Lark; her brother, Termite, who cant talk; and their aunt and caretaker, Nonie, are struggling to balance hope and despair in smalltown West Virginia—and nine years earlier, when Termites father, Robert Leavitt, serves a tour in Korea. Lark, living with her aunt without knowing who her father is or why her mother gave her up, was nine years old when baby Termite landed on their doorstep. Nonie works long hours at a local restaurant to support the hodgepodge family, leaving Lark to take over mothering duties, but as Lark finishes secretarial school and realizes how limited the options are for her and Termite, forces of nature and odd individuals shed light on mysteries of the past and lend a hand in steering the next course of action. Through Robert and Nonie's stories and by exposing the innermost thoughts of each character, Phillips creates a wrenching portrait of devotion while keeping the suspense at a palpitating level. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The New Yorker

This poetic novel alternates between the last hours of Robert Leavitt, a corporal in the U.S. Army, pinned down in a tunnel in South Korea, in 1950, and the story of his disabled son, Termite, who, nine years later, is living with his half sister, Lark, and their aunt in West Virginia. Lark knows little of her mother and even less of her father, and pours herself into nurturing Termite, whose stunted body and lack of language has Social Services perpetually threatening to take him away. The appearance of a sympathetic social worker marks the beginning of a great fracture in their lives, which culminates in a flood that reveals the past and makes way for a new future. Phillips gives each scene an evocative, often lyrical description, but the mystical elements of the story and the improbable ending undermine an otherwise moving exploration of familial love.
Copyright ©2008 Click here to subscribe to The New Yorker

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375401954
• ISBN-13: 978-0375401954
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,236 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful affirmation of the art of fiction, January 19, 2009

By	Chris Owens (NJ United States) - See all my reviews

In a time when fiction seems to be lost amid memoirs and non-fiction, and chick-lit, this is a refreshing read. Crisp, magical, satisfyingly psychological - this novel spans great distances and time periods to effectively reveal a deeper message. The prose is rich and beautiful, but doesn't outshine the wonderful characters. Set in West Virginia and Korea, Lark and Termite is full of rich symbolism, character, and most of all - story. Surely, Lark and Termite is for the savvy reader - although this isn't to say this novel shouldn't be taken to the beach, or on a plane, and read leisurely (as I did). This is a well paced read with big pay-off, and will be sure to please those seeking a great literary escape. Phillips captures another time and place, and does so with conviction. I'd imagine this will be one of the best offerings of the year and will be up for some major awards. Five stars, easily.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Does Literary have to hold you at arm's length?, February 1, 2009

By	Kimberly R. Stagliano "Stagmom" (New England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'll start off by saying I'm a genre reader. This book is clearly and elegantly literary fiction and the work of a talented, serious writer. The story lines are interesting - I preferred some voices over others.

I have children with special needs - I never connected with Termite. And I was frustrated that his disability seemed to warrant so little attention outside of his strange behaviors. But then I remembered WHEN this novel takes place and realized it was fitting that he remain a mystery.

I'll give my copy to a friend to read. Lark & Termite kept me at arm's length and I won't need to visit the characters again, though I'm glad I met them.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mystical parallel narratives, January 26, 2009

By	S. Michael Bowen "Big Shake" (Spokane, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Three-quarters of the way through Jayne Anne Phillips' poetic novel, I acknowledged the beauty of her prose but wondered if there'd be a payoff. An hour or so later, *Lark and Termite* had become a page-turner that reduced me to tears.
Like *Machine Dreams,* the novel of a quarter-century ago that made Phillips a literary sensation, *Lark and Termite* tells about a family from the inside, from multiple perspectives.
There's the husband, a soldier implicated in the massacre at No Gun Ri, the Korean War's precursor to Vietnam's My Lai; his wife, an older woman who was attracted to how well Bobby Leavitt blew his trumpet in smoky jazz clubs; her sister, slaving as a waitress in a small-town diner and caring for the two title characters.
Lark -- 17, self-reliant, sexually awakening -- is typing her way through secretarial school with a determined look on her face. She's completely devoted to her 9-year-old brother. Termite is "a boy in a deep wagon, eyes hard to the side and head tilted, fingers up and moving ... [who] hums in a quiet tonal code that stops and starts." He's "in himself," Lark says, "like a termite's in a wall."
For Termite was born with hydrocephalus, and small-town Appalachia in 1959 wasn't especially well equipped to serve a special-needs child (though Phillips, typically, turns even bureaucracy into magic, transforming a social services worker into an otherworldly symbol).
By crafting parallels between events at two railroad tunnels separated by nine years and geography (one in Korea, one in West Virginia), Phillips' novel suggests unexplained glimmers of a spiritual world hovering above our own. But she roots her mysticism in reality, as in this description of what it's like to drift toward death: "Abruptly, a shutter falls. Sounds diminish and recede. What and why does it matter. Like an invited guest, he pulls deep inside, poured through himself like water." Just as Termite's limitations aren't complete -- he hears preternaturally well -- Phillips clearly regards death as a transition, not an ending.
Her novels appear only once every several years. *Lark and Termite,* a tragedy and a masterpiece, has been worth the wait. Read it, savor it.